Name and Language
In early texts and maps of the 19th century, the island of Mota Lava was designated as Saddle Island, due to the island's distinctive profile seen from a boat.
The habit of designating the island as Mota Lava was then borrowed by 19th-century missionaries from the neighbouring language Mota. The inhabitants of Mota Lava call their own island Mwotlap .
Mwotlap also designates the language spoken by the inhabitants of Mota Lava. It is the most widely spoken of the languages in the Banks Islands, with about 2,100 speakers.
An earlier attempt to transcribe the native name, both for the island and the language, yielded a form Motlav.
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