| Lakkia | |
|---|---|
| 拉珈语 Lakkja | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County,Guangxi |
Native speakers | 9,000 (2007)[1] |
Early form | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lbc |
| Glottolog | lakk1238 |
| ELP | Lakkia |
TheLakkia language (Chinese:拉珈语;pinyin:Lājiāyǔ), also spelledLakkja after itsIPA transcription, is aKra–Dai language spoken inJinxiu Yao Autonomous County,Laibin, East-CentralGuangxi,China.
Lakkia speakers are thought to have migrated from further east, possibly from theBiao-speaking areas of NorthwesternGuangdong Province (L.-Thongkum 1992). Today, they live mostly in the Dayaoshan (Chinese:大瑶山;lit. 'Big Yao Mountain') region ofJinxiu County.
Lakkia people are also known as theCháshān Yáo 茶山瑶, meaning "Tea Mountain Yao", since they were traditionally considered by neighboring peoples to be ethnicYao people. The nameLakkia is an autonym (self-designated name) that means "mountain people". All Lakkia dialects have 5tones.
There is currently no consensus on the classification of Lakkia within the Kra–Dai family. Solnit (1988) and Hansell (1988) classify Lakkia as asister of theKam–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 theTai branch, based on the large number of shared lexical items.
Norquest (2021) proposes aBiao–Lakkja branch as the first branch to split off from Kra-Dai.[2]
Dialects of Lakkia include (L.-Thongkum 1992):
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 byNorquest (2021):[2]
Lakkia is spoken in the following locations.[3]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ||
| Open | a |
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ | ũ |
| Close-mid | ẽ | õ |
| Open-mid | ɛ̃ | |
| Open | ã |
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 ofOld Chinese.[4]
SomeBiao–Lakkja lexical isoglosses as proposed by Norquest (2021):[2]
| Gloss | Proto-Biao–Lakkja | Proto-Kam-Sui | Proto-Kra | Proto-Hlai | Proto-Be | Proto-Tai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘house’ | *ljaːk | *r̥aːn | *qran | *hrɯːn | *raːn | *rɤːn |
| ‘road’ | *tsaːŋ | *qʰwən | *qron | *kuːn | *ʃwən | *r̥wɤn |
| ‘heavy’ | *N-tsak | *C-dʑan | *qχəl | *kʰɯn | *xən | *n̥ak |
| ‘leg’ | *puk | *p-qaː | *C-qaː | *kʰok | *kok | *f-qaː |
| ‘neck’ | *ʔən | *ʔdənʔ | *C-joː | *hljoŋʔ | *liəŋX | *ɣoː |