Lhokpu language
{{Short description|Sino-Tibetan language of southwestern Bhutan}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Lhokpu
| region = southwest Bhutan (Samtse, Chukha)
| speakers = 2,500
| date = 1993
| ref = e18
| familycolor = Sino-Tibetan
| fam2 = Tibeto-Burman
| fam3 = Kiranti (?)
| fam4 = Dhimalish (?)
| map2 = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Lhokpu is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}
| iso3 = lhp
| glotto = lhok1238
| glottorefname = Lhokpu
| ethnicity = Lhop people
| states = Bhutan
| altname = Lhobikha, Taba-Damtoe-Bikha
| map = Lhokpu.png
| mapcaption = Map of the Lhokpu language
}}
Lhokpu, also Lhobikha or Taba-Damtoe-Bikha, is one of the autochthonous languages of Bhutan spoken by the Lhop people. It is spoken in southwestern Bhutan along the border of Samtse and Chukha Districts. Van Driem (2003) leaves it unclassified as a separate branch within the Sino-Tibetan language family.{{cite book|last1=Driem|first1=George van|title=Languages of the Himalayas : an ethnolinguistic handbook of the greater Himalayan Region : containing an introduction to the symbiotic theory of language|date=2001|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-9004103900}}
Phonology
= Vowels =
= Consonants =
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |Bilabial ! colspan="2" |Alveolar ! rowspan="2" |Palatal ! rowspan="2" |Velar ! rowspan="2" |Glottal |
|---|
| plain
!plain |
| rowspan="2" |Stop
!voiceless |p |pʰ |t |tʰ |c |k | |
| voiced
|b |bʱ |d |dʱ |ɟ |ɡ | |
| colspan="2" |Fricative
| | |s | | | |h |
| colspan="2" |Nasal
|m | |n | | |ŋ | |
| colspan="2" |Approximant
| | |l | |j |w | |
| colspan="2" |Trill
| | |r | | | | |
Classification
George van Driem (2001:804)van Driem, George. 2001. Languages of the Himalayas. Leiden: Brill notes that Lhokpu, although unclassified, may be more closely related to the Kiranti languages than to Lepcha. Gerber, et al. (2016)Gerber, Pascal, Tanja Gerber, Selin Grollmann. 2016. [https://www.academia.edu/30259338/Links_between_Lhokpu_and_Kiranti_some_observations Links between Lhokpu and Kiranti: some observations]. Kiranti Workshop. CNRS Université Paris Diderot, 1–2 Dec 2016. also notes a particularly close relationship between Lhokpu and Kiranti. Furthermore, van Driem (2001:804–805) notes that Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, may in fact have a Lhokpu substratum.
Grollmann & Gerber (2017)Grollmann, Selin and Pascal Gerber. 2017. [https://www.academia.edu/32861274/Linguistic_evidence_for_a_closer_relationship_between_Lhokpu_and_Dhimal Linguistic evidence for a closer relationship between Lhokpu and Dhimal: Including some remarks on the Dhimalish subgroup]. Bern: University of Bern. consider Lhokpu to have a particularly close relationship with Dhimal and Toto.
Name
Lhokpu is spoken by the Lhop—a Dzongkha term meaning "Southerners"—, who "represent the aboriginal [gdung] Dung population of western Bhutan.{{cite book|last1=Driem|first1=George van|title=Dzongkha = rdoṅ-kha|date=1998|publisher=Research School, CNWS|location=Leiden|isbn=978-9057890024|page=29}}
Geographic distribution
According to the Ethnologue, Lhokpu is spoken in Damtey, Loto Kuchu, Lotu, Sanglong, Sataka, and Taba villages, located between Samtsi and Phuntsoling, in Samtse District, Bhutan.
Culture
{{Main|Lhop people}}
The Lhop people are animists rather than Buddhists, burying their dead rather than cremating them as Buddhists do. Their society is matrilineal and matrilocal.Gwendolyn Hyslop. 2016. Worlds of knowledge in Central Bhutan: Documentation of 'Olekha. Language Documentation & Conservation 10. 77–106.
See also
- Languages of Bhutan
- Dhimalish comparative vocabulary list (Wiktionary)
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}
{{Kiranti languages}}
{{Languages of Bhutan}}
Category:Definitely endangered languages
Category:Unclassified Sino-Tibetan languages
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