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 A20240817143621744889transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163943746262_281474976803645.wavtranscriptionA20241007163300285845_281474976801991.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621014789audioTranscription of A20240817143621974997transcriptionAudio A20240817143621605378audioAudio A20240817143622158070audioTranscription of A20241007163429698984_281474976803455.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621676021transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622135217transcriptionA20241007163416426654_281474976802262.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621804510audioTranscription of A20241007162912255736_281474976800291.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621512069transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622070103transcriptionTranscription of A20241007162813552141_281474976799636.wavtranscriptionA20241007163305713067_281474976801999.wavaudioA20241007163227146975_281474976801953.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621380591transcriptionAudio A20240817143621574400audioA20241007163039916086_281474976801409.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143620977024transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621583987transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621706445transcriptionAudio A20240817143621444256audioTranscription of A20240817143622203309transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621410544transcriptionAudio A20240817143621480567audioAudio A20240817143621771948audioTranscription of A20241229083931455898_281474976801590.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143622091412audioTranscription of A20241007163029136217_281474976801325.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621880872transcriptionA20241007163019996513_281474976801310.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007164139638091_281474976801555.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143622276674audioAudio A20240817143621008394audioTranscription of A20240817143620996399transcriptionAudio A20240817143621986098audioTranscription of A20240817143620982764transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622156564transcriptionAudio A20240817143622147210audioAudio A20240817143621411017audioAudio A20240817143622085976audioA20241007163924999314_281474976803569.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007164018152940_281474976803690.wavtranscriptionA20241007163431040312_281474976803457.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621970606audioA20241007162928652587_281474976800323.wavaudioA20241007163435789513_281474976803466.wavaudio