Lhokpu language

Lhokpu, also Lhobikha or Taba-Damtoe-Bikha, is one of the autochthonous languages of Bhutan spoken by the Lhop people. It is spoken in southwestern Bhutan along the border of Samtse and Chukha Districts. Van Driem leaves it unclassified as a separate branch within the Sino-Tibetan language family.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Classification

George van Driem notes that Lhokpu, although unclassified, may be more closely related to the Kiranti languages than to Lepcha. Gerber, et al. also notes a particularly close relationship between Lhokpu and Kiranti. Furthermore, van Driem notes that Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, may in fact have a Lhokpu substratum.
Grollmann & Gerber consider Lhokpu to have a particularly close relationship with Dhimal and Toto.

Name

Lhokpu is spoken by the Lhop—a Dzongkha term meaning "Southerners"—, who "represent the aboriginal Dung population of western Bhutan.

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.