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 A20240817143621475067audioAudio A20240817143621664335audioTranscription of A20240817143621834111transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621678917transcriptionA20241007162817153289_281474976799643.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163055557311_281474976801437.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143621517907transcriptionAudio A20240817143621837954audioTranscription of A20240817143622294010transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621016238transcriptionAudio A20240817143622005368audioTranscription of A20240817143621707886transcriptionAudio A20240817143622319905audioTranscription of A20240817143622098599transcriptionAudio A20240817143622328228audioAudio A20240817143621514026audioAudio A20240817143622036797audioTranscription of A20240817143621750792transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163234592604_281474976801964.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143622275650transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143621892924transcriptionTranscription of A20240817143622279603transcriptionA20241007162839823449_281474976800137.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143622134748transcriptionAudio A20240817143622170718audioA20241007163221863976_281474976801945.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143622039865transcriptionA20241007163056109730_281474976801292.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621925224transcriptionAudio A20240817143622297775audioAudio A20240817143620960224audioA20241007163229796308_281474976801957.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143622076732transcriptionTranscription of A20241007162837409844_281474976800132.wavtranscriptionA20241007162801657204_281474976799615.wavaudioTranscription of A20241007163253700850_281474976801981.wavtranscriptionTranscription of A20240817143622022975transcriptionTranscription of A20241007163012799255_281474976801299.wavtranscriptionAudio A20240817143622013698audioAudio A20240817143622273230audioAudio A20240817143622217553audioAudio A20240817143622153675audioA20241007164120989006_281474976803817.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621831132transcriptionAudio A20240817143622212533audioA20241007163027343337_281474976801321.wavaudioA20241007163030678609_281474976801327.wavaudioA20241007163947467857_281474976803650.wavaudioTranscription of A20240817143621918722transcriptionAudio A20240817143621996772audio