Koti language

The Koti language, or Ekoti (pronounced [ekot̪i]), is a Bantu language spoken in Mozambique by about 64,200 people. Koti is spoken on Koti Island and is also the major language of Angoche, the capital of the district with the same name in the province of Nampula.

In terms of genetic classification, Koti is generally considered to belong to the Makhuwa group (P.30 in Guthrie's classification). A large portion of its vocabulary however derives from a past variety of Swahili, today the lingua franca of much of East Africa's coast. This Swahili influence is usually attributed to traders from Kilwa or elsewhere on the Zanzibar Coast, who in the fifteenth century settled at Angoche. Arends et al. suggest it might turn out to be a Makhua–Swahili mixed language.