Lakon language
Lakon [lakɔn] is an Oceanic language, spoken on the west coast of Gaua island in Vanuatu.
| Lakon | |
|---|---|
| Vure | |
| Native to | Vanuatu |
| Region | Gaua |
Native speakers | 800 (2012)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lkn |
| Glottolog | lako1245 |
| ELP | Lakon[2] |
Names
Lakon is named after the area where it is spoken, also known as Lakona Bay, which encompasses the west coast of Gaua. It is sometimes referred to as Lakona (after its name in Mota). Its former dialects include Qatareu (Qätärew), Vure (Vurē), Toglatareu, 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/.[3]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Near-close | i ∙ iː | u ∙ uː |
| Close-mid | ɪ ∙ ɪː | ʊ ∙ ʊː |
| Open-mid | ɛ ∙ ɛː | ɔ ∙ ɔː |
| Near-open | æ ∙ æː | |
| Open | a ∙ aː | |
Historically, the phonemicisation of vowel length originates in the compensatory lengthening of short vowels when the alveolar trill /r/ was lost syllable-finally.[4]
Grammar
The system of personal pronouns in Lakon contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).[5]
Spatial reference in Lakon is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.[6]
References
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.
- 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, 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).