| Also Known As: Angoxe,Ekoti,Angoche,Coti,Akoti
Description:
Ekoti (pronounced [ekot̪i]) is a Bantu language spoken in Mozambique by about 64,200 people, the Akoti. Ekoti 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, Ekoti 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 somewhere else on the Zanzibar Coast, who in the fifteenth century settled at Angoche.
The place name Koti refers primarily to the island. An older form is [ŋgoji]; this form with the class 2 nominal prefix a for 'people' gave rise to the Portuguese name Angoche. The much older local African name of Angoche, still in use, is Parápaátho. Angoche was probably established in the fifteenth century by dissidents from Kilwa. In the centuries that followed, it flourished as a part of the Indian Ocean trading network.
About nine Akoti villages are found in the coastal areas of Koti island; these are usually..... full article at Wikipedia |
