Lakon language
Lakon [lakɔn] is an Oceanic language, spoken on the west coast of Gaua island in Vanuatu.
| Lakon | |
|---|---|
| Lakona, Vure | |
| Pronunciation | [lakɔn] |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Gaua |
Native speakers | 800 (2012)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lkn |
| Glottolog | lako1245 |
| ELP | Lakon |
Names
The language name Lakon [lakɔn] refers originally to the area where it is spoken ‒ namely Lakona Bay, corresponding to the west coast of Gaua. The alternative name Lakona [lakona] is from the Mota language. These names are derived from a Proto-Torres-Banks form *laᵑgona, of unknown meaning.
Lakon had four dialects, named Qatareu (Qätärew [k͡pʷætærɛw]), Vure (Vurē [βurɪ]), Toglatareu, and Togla.
Phonology
Lakon has 16 phonemic vowels. These include 8 short /i ɪ ɛ æ a ɔ ʊ u/ and 8 long vowels /iː ɪː ɛː æː aː ɔː ʊː uː/.[2]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Near-close | i ⟨i⟩ ∙ iː ⟨ii⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ ∙ uː ⟨uu⟩ |
| Close-mid | ɪ ⟨ē⟩ ∙ ɪː ⟨ēē⟩ | ʊ ⟨ō⟩ ∙ ʊː ⟨ōō⟩ |
| Open-mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ ∙ ɛː ⟨ee⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ ∙ ɔː ⟨oo⟩ |
| Near-open | æ ⟨ä⟩ ∙ æː ⟨ää⟩ | |
| Open | a ⟨a⟩ ∙ aː ⟨aa⟩ | |
Historically, the phonemicisation of vowel length originates in the compensatory lengthening of short vowels when the alveolar trill /r/ was lost syllable-finally.[3]
Grammar
The system of personal pronouns in Lakon contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).[4]
Spatial reference in Lakon is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.[5]
References
- François (2012:88).
- François (2005:445), François (2011:194).
- François (2005:461).
- François (2016).
- François (2015).
Bibliography
- François, Alexandre (2005), "Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), Oceanic Linguistics, 44 (2): 443–504, doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0034, S2CID 131668754
- François, Alexandre (2011), "Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence" (PDF), Journal of Historical Linguistics, 1 (2): 175–246, doi:10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra, hdl:1885/29283.
- François, Alexandre (2012), "The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages" (PDF), International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2012 (214): 85–110, doi:10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022, S2CID 145208588
- François, Alexandre (2015). "The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages" (PDF). In Alexandre François; Sébastien Lacrampe; Michael Franjieh; Stefan Schnell (eds.). The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity. Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics. pp. 137–195. hdl:1885/14819. ISBN 978-1-922185-23-5.
- François, Alexandre (2016), "The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu" (PDF), in Pozdniakov, Konstantin (ed.), Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles, Faits de Langues, vol. 47, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 25–60
External links
- Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Lakon from Project Canterbury
- A book of traditional stories, monolingual in Lakon language (site of linguist A. François)
- Detailed list and map of the Banks and Torres languages, showing range of Lakon.
- Audio recordings in the Lakon language, in open access, by A. François (source: Pangloss Collection).
- Paradisec has collections with Lakon language materials including Arthur Capell's fieldnotes (AC2) and Digitised microfilm images from Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PAMBU).