Number of speakers
PrintNumber of speakers
According to van Driem (2007), the total number of speakers in Bhutan "comprises approximately 1,340 speakers in the villages of Sanglung, Sataka and Loto Kucu and Lotok. The eastern community comprises approximately 1,270
speakers in Tåba, Dramte and several associated hamlets near Jenchu, upstream from the town of Phüntsho'ling on the Indo-Bhutan border.", totalling 2610 people.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find the primary source for this claim.
van Driem, George, in Moseley Christopher (ed.), Encyclopedia of the World’s Endangered Languages, Routledge, 2007, pp. 283-347 (ISBN 9780700711970, 070071197X)
read on Google Books (2008 edition): https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_the_World_s_Endangered_L/p-7ON7Rvx_AC?hl=fr&gbpv=1&pg=PT422&printsec=frontcover&dq=lhokpu
Comments
Thank you for this information on the speaker population for Lhokpu [lhp] in Bhutan.
I do have access to the source that you have cited. Here is a short excerpt from the Lhokpu article:
The Lhokpu language is spoken in the hills of Samtsi District in southwestern Bhutan in two distinct language communities. The robust western community in the hills one day’s march to the northwest of Samtsi bazaar comprises approximately 1,340 speakers in the villages of Sanglung, Sataka and Loto Kucu and Lotok. The eastern community comprises approximately 1,270 speakers in Taˆba, Dramte and several associated hamlets near Jenchu, upstream from the town of Phu¨ntsho’ling on the Indo-Bhutan border. Language retention is better in the western community because there are fewer Nepali settlements nearby. The entire Lhokpu population is effectively bilingual in Nepali (pp.295--296)
We will update the information in the Ethnologue based on this article from Van Driem 2007.
Best regards,
Charles Fennig
Managing Editor, Ethnologue
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