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
Audio A20240817143621881851audioA20241007162829233896_281474976799667.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621767604transcriptionAudio A20240817143621012887audioTranscription of A20240817143621467704transcriptionAudio A20240817143621888070audioTranscription of A20241007162759515970_281474976799611.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621604370transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163923684703_281474976803567.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143622109296transcriptionA20241007162742930694_281474976799581.wavaudioA20241007163512336779_281474976803533.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621392164transcriptionA20241007162744561307_281474976799584.wavaudioA20241007162940033423_281474976800390.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163009694011_281474976801294.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621961795audioTranscription of A20240817143621792357transcriptionA20241007162928065038_281474976800322.wavaudioA20241007163013973356_281474976800133.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007164136924084_281474976803654.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621760247audioTranscription of A20241007162827579218_281474976799663.wavtranscriptionA20241007164122546954_281474976803819.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143620993985transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163129132520_281474976801563.wavtranscriptionA20241007162918089868_281474976800303.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621531394audioA20241007164101598167_281474976803748.wavaudioAudio A20240817143622008746audioA20241007164027368878_281474976803702.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621763664transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621404302transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621865664transcriptionA20241007163103880775_281474976801522.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621978398transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622118693transcriptionA20241007162936113685_281474976800384.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163354144524_281474976802235.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621744889audioAudio A20240817143621854826audioTranscription of A20241102121827068864_recording.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007163430392234_281474976803456.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621616134transcriptionAudio A20240817143622134748audioAudio A20240817143621669708audioTranscription of A20241007162754342712_281474976799601.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621726212transcriptionAudio A20240817143621923799audioTranscription of A20240817143620988613transcription