The Lakkia language (), also spelled Lakkja after its

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation ** International Phonetic Association, the organization behind the alphabet * India pale ale, a style of beer * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA ...

transcription, is a Kra–Dai language spoken in

Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County Jinxiu (; ) is a county of eastern Guangxi, China, located in an area of relatively high concentrations of the Yao people. It is administered as the Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County of Laibin City. Established in 1952, with the name of Dayaoshan Auton ...

Laibin Laibin ( zh, s=来宾市, t=來賓市, p=Láibīn, Zhuang: Laizbinh) is a prefecture-level city in the central part of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. History Laibin is an ancient town with more than 2000 years of history. The area ...

, East-Central

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Lakkia speakers are thought to have migrated from further east, possibly from the Biao-speaking areas of Northwestern

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Province (L.-Thongkum 1992). Today, they live mostly in the Dayaoshan () region of

Jinxiu County Jinxiu (; ) is a county of eastern Guangxi, China, located in an area of relatively high concentrations of the Yao people. It is administered as the Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County of Laibin City. Established in 1952, with the name of Dayaoshan Auton ...

Names

Lakkia people are also known as the ''Cháshān Yáo'' 茶山瑶, meaning "Tea Mountain Yao", since they were traditionally considered by neighboring peoples to be ethnic

Yao people The Yao people () or Dao () is a classification for various ethnic minorities in China and Vietnam. Their majority branch is also known as Mien. They originated in the areas around Changsha, which today is the capital of Hunan province. They s ...

. The name ''Lakkia'' is an autonym (self-designated name) that means "

mountain people Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains. This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation. The climate is generally harsh, with s ...

". All Lakkia dialects have 5 tones.

Classification

There is currently no consensus on the classification of Lakkia within the Kra–Dai family. Solnit (1988) and Hansell (1988) classify Lakkia as a

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

of the Kam–Sui branch. Additionally, Solnit (1988) classifies Biao and Lakkia together as part of a Biao–Lakkia branch that is coordinate to Kam-Sui. However, L.-Thongkum (1992) considers Lakkia to be most closely related to the Tai branch, based on the large number of shared lexical items. Norquest (2021) proposes a ''Biao–Lakkja'' branch as the first branch to split off from Kra-Dai.

Dialects

Dialects of Lakkia include (L.-Thongkum 1992): *Jintian 金田 *Liula 六拉 *Jinxiu 金秀 *Lingzu 岭祖 *Changdong 长峒 The Lingzu dialect still preserves /kl-/ initial clusters, which corresponds to /kj-/ in most other dialects (L.-Thongkum 1992). Additionally, Changdong 长洞 and Jintian 金田 tone (51) corresponds to Jinxiu 金秀 tone (231). Also, L.-Thongkum (1992) reports that Jintian 金田 is a less conservative dialect. Classification of Lakkia dialects by Norquest (2021): *Lakkja **Western ***Jintian 金田 **Eastern ***Liula 六拉 ***Jinxiu 金秀

Distribution

Lakkia is spoken in the following locations.Guangxi Minority Languages Orthography Committee. 2008. ''Vocabularies of Guangxi ethnic languages ��西民族语言方音词汇'. Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House ��族出版社 *Jinxiu Township 金秀镇: Jinxiu 金秀, Baisha 白沙, Liula 六拉, Xidi 昔地, Changtan 长滩, Chang'er 长二, Zhaibao 寨保, Yangliu 杨柳, Liuduan 六段, Jiangjun 将军, Sanpian 三片, Tiancun 田村, Liucun 刘村, Shecun 社村, Mengcun 孟村, Meicun 美村, Jincun 金村, Jintian 金田, Luomeng 罗梦 *Changdong Township 长洞乡: Changdong 长洞, Gufang 古放, Pingdao 平道, Daojiang 道江, Dishui 滴水, Rongdong 容洞 *Sanjiao Township 三角乡: Liuding 六定 *Zhongliang Township 忠良乡: Lingzu 岭祖, Bale 巴勒 *Luoxiang Township 罗香乡: Pingzhu 平竹

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

* Other sounds and , also occur in Chinese loanwords as a result of being introduced from Chinese. *

Historical phonology

Lakkia is notable for preserving many prefixes that have been lost in most other Kra-Dai languages, including prefixes (such as *k.-) in archaic Chinese loanwords that are crucial for the reconstruction of

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...

.Baxter, William H. and Laurent Sagart. 2014. ''Old Chinese: A New Reconstruction''. Oxford University Press. .

Lexical isoglosses

Some Biao–Lakkja lexical isoglosses as proposed by Norquest (2021):

Notes

References

* Theraphan L.-Thongkum. 1992.
A Preliminary Reconstruction of Proto-Lakkja (Cha Shan Yao)
" In ''

Mon-Khmer Studies ''Mon-Khmer Studies'' was an academic journal that focused on Mon-Khmer languages. It was established in 1964 and ceased publication in 2016. From 1992 onwards, it was published by Mahidol University and SIL International SIL Global (formerl ...

'', 20: 57–90.

External links

ABVD: Proto-Lakkja word list

ABVD: Lakkja (Jinxiu) word list
{{Tai-Kadai languages Languages of Guangxi Kra–Dai languages