Lakon language

For other uses, see Lakona (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Lacaune.

Lakon
Lakona, Vure
Pronunciation	[laˈkɔn]
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Gaua
Native speakers	800 (2012) [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu North Vanuatu Torres-Banks Lakon
Dialects	Qatareu Vure Toglatareu Togla
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lkn
Glottolog	lako1245
ELP	Lakon
Lakon is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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Lakon is an Oceanic language, spoken on the west coast of Gaua island in Vanuatu.

Names

The language name Lakon [laˈkɔn] 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, [k​͡pʷætæˈrɛw] ), Vure (Vurē, [βuˈrɪ] ), Toglatareu, and Togla.

Phonology

Consonants

Lakon has 16 phonemic consonants. ^[2]

Lakon consonants

	Labiovelar	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Dorsal	Glottal
Plosive	k͡p ʷ ⟨q⟩	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	tʃ ⟨j⟩	k ⟨k⟩
Nasal	ŋ͡m ʷ ⟨m̄⟩	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		ŋ ⟨n̄⟩
Fricative		β ~ ɸ ⟨v⟩	s ⟨s⟩		ɣ ⟨g⟩	h ⟨h⟩
Rhotic			r ⟨r⟩
Lateral			l ⟨l⟩
Approximant	w ⟨w⟩

The glottal stop [ʔ] only occurs before vowels in syllable-initial position. While non-phonemic, it is sometimes noted in the orthography, using a ⟨’⟩ mark.

Vowels

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] [3]}

Lakon vowels

	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. This is considered to be a very recent change, perhaps within the last century, as Codrington still indicates the trill syllable-finally. ^[4] However, the 1897 Book of Common Prayer in Lakon shows loss of the trill, as evidenced by tataa [taˈtaː] "prayer" (spelled as tata) for Mota tataro.

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

1. François (2012:88).
2. François (2022).
3. François (2005 :445), François (2011 :194).
4. François (2005 :461).
5. François (2016).
6. 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
• —— (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 , S2CID   42217419 .
• —— (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
• —— (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.
• —— (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
• —— (2022). "Presentation of the Lakon language, and audio archive". Pangloss Collection . Paris: CNRS. Retrieved 18 March 2023.

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).