Lhokpu language
Sino-Tibetan language of southwestern Bhutan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lhokpu, also Lhobikha or Taba-Damtoe-Bikha, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Lhop people. It is spoken in southwestern Bhutan along the border of Samtse and Chukha Districts. Van Driem (2003) leaves it unclassified as a separate branch within the Sino-Tibetan language family.[2]
| Lhokpu | |
|---|---|
| Lhobikha, Taba-Damtoe-Bikha | |
| Native to | Bhutan |
| Region | southwest Bhutan (Samtse, Chukha) |
| Ethnicity | Lhop people |
Native speakers | (2,500 cited 1993)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lhp |
| Glottolog | lhok1238 |
| ELP | Lhokpu |
Map of the Lhokpu language | |
 Lhokpu is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Phonology
Classification
Lhokpu is a Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by the Lhop people in Bhutan.
Grollmann & Gerber (2017)[3] consider Lhokpu to have a particularly close relationship with Dhimal and Toto.
Name
Geographic distribution
According to the Ethnologue, Lhokpu is spoken in Damtey, Loto Kuchu, Lotu, Sanglong, Sataka, and Taba villages, located between Samtsi and Phuntsoling, in Samtse District, Bhutan.
Culture
The Lhop people are animists rather than Buddhists, burying their dead rather than cremating them as Buddhists do. Their society is matrilineal and matrilocal.[5]
See also
- Languages of Bhutan
- Dhimalish comparative vocabulary list (Wiktionary)
