| Ho | |
|---|---|
| 𑢹𑣉𑣉 𑣎𑣋𑣜,हो जगर,ହୋ ଜାଗାର | |
 'Hoo Jagar' written inWarang Chiti | |
| Pronunciation | /hoːd͡ʑägär/ |
| Native to | India |
| Ethnicity | Ho people |
Native speakers | 1,421,418 (2011 census)[1] |
Austroasiatic
| |
| Warang Chiti,Devanagari,Bengali–Assamese,Latin script,Odia script[2] | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  India
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hoc |
| Glottolog | hooo1248 |
 Ho language speaking region | |
 Ho is classified as Vulnerable by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger[3] | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Ho (Ho pronunciation:[hoːdʑägär],Warang Chiti:𑢹𑣉𑣉 𑣎𑣋𑣜[citation needed]) is aMunda language of theAustroasiatic language family spoken primarily inIndia by about 2.2 million people (0.202% of India's population) per the 2001 census. It is spoken by theHo, Munda, Kolha and Kol tribal communities ofJharkhand,Odisha,West Bengal andAssam[4] and is written usingWarang Chiti script.Devanagari,Latin andOdia script are also used,[5] although native speakers are said to prefer Warang Chiti, invented byLako Bodra.[6]
The name Ho is derived from the native wordhoo meaninghuman being,[7] with cognates in its sister languageshoṛo in Mundari,ho̠ṛ in Santali andkoro inKorku.
Ho is closely related toMundari andSantali. Ho and Mundari are often described as sister languages.[7][8] Ho is closer to the Hasadaḱ dialect of Mundari than the other varieties spoken in Jharkhand.[9] While being ethnically and linguistically close, Ho and Mundari speakers form distinct regional identities.
Around half of all Ho speakers reside inWest Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, where they form a majority. Ho speakers are also found in districts ofEast Singhbhum in southern Jharkhand,Mayurbhanj andKeonjhar in northern Odisha.
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | (ɳ) | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Stop/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | t͡ɕ | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | d͡ʑ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | s | h | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||
| Tap | ɾ | ɽ | |||||
Ho has 5 basic vowels, these can be short, long, nasalized and long and nasalized. Long vowels either result from gemination of short vowels resulting from loss of intervocalic consonants or due to the bimoraic constraint inherited from Proto-Munda.[12]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iiː | uuː | |
| Mid | eeː | ooː | |
| Open | aaː |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | ĩ | ũ | |
| Mid | ẽ | õ | |
| Open | ã |
Like other languages of the Munda family, Ho has a mostly suffixing agglutinative inflectional morphology and follows accusative morphosyntactic alignment. There is some debate on whether Munda languages have word classes, an item from any word class can function as a verb in Ho. Ho does not have relative pronouns natively and relies on the participle forms of verbs, the forms that includes aspect, object and transitivity, but no mood markers, to form relative clauses.
Number, possession and case suffixes are added to nouns. Alienable and inalienable possessions are distinguished.
Ho distinguishes singular, dual and plural numbers. Number suffixes are generally written separate from base nouns.
| Possessive | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Kula "tiger" | Kulaaḱ "tiger's" |
| Dual | Kulakin "two tigers" | Kula kinaḱ "of the two tigers" |
| Plural | Kulako "tigers" | Kula koaḱ "of the tigers" |
Construction for alienable possessions is different form inalienable possessions,En Eraaḱ Kolom "That woman's thresing floor", andEn Era Gauńte "That woman's aunt". Suffixes for inalienable possessions only occur in the singular.
| 1st person possessor | 2nd person possessor | 3rd person possessor | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Gauń "aunt" | Gauńiń "my aunt" | Gauńme "your aunt" | Gauńte "his/her aunt" |
| Dual | Gauń kin "two aunts" | Gauńińtekin "my two aunts" | Gauńmetekin "your two aunts" | Gauńtetekin "his/her two aunts" |
| Plural | Gauń kin "two aunts" | Gauńińteko "my aunts" | Gauńmeteko "your aunts" | Gauńteteko "his/her aunts" |
Ho personal pronoun distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person and anaphoric and demonstrative third person.
| Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||
| 1st person | Exclusive | ań | aliń | ale | ||
| Inclusive | alaṅ | abu | ||||
| 2nd person | am | aben | ape | |||
| 3rd person | Anaphoric | ać | akin | ako | ||
| Demonstrative | Proximal | neić | nekin | neko | ||
| Distal | Visible | enić | enkin | enko | ||
| Audible | etić | etekin | eteko | |||
| Remote | hanić | hankin | hanko | |||
| Animate | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|
| Referential | okoe | okon |
| Non-referential | chenić | chenaḱ |
| Animate | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|
| 'any' | jahć | jahnaḱ |
| 'another' | eṭaḱć | eṭaḱaḱ |
| Simple | Particular | |
|---|---|---|
| Proximate | ne, nen | nea, nena |
| Distal | en | ena |
| Remote | han | hana |
Short forms are used in compound words, general counting and counting money, the long forms are used when counting specific objects.
| Cardinal | Distributive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short form | Long form | Short form | Long form | |
| 1 | mí | miat́ | mimit́ | mí-miat́ |
| 2 | bar | baria | bá-bar | bá-baria |
| 3 | apé | apeia | á-pé | á-peia |
| 4 | upun | upunia | ú-pun | ú-punia |
| 5 | moe | moeia | mó-moe | mó-móeia |
| 6 | turui | turuiia | tú-turui | tú-turuiia |
| 7 | ai | aiia | á-ai | á-aiia |
| 8 | iril | irilia | í-iril | í-irilia |
| 9 | are | areia | á-are | á-areia |
| 10 | gel | gelia | gé-gel | gé-gelia |
| 20 | hisi | hisiia | hí-hisi | hí-hisiia |
| Postposition | Function |
|---|---|
| lagit́ | Dative |
| loḱ | Comitative, along with |
| paa | Towards, around |
| re | Spatio-temporal location, locative |
| paṅ | Temporal, indicates time |
| japaḱ | Near |
| te | Instrumental, instrument, cause, motion, direction, allative |
| leka | Semblative |
| taḱ | Adessive |
| aete | Ablative, source, origin |
| chetan | On top of |
| latar | Below |
| suba | Under |
| jóṅ,joka | Terminative |
| mutit́/partet́ | Distributive |
| Particle | Function / Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| do | Topic marker | En Kajido nahḱ at́ eana, 'That word is now forgotten' |
| ó | 'Even/also' | En Kajió nahḱ do at́ eana, 'Even that word is forgotten now' |
| ge | Emphasis marker | En Kajige at́ eana, 'That very word is forgotten' |
| chi | Question particle | En Kaji at́ eanachi?, 'Has that word been forgotten?' |
| ma | 'As for that' | En Kajima at́ eana nahḱ do, 'As for that word, it is lost now' |
| rená,rengá | Intensifier | En Kaji at́rená/rengá eana, 'That word is absolutely forgotten' |
| toraṅ | Speculative | En Kaji do at́ eanatoraṅ, 'That word is forgotten I suppose' |
| chiat́/chit́laṅ/chimat́ | 'As far as I know' | En Kaji do at́ eanachimat́, 'That word is forgotten (as far as I know)' |
| deraṅ | Hearsay | En Chatom do at́ eanaderaṅ, 'That umbrella was lost (they say)' |
| batit́/batit́laṅ/batikam/batil | Realization/correction particle | En Urić doć at́ eanabatit́, 'That cow has gone missing (I just realized)';Nen Urić batit́ at́ lena, 'It was this cow that was lost (not the other one, I was mistaken)' |
| honaṅ | Irrealis marker | En Kaji do at́ eanahonaṅ, 'That word would have been forgotten' |
| auri | 'Not yet' | En Kaji doauri at́oḱa, 'That word is yet to be forgotten' |
| gatát́/gatalt́ | 'All without exception' | Upun hoogatát́/gatalt́kô at́ eana, 'All the four persons were lost' |
| jaket́/sante | 'As far as even' | En Kajijaket́/sante at́oḱ ge, 'To the extent that even that word may be forgotten' |
| mar | Prompt hearer to do something | En Merommar kumbuu eana, 'That goat has been stolen (how disappointing, what would you even say to that?)' |
| halte | 'So it was...' | Nen Setahalte at́ lena, 'So it was this dog that was lost' |
| idu | Dubitative | Nael kale kumbuu kenakô menèa,idu, 'They say we did not steal the plough (but who knows?)' |
| sumat́/sungat́/suat́/sual | 'Only' | Nen Oaḱsumat́ sareć eana, 'Only this house was spared' |
| chite | Disbelief | En chokoć lekan Oaḱchitekô kiriṅ ket́a?, 'Did they really buy this small house?' |
| oṛoḱ | 'What else do you expect?' | Parkom do Gama rem bage let́a, soya eanaoṛoḱ, You had left the cot in the rain, it started rotting, what else do you expect? |
| rongam/rongate | 'I tell you / of course' | Kolom ren Guḍurongam Bilae imineć maraṅa, 'The bandicoot rat from the threshing floor is big as a cat I tell you' |
There is no restrictions as to which word may occupy the role of a verb. Therefore, even proper nouns may act as verbs,Lako ket́ińako, 'They named me Lako'. Verbs may be serialized or modified with affixes before being put in this verb template:
Verb stem + (Aspect marker) + (Transitive/Intransitive marker) + (Object pronoun) + (Mood marker) + (Subject pronoun)
The verb stem may be modified in the following ways:
| Root modification | Example withkaji, 'to tell' | |
| Reciprocal | -p- | kapaji, 'to tell each other / argue' |
| Benefactive | -a | kajia, 'to tell someone' |
| Habitual | lengthening or reduplication of the first syllable | kaáji, 'to tell habitually' |
| Transitive | Intransitive | Examples withnutum, 'to name' | ||
| Past | Pluperfect | let́ | len | nutumlet́ań, 'I had previously named';nutumlenań, 'I was previously named' |
| Aorist | ket́ | ken* | nutumket́ań, 'I named';nutumkenań, 'I used to name' | |
| Ingressive | ** | yan*** | nutumyanań, 'I had begun to be named / I was named' | |
| Perfect | akat́ | akan | nutumakat́ań, 'I have named';nutumakanań, 'I have been named (I'm famous)' | |
| Non-past | Progressive/Continuous/Punctual | tat́ | tan**** | nutumtat́ań, 'I have (just) named';nutumètanań, 'I am naming it' |
| Present/Future | -Ø | -oḱ | nuútumań, 'I name (habitually)';nutumoḱań, 'I will be named' | |
| lee | leenoḱ | nutumleeań, 'I will first name it';nutumleenoḱań 'I will first be famous' | ||
| kee | keenoḱ | nutumkeeań, 'I will name it (before doing something else)' | ||
| akaa | akaanoḱ | nutumakaaàń, 'I will keep naming';nutumakaanoḱań, 'I will continue to be named' | ||
| taa | - | nutumtaaàń, 'I will name it now' | ||
Most of the Ho basic vocabulary is of Munda origin, with cognates in other Kherwarian languages, undated old borrowings from Indo-Aryan languages also exist, such askolom, 'threasing floor',datarom 'a sickle',sutam 'a thread',gotom 'ghee' andparkom 'a cot'. In recent years, increased number of words from Hindi, English and Odia have been entering the language due to increased contact. Ho numbers are almost entirely out of practical use, being supplanted by Hindi numbers, except for one, two and three.
Ho lexicon reflects close association with nature, including numerous onomatopoeias arising from cries of different animals along with 'expressives' to describe sounds in nature.[13]
Ho, like other Kherwarian languages, has lexical differentiation in many of its verbs, whereby different words exist to express distinctions within a single concept. For example,maḱ 'to cut with a striking motion',hat́ 'to cut with a sawing motion',ir 'to reap with a sickle',get́ 'to cut with cutting tool being stationary',paaḱ 'to split firewood with an axe',laṭaṕ 'to clip hair etc.',hese 'to clear branches etc. by cutting',banḍić 'to cut the extremities',topaṅ/tobaṅ 'to sever with a single striking motion',samaḱ 'to cut into small pieces'.
Many words are derived using affixes.
| Affix | Examples |
| a- | nú 'to drink' →anu 'to cause/make to drink',jom 'to eat' →ajom 'to feed',kiriṅ →akiriṅ 'to cause to buy (to sell)',sen 'to walk' →asen 'to cause to walk (to help someone walk), to transport' |
| -n- | nel 'to see' →nenel 'a view, an opinion',duṕ 'to sit' →dunuṕ 'a meeting',saṕ 'to hold' →sanaṕ 'a handle',roḱ 'to carve' →ronoḱ 'a carving' |
| -p- | got́ 'to pluck' →gopot́ 'the petiole',kuli 'to ask' →kupuli 'to ask each other',kupul 'a relative',hon 'a child' →hopon 'descendants',seet́ 'son' →sepeet́ 'a youth' |
| -t- | numu 'a name' →nutum 'to name; a name',bor 'to pull out a string etc.' →botor 'a train of cloth etc.',aagom 'a levelling plank' →ataagom 'to level with a plank; a levelling plank' |
| -m- | hon 'son' →homon 'a woman's brother's son',hoo 'human' →homoo 'the body',laḱ 'to scrape' →lamaḱ 'the bean pod of a tree (used as a scraper)' |
| m- | arsal 'to shine light' →marsal 'light',raḱ 'to cry' →maraḱ 'a peacock' |
| -r- | oṅ 'to blow' →oroṅ 'to play a wind instrument',ugum 'hot and sultry' →urgum 'warm',kaji 'to say' →karji 'a messenger',akit́ 'to gather' →arkit́ 'to abduct',teteć 'moonlight' →terteć 'dim light' |
| r- | anjet́ 'to dry up' → ranjet́ 'to cause to dry up' |
| k- | eset́ 'to block' → keset́ 'to cause to block' |
Ho has been written in various scripts, starting from the first written record of 1824[14] to the present day, mostly using theLatin alphabet,Devanagari,Odia and more recently using theWarang Chiti script. Most writing done in Jharkhand tends to use the Devanagari script, while in Odisha it is the Odia script. While community intellectuals have been promoting the usage of Warang Chiti, it is yet to be widely used among Ho people due to it not being a part of school education. In 1985, a committee consisting of intellectuals includingRam Dayal Munda andBhagey Gobardhan deliberated on common script for Ho, and decided in favor of Warang Chiti, eliminating competition from scripts put forth by other inventors such as Sangram Sindhu's Owar Anka Gār Lipi, disseminated by an institution called Sindhu Jumur,Rohidas Singh Nag'sMundari Bani Hisir Champa, Raghunath Purty's Ho Ol Lipi, Purushottam Godsora's Srishti Lipi among others.[15]
Ho has developed into an independent language as a result of various phonological and semantic changes from earlier forms common to North Munda languages. Most notable among these is the loss of intervocalic /ṛ/, leading to vowel length becoming phonemic. A common North Munda verbdoho 'to put, to place', Santalido̠ho̠, Mundaridō takes on a vulgar meaning in Ho, many such semantic shifts make conversations with speakers of these related languages difficult.[16] Ho speakers are believed to have enteredSinghbhum form the North where Mundari, with two major dialects Hasadaḱ and Naguri is spoken. In terms of affinity, Ho is closer to the Hasadaḱ dialect in most respects, including the mutation of the glottalized final consonant/ʔɟ̥̚/ into/ʔᵉ/ or/ʔⁱ/. John Hoffmann considers there to be much less difference between Hasadaḱ and Ho than between Hasadaḱ and Naguri.[9] Some forms in southern Kolhan resemble Naguri forms, such as the conjunctionanḍoḱ 'moreover, and', while in northern Singhbhum it'soṛoḱ, as in Hasadaḱ. Ho in the north also maintains the Hasadaḱ contractions in certain verb forms likekić fromket́ić, lić fromlet́ić and-aić from-at́ić. Ho is also notable for its tendency to simplify common North Munda forms, Mundarioṛoṅ/uṛuṅ/oḍoṅ, Santalioḍok/oḍoṅ to /oːʔl/, Mundari, Santaliselet́,seret́,irit́,ilat́ etc. to /seːʔl/, /seːʔr/, /iːʔr/ and /iːʔl/.
The first published written record of the Ho language is from 1844,[14] which has a short word list dated 2 April 1824.Samuel Tickell publishedGrammatical construction of the Ho language in 1840.[17] The first published Ho writing by an ethnic Ho is poetry of Kanuram Deogam in 1930.[18]
The Latin, Devanagari and Warang Chiti scripts have been used in the field of teaching and learning. In 1953, the department of Education, Government of Bihar set out instructions to all the Divisional Inspectors of schools.[19] The government maintained that 'the pupil-teachers whose mother tongue is other than Hindi should be given the option of maintaining their records in their mother tongue. In every junior Training School besides Hindi, a second mother-tongue as accepted in Government resolution no.645ER of 10 August 1953 should be invariably taught.' The plan has been to provide education in their mother tongue at the primary level.
Since 1976, the Ho language is being imparted at intermediate and graduate courses in different colleges under the Ranchi University. The university opened a separate department named Tribal and Regional Languages in 1981.[20]
In erstwhile Bihar, the Information and Mass Communication department regularly published Ho articles, folk stories, songs in Devanagari script in a weekly named Adivasi Saptahik.
There are significant initiatives inculcated in development of Ho language. A pioneering work was started at Ete Turtung Akhara, Jhinkapani to study and develop the Ho language under the leadership of Lako Bodra with the help of Adi Sanskriti Evam Vigyan Sansthan. The institute published a book in 1963 titledHo Hayam Paham Puti in Warang Chiti and introduced the letters of Warang Chiti.[21]
A. Pathak and N.K. Verma tried to compare the Warang Chiti withIndus script inEchoes of Indus Valley.[22] Sudhanshu Kumar Ray in his 'Indus Script' described that the script Warang Chiti resembles the script of Indus that was discovered by Ashok Pagal and Bulu Imam in the caves of Aswara hill near Baraka village.[23]
Xavier Ho Publication, Lupungutu has been publishing Ho books in the Devanagri script. John Deeney publishedHo Grammar and Vocabulary in 1975.[24]
Under the Multilingual Education (MLE) programme, Odisha government has been providing primary education in Ho speaking areas.[25]
TheUniversity Grants Commission of India has already recognized Ho as a language and literature. Now, UGC is conductingNational Eligibility Test examination in Ho language under the "'subject code 70"' in Tribal and Regional Language/Literature group.[26] In Odisha and Jharkhand, Education in Ho at the primary level was introduced in 20 and 449 schools respectively and about 44,502 tribal students are pursuing their studies in the language.[27][28]
Besides education, Ho has also got its due recognition in the world of mass media. For the last few years,All India Radio (AIR) has been airing songs in Ho from the AIR centres inKeonjhar,Rourkela andCuttack besidesBaripada inMayurbhanj district ofOdisha state. Regular programs in Ho are broadcast fromChaibasa andJamshedpur AIR centres in Jharkhand. Similarly, fromRanchi AIR centre in Jharkhand, regional news bulletins are broadcast two days a week Friday and Sunday.[27]
The following universities offer courses on Ho:
The following educational institutions offer courses on Ho:
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Apart from the Ho peoples themselves, the governments ofOdisha andJharkhand have been making demands for Ho to be included in theEighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.[33][34] Rajya Sabha member and Union Petroleum and Steel MinisterDharmendra Pradhan had also submitted a memorandum demanding that the Government of India include Ho in the Constitution to give it anofficial status.The same request has also been made by the Department of Personnel, Jharkhand.[35] Former Home MinisterRajnath Singh had assured that Ho would be included in the eighth schedule, said union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.[36]
Erstwhile Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has written to the Home Ministry for the inclusion of Ho into the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.[37]
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