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.^[2]

Lhokpu
Lhobikha, Taba-Damtoe-Bikha
Native to	Bhutan
Region	southwest Bhutan (Samtse, Chukha)
Ethnicity	Lhop people
Native speakers	(2,500 cited 1993)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Kiranti (?) Dhimalish (?) Lhokpu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lhp
Glottolog	lhok1238
ELP	Lhokpu
Map of the Lhokpu language
Lhokpu is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a	ɒ

Consonants

		Bilabial		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
		plain	aspirated	plain	aspirated
Stop	voiceless	p	pʰ	t	tʰ	c	k
	voiced	b	bʱ	d	dʱ	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative				s				h
Nasal		m		n			ŋ
Approximant				l		j	w
Trill				r

Classification

George van Driem (2001:804)^[3] notes that Lhokpu, although unclassified, may be more closely related to the Kiranti languages than to Lepcha. Gerber, et al. (2016)^[4] 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)^[5] 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.^[6]

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 article: 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.^[7]

See also

• Languages of Bhutan
• Dhimalish comparative vocabulary list (Wiktionary)