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 A20240817143621569100audioAudio A20240817143622183012audioA20241007164011861636_281474976803682.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621887138transcriptionTranscription of A20241007162859020021_281474976800166.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143622134272transcriptionAudio A20240817143621857696audioAudio A20240817143622019496audioA20241007162759515970_281474976799611.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007162951170330_281474976800297.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621705505audioAudio A20240817143621832128audioTranscription of A20240817143621550517transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621769069transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621922247transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163258398526_281474976801988.wavtranscriptionA20241007163934217201_281474976803631.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621751312transcriptionTranscription of A20241007162858363290_281474976800165.wavtranscriptionA20241007163919841626_281474976803559.wavaudioA20241007163156720909_281474976801601.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163336591449_281474976802099.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621655389transcriptionA20241007163059826261_281474976801516.wavaudioA20241007162859587360_281474976800168.wavaudioA20241007163910672992_281474976803547.wavaudioAudio A20240817143620962420audioTranscription of A20241007163035084474_281474976801399.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20241007163436504150_281474976803467.wavtranscriptionA20241007163412849688_281474976802257.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621822923audioTranscription of A20240817143621661700transcriptionA20241007163419393823_281474976803436.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007164151702906_281474976802255.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621394576audioAudio A20240817143621584933audioTranscription of A20241007164107181561_281474976803759.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143621768068audioA20241007163246077521_281474976801968.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143622277181transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163127652340_281474976801561.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143622106250transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163345892430_281474976802220.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621466567transcriptionAudio A20240817143621579149audioTranscription of A20240817143621530923transcriptionAudio A20240817143621963738audioA20241007162838578956_281474976800135.wavaudioAudio A20240817143621607182audioA20241007162911069803_281474976800288.wavaudio