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 A20240817143621881366transcriptionAudio A20240817143621553394audioA20241007164126821876_281474976802070.wavaudioA20241007162847624208_281474976800148.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163147980632_281474976801583.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143620980005audioTranscription of A20240817143620981404transcriptionAudio A20240817143621472253audioA20241007164043109713_281474976803722.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621684817audioTranscription of A20240817143622334625transcriptionA20241007163913015280_281474976803550.wavaudioA20241007163143805333_281474976801576.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621912980transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622146728transcriptionA20241229083930670307_281474976803492.wavaudioA20241007163225661543_281474976801951.wavaudioAudio A20240817143620969924audioAudio A20240817143622075647audioTranscription of A20241007163008323755_281474976801291.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007163957925829_281474976803664.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007162821473128_281474976799651.wavtranscriptionA20241007163341453014_281474976802112.wavaudioA20241007163025153757_281474976801318.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621435392audioTranscription of A20240817143621999305transcriptionA20241007163929103325_281474976803574.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143622005368transcriptionAudio A20240817143621469230audioTranscription of A20240817143622214396transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621705980transcriptionA20241007164108729324_281474976803761.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007162955524867_281474976800409.wavtranscriptionA20241007162806134612_281474976799623.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007164000340336_281474976803667.wavtranscriptionA20241007163323969959_281474976802077.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163918506027_281474976803557.wavtranscriptionA20241007162828650870_281474976799666.wavaudioAudio A20240817143620961320audioA20241007162758401611_281474976799609.wavaudioAudio A20240817143622211716audioTranscription of A20240817143622165850transcriptionAudio A20240817143621501660audioAudio A20240817143620965640audioAudio A20240817143621956859audioTranscription of A20241007163958970571_281474976803665.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621896294audioAudio A20240817143621585399audioAudio A20240817143621799183audioTranscription of A20241007163008876658_281474976801293.wavtranscription