Lakon language

For other uses, see Lakona (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Lacaune.

Lakon is an Oceanic language, spoken on the west coast of Gaua island in Vanuatu.

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

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.

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/.

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. 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).

Spatial reference in Lakon is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.

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).