| Variants |
LAAMOOT, NDOROBO, O-LAAMOOT-I |
| Language affiliation |
Nilo-Saharan |
| Language affiliation (details) |
Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Nilotic, Southern, Tatoga. |
| Geographic locations |
Kenya, around Lolgorien on the borderland of Maasai country, Lemek, and Entasekera, Narok District, Rift Valley Province. |
| Language situation |
Moribund language: only a few elderly speakers are left |
| General presentation of the language |
There is evidence that the Omotik are both genetically and linguistically closer to Datooga than Kalenjin but they show clear signs of being linguistically influenced by Kalenjin languages in recent history. |
| Number of speakers |
Fewer than 50, all above the age of forty years and most of them women (1980) |
| Socio-linguistic context – description |
Omotik is the language of the people called also Omotik. Nowadays, the Omotik have almost completely been absorbed by the Maasai pastoralists. The majority of Omotik ethnic group now speaks Maasai. There are three main reasons for the language shift of Omotik speakers to Maasai: (1) change from hunter-gatherer economy to pastoralism; (2) Omotik mixed culturally and economically with Maasai and (3) Maasai gradually became the first language for younger Omotik. |
| ISO standard codes (639-2 / 639-3) |
[OMT] |
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| Unicode support |
Yes |
