Lakon language

Lakon
Lakon
Lakona, Vure
Pronunciation	[laˈkɔn]
Native to	Vanuatu
Region	Gaua
Native speakers	800 (2012)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Southern Oceanic North-Central Vanuatu North Vanuatu Torres-Banks Lakon; ; ; ; ; ; ;
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 [k͡pʷætæˈrɛw]), Vure (Vurē [βuˈrɪ]), Toglatareu, and Togla.

Phonology

Consonants

Lakon has 16 phonemic consonants.^[2]

Lakon consonants
	Labiovelar	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Dorsal	Glottal
Plosive	k͡pʷ ⟨q⟩	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	tʃ ⟨j⟩	k ⟨k⟩
Nasal	ŋ͡mʷ ⟨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.