# Lakkia language

The Lakkia language (Chinese: 拉珈语; pinyin: Lājiāyǔ), also spelled Lakkja after its IPA transcription, is a Kra–Dai language spoken in Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County, Laibin, East-Central Guangxi, China.
Lakkia speakers are thought to have migrated from further east, possibly from the Biao-speaking areas of Northwestern Guangdong Province (L.-Thongkum 1992). Today, they live mostly in the Dayaoshan (Chinese: 大瑶山; lit. 'Big Yao Mountain') region of Jinxiu County.

## Names

Lakkia people are also known as the Cháshān Yáo 茶山瑶, meaning "Tea Mountain Yao", since they were traditionally considered by neighboring peoples to be ethnic Yao people. The name Lakkia is an autonym (self-designated name) that means "mountain people". All Lakkia dialects have 5 tones.

## Classification

There is currently no consensus on the classification of Lakkia within the Kra–Dai family. Solnit (1988) and Hansell (1988) classify Lakkia as a sister of the Kam–Sui branch. Additionally, Solnit (1988) classifies Biao and Lakkia together as part of a Biao–Lakkia branch that is coordinate to Kam-Sui. However, L.-Thongkum (1992) considers Lakkia to be most closely related to the Tai branch, based on the large number of shared lexical items.
Norquest (2021) proposes a Biao–Lakkja branch as the first branch to split off from Kra-Dai.

## Dialects

Dialects of Lakkia include (L.-Thongkum 1992):
* Jintian 金田
* Liula 六拉
* Jinxiu 金秀
* Lingzu 岭祖
* Changdong 长峒
The Lingzu dialect still preserves /kl-/ initial clusters, which corresponds to /kj-/ in most other dialects (L.-Thongkum 1992). Additionally, Changdong 长洞 and Jintian 金田 tone /˥˩/ (51) corresponds to Jinxiu 金秀 tone /˨˧˩/ (231). Also, L.-Thongkum (1992) reports that Jintian 金田 is a less conservative dialect.
Classification of Lakkia dialects by Norquest (2021):
* Lakkja
** Western
*** Jintian 金田
** Eastern
*** Liula 六拉
*** Jinxiu 金秀

## Distribution

Lakkia is spoken in the following locations.
* Jinxiu Township 金秀镇: Jinxiu 金秀, Baisha 白沙, Liula 六拉, Xidi 昔地, Changtan 长滩, Chang'er 长二, Zhaibao 寨保, Yangliu 杨柳, Liuduan 六段, Jiangjun 将军, Sanpian 三片, Tiancun 田村, Liucun 刘村, Shecun 社村, Mengcun 孟村, Meicun 美村, Jincun 金村, Jintian 金田, Luomeng 罗梦
* Changdong Township 长洞乡: Changdong 长洞, Gufang 古放, Pingdao 平道, Daojiang 道江, Dishui 滴水, Rongdong 容洞
* Sanjiao Township 三角乡: Liuding 六定
* Zhongliang Township 忠良乡: Lingzu 岭祖, Bale 巴勒
* Luoxiang Township 罗香乡: Pingzhu 平竹

## Phonology
### Consonants

| | | Labial | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Velar | Glottal | Glottal | Glottal |
| | | plain | lat. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | pal. | plain | lab. | pal. |
| Stop | voiceless | p | pˡ | t | tʷ | | | k | kʷ | kʲ | ʔ | | |
| Stop | aspirated | pʰ | pʰˡ | tʰ | | | | kʰ | kʰʷ | kʰʲ | | | |
| Stop | glottalized/vd. | ˀb | bˡ | | | | | | | | | | |
| Affricate | voiceless | | | ts | | | | | | | | | |
| Affricate | aspirated | | | tsʰ | tsʰʷ | | | | | | | | |
| Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | | n̥ | | | | ŋ̊ | | ŋ̊ʲ | | | |
| Nasal | voiced | m | mˡ | n | | | | ŋ | ŋʷ | ŋʲ | | | |
| Fricative | Fricative | f | | s | sʷ | | | | | | h | hʷ | hʲ |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | | | | j | jʷ | | | | | | |
| Lateral | central | | | l | | | | | | | | | |
| Lateral | fricative | | | ɬ | | | | | | | | | |

### Vowels

Oral vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ə | |
| Open | a | | |
* Other sounds /y/ and /ɹ̩/, also occur in Chinese loanwords as a result of being introduced from Chinese.
Nasal vowels :
| | Front | Back |
| Close | ĩ | ũ |
| Close-mid | ẽ | õ |
| Open-mid | ɛ̃ | |
| Open | ã | |

## Historical phonology

Lakkia is notable for preserving many prefixes that have been lost in most other Kra-Dai languages, including prefixes (such as *k.-) in archaic Chinese loanwords that are crucial for the reconstruction of Old Chinese.

## Lexical isoglosses

Some Biao–Lakkja lexical isoglosses as proposed by Norquest (2021):
| Gloss | Proto-Biao–Lakkja | Proto-Kam-Sui | Proto-Kra | Proto-Hlai | Proto-Be | Proto-Tai |
| ‘house’ | *ljaːk | *r̥aːn | *qran | *hrɯːn | *raːn | *rɤːn |
| ‘road’ | *tsaːŋ | *qʰwən | *qron | *kuːn | *ʃwən | *r̥wɤn |
| ‘heavy’ | *N-tsak | *C-dʑan | *qχəl | *kʰɯn | *xən | *n̥ak |
| ‘leg’ | *puk | *p-qaː | *C-qaː | *kʰok | *kok | *f-qaː |
| ‘neck’ | *ʔən | *ʔdənʔ | *C-joː | *hljoŋʔ | *liəŋX | *ɣoː |