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 A20240817143621518386transcriptionA20241007162749250754_281474976799592.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621434448transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621990032transcriptionAudio A20240817143621679395audioAudio A20240817143622197664audioTranscription of A20240817143621993426transcriptionAudio A20240817143621930787audioAudio A20240817143621381748audioAudio A20240817143621517907audioTranscription of A20240817143621579149transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621839826transcriptionAudio A20240817143622269296audioA20241007162926316777_281474976800316.wavaudioA20241007163350112129_281474976802228.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621002722audioAudio A20240817143621701192audioTranscription of A20240817143621609498transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621663839transcriptionTranscription of A20241007164043683324_281474976803723.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621773935transcriptionAudio A20240817143621009881audioAudio A20240817143621504735audioTranscription of A20241007162942265576_281474976800393.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621506490audioAudio A20240817143621846607audioTranscription of A20241007162850966425_281474976800153.wavtranscriptionA20241007162924103325_281474976800313.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007164134894968_281474976802237.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007163102284001_281474976801520.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621683848audioAudio A20240817143621677472audioTranscription of A20241007163415024670_281474976802260.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621994376transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622317969transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622207918transcriptionA20241007163329593844_281474976802086.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163229796308_281474976801957.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621384583audioAudio A20240817143622022506audioTranscription of A20241007162753770190_281474976799600.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143622155091audioAudio A20240817143621613412audioA20241007162840724605_281474976800138.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163410395154_281474976801288.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007164021666367_281474976803695.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143622223086transcriptionA20241007163433368570_281474976803461.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621753392audioTranscription of A20240817143621474139transcription