Native speakers 2,500 (1993) ISO 639-3 lhp | Language family Sino-Tibetan
Lhokpu Glottolog lhok1238 | |
Region SW Bhutan (Samtse, Chukha) | ||
Lhokpu, also Lhobikha or Taba-Damey-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 (2003) leaves it unclassified as a separate branch within the Sino-Tibetan language family.
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Origin
Lhokpu is spoken by the Lhop—a Dzongkha term meaning "Southerners"—, who "represent the aboriginal [gdung] Dung population of western Bhutan [....] Lhokpu is more closely related to the Eastern Kiranti languages of Nepal such as Lohorung or Limbu than to the Lepcha, and, in linguistic terms, Lhokpu seems to be the substrate language for Dzongkha in western Bhutan.".
Locations
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.