Koho language

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.

Sre
Kơho
Native toVietnam
Native speakers
200,000 (2019 census)[1]
Austroasiatic
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
kpm – Kơho
cma – Maa
Glottologkoho1243

The autonym of the Kơho people is kon cau (IPA [kɔn.caw]) while Koho (IPA [kəˈhɔ]) is a Cham exonym.[2]

Subgroups and dialects

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

Data below are from Olsen (2015).[2]

Initial consonants
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
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
  Front Central Back
High /i/ /ɨ~ɯ/ /u/
Close-mid /e/ /ǝ/ /o/
Open-mid /ɛ/ /ɔ/
Low /a/ /ɑ/

Morphology

Compounding

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

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.

WordMeaningPrefixed formMeaning
duh [duh]to be hottơnduh [tənduh]to make hot
chơt [cʰət]to dietơnchơt [təncʰət]to kill
ring [riŋ]to be flat, level, equaltơnring [tənriŋ]to equalize, make right
mut [mut]to entertơmut [təmut]to make enter
muu [muː]to descend, go downtơmuu [təmuː]to make descend, to lower

Cultural References
  • The Vietnamese acrobatic show Teh Dar by Lune Productions uses the Koho language.

References
  1. Kơho at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Maa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Olsen, Neil H. (2015). "Kơho-Sre". In Jenny, Mathias; Sidwell, Paul (eds.). The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
  3. Le, Tan Duong (2003). A phonological comparison of Maa and Koho varieties (Master’s thesis). Payap University.

Sources
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