Ho
Ho belongs to the Austro-Asiatic language family, specifically situated within the North Munda branch of the Munda sub-family.
Speakers
According to the 2011 Census of India, there are approximately 1.4 million speakers of the Ho language.
Distribution in India
The language is primarily spoken in the state of Jharkhand (especially concentrated in the West Singhbhum and East Singhbhum districts). It is also widely spoken in the adjoining districts of northern Odisha (such as Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, and Sundargarh) and parts of West Bengal.
Major grammatical features
- Phonology: The phonemic inventory of Ho includes a distinction between aspirated and unaspirated stops, retroflex consonants, and characteristic Austro-Asiatic glottalized or checked stops (often occurring syllable-finally). Vowel nasalization and length can also carry contrastive functional weight.
- Morphology: Ho is a highly agglutinative language. Nouns are marked for three grammatical numbers (singular, dual, and plural) and inflected for grammatical case. Verbs are highly complex, incorporating pronominal markers for both the subject and object, alongside suffixes indicating tense, aspect, and mood.
- Syntax: The default word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). Ho is head-final, utilizing postpositions rather than prepositions, with modifiers generally preceding the nouns they qualify.
Further reading
Direct relationships
Has record 50
Transcription of A20240817143622266325transcriptionAudio A20240817143621915805audioTranscription of A20240817143621559379transcriptionA20241007164016575597_281474976803688.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007162803904481_281474976799619.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007162746238098_281474976799587.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621889570audioA20241007164146078102_281474976801612.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621865034audioTranscription of A20241007163356122053_281474976802239.wavtranscriptionA20241007162859020021_281474976800166.wavaudioA20241007162750406510_281474976799594.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007162939480311_281474976800389.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007163944436367_281474976803646.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621899841transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621515972transcriptionAudio A20240817143622093272audioAudio A20240817143622213464audioTranscription of A20241007163232438135_281474976801961.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007164103099740_281474976803753.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007162806611787_281474976799624.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007164120989006_281474976803817.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621667247audioTranscription of A20240817143621846133transcriptionAudio A20240817143621758258audioAudio A20240817143621705980audioTranscription of A20241007162834740477_281474976800128.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007163500153791_281474976803515.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621932212transcriptionA20241007162936703054_281474976800385.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621548655audioAudio A20240817143622230442audioTranscription of A20240817143621660253transcriptionAudio A20240817143621782148audioTranscription of A20241007163946058746_281474976803648.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143622217034audioA20241007163257463032_281474976801987.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621390713transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622140957transcriptionA20241007162826016767_281474976799660.wavaudioA20241007163915271512_281474976803553.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621003678audioTranscription of A20240817143620987491transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163401016906_281474976802247.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143622336067audioTranscription of A20241007163340538250_281474976802111.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621509468audioA20241007163214837797_281474976801935.wavaudioA20241007163333197828_281474976802091.wavaudioTranscription of A20241229083920763267_281474976803464.wavtranscription