Koho language
| Sre | |
|---|---|
| Kơho | |
| Native to | Vietnam |
Native speakers | 200,000 (2019 census)[1] |
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:kpm – Kơhocma – Maa |
| Glottolog | koho1243 |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
Koho or K'Ho is a South Bahnaric language spoken by the Koho people and Mạ people, mainly in the Lâm Đồng Province of Vietnam. It is very close to the Mnong language.
The autonym of the Kơho people is kon cau (IPA: [kɔn.caw]) while Koho (IPA: [kəˈhɔ]) is a Cham exonym.[2]
Subgroups and dialects
[edit | edit source]There are at least twelve Kơho dialect groups for the area: Chil (Cil, Til); Kalop (Tulop); Kơyon (Kodu, Co-Don); Làc (Làt, Lach); Mà (Mạ, Maa); Nồp (Nop, Xre Nop, Noup); Pru; Ryông Tô (Riồng, Rion); Sop, Sre (Chau Sơre, Xrê); Talà (To La); and Tring (Trinh). Although Mạ/Maa is a Koho dialect group, the Mạ people identify as a separate ethnic group.[3][2]
Phonology
[edit | edit source]Data below are from Olsen (2015).[2]
Consonants
[edit | edit source]Initial consonants
[edit | edit source]| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| Aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | cʰ | kʰ | ||
| Voiced | b | d | ɟ | g | ||
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Fricative | s | h | ||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
- The phoneme /r/ is commonly a voiced alveolar trill [r] but also often reduces to a flap [ɾ] when it occurs as the second segment in a consonant cluster.
Final consonants
[edit | edit source]| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | c | k | ʔ | |
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Fricative | s | h | ||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
- Before the palatal finals /c/ and /ɲ/, there is an audible palatal offglide after the vowel [Vʲ], so that /pwac/ ‘flesh’ is pronounced as [pwaʲc] and /ʔaɲ/ ‘I (1st person singular)’ as [ʔaʲɲ].
Vowels
[edit | edit source]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | /i/ | /ɨ~ɯ/ | /u/ |
| Close-mid | /e/ | /ǝ/ | /o/ |
| Open-mid | /ɛ/ | /ɔ/ | |
| Low | /a/ | /ɑ/ |
- Vowels contrast in length.
Morphology
[edit | edit source]Compounding
[edit | edit source]Compounding is a common way of coining new words in Koho. Some examples:
- muh mat ‘face’ < muh ([muh]) ‘nose’ + mat ([mat]) ‘eye’
- phe mbar ‘sticky rice’ < phe ([phɛ]) ‘husked rice’ + mbar ([mbar]) ‘sticky’
- ôi ao ‘clothes’ < ôi ([ʔoːj]) ‘blanket’ + ao ([ʔaːw]) ‘shirt’
Affixing
[edit | edit source]One of the more productive prefixes in Sre is the causative tơn- [tən-], converts intransitive verbs to causative verbs. If the prefixed verbs have a nasal initial, then the nasal cluster avoidance rule applied.
| Word | Meaning | Prefixed form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| duh [duh] | to be hot | tơnduh [tənduh] | to make hot |
| chơt [cʰət] | to die | tơnchơt [təncʰət] | to kill |
| ring [riŋ] | to be flat, level, equal | tơnring [tənriŋ] | to equalize, make right |
| mut [mut] | to enter | tơmut [təmut] | to make enter |
| muu [muː] | to descend, go down | tơmuu [təmuː] | to make descend, to lower |
Cultural references
[edit | edit source]- The Vietnamese acrobatic show Teh Dar by Lune Productions uses the Koho language.
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Kơho at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Maa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Sources
[edit | edit source]- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
