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 A20240817143621783542audioTranscription of A20240817143622027713transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621521294transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622184438transcriptionTranscription of A20241007162912806478_281474976800292.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621003198audioTranscription of A20240817143622105249transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621484745transcriptionAudio A20240817143621908550audioTranscription of A20241007164100013139_281474976803746.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621636751audioAudio A20240817143621493238audioAudio A20240817143622289417audioTranscription of A20240817143622157589transcriptionTranscription of A20241007162920269953_281474976800306.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621793728audioTranscription of A20241007162908909626_281474976800285.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143622011666audioAudio A20240817143622239168audioA20241007163350677222_281474976802229.wavaudioAudio A20240817143622240562audioAudio A20240817143621951133audioAudio A20240817143621362546audioAudio A20240817143622345363audioTranscription of A20240817143621525194transcriptionA20241007163045295460_281474976801421.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143622307777transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622219547transcriptionA20241007163012233882_281474976801298.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621688217audioAudio A20240817143622017619audioTranscription of A20241007163448283548_281474976803496.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143622285176transcriptionA20241007162804480667_281474976799620.wavaudioA20241007163201485250_281474976801613.wavaudioA20241007164137530131_281474976803813.wavaudioA20241007164046615681_281474976803727.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621529014transcriptionAudio A20240817143621869355audioAudio A20240817143622340539audioTranscription of A20240817143622181473transcriptionAudio A20240817143622317969audioTranscription of A20240817143622033890transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621658058transcriptionAudio A20240817143621812045audioTranscription of A20240817143622327661transcriptionAudio A20240817143621431106audioTranscription of A20240817143621591838transcriptionAudio A20240817143621875680audioTranscription of A20240817143621539546transcription