Editing Ho language (section)

==History==
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 verb ''doho'' 'to put, to place''','' Santali ''do̠ho̠,'' Mundari ''dō'' takes on a vulgar meaning in Ho, many such semantic shifts make conversations with speakers of these related languages difficult.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deeney |first=John |url=https://michaelyorke.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Ho-Grammar-by-J-Deeney.pdf |title=Ho Grammar (𑢹𑣉𑣉 𑢷𑣁𑣌𑣐𑣁) |year=n.d. |pages=83}}</ref> Ho speakers are believed to have entered [[West Singhbhum district|Singhbhum]] 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.<ref name=":0" /> Some forms in southern Kolhan resemble Naguri forms, such as the conjunction ''anḍoḱ'' 'moreover, and', while in northern Singhbhum it's ''oṛoḱ'', as in Hasadaḱ. Ho in the north also maintains the Hasadaḱ contractions in certain verb forms like ''kić'' from ''ket́ić, lić'' from ''let́ić'' and ''-aić'' from ''-at́ić''. Ho is also notable for its tendency to simplify common North Munda forms, Mundari ''oṛoṅ/uṛuṅ/oḍoṅ'', Santali ''oḍok/oḍoṅ'' to /oːʔl/, Mundari, Santali ''selet́'', ''seret́'', ''irit́'', ''ilat́'' etc. to /seːʔl/, /seːʔr/, /iːʔr/ and /iːʔl/.

The first published written record of the Ho language is from 1844,<ref name=":1" /> which has a short word list dated 2 April 1824. [[Samuel Tickell]] published ''Grammatical construction of the Ho language'' in 1840.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tickell |first=Samuel Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/biostor-293057/mode/2up?q=tickell+grammatical+construction |title=IV.—Grammatical construction of the Ho language |date=1840 }}</ref> The first published Ho writing by an ethnic Ho is poetry of Kanuram Deogam in 1930.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Asiatic Society of Bengal |url=https://archive.org/details/journal-of-the-asiatic-society-of-bengal/1926-27_num_supp/page/n61/mode/2up?q=kanuram+deogam |title=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |date=1930}}</ref>

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.<ref>Department of Education, Government of Bihar,1953</ref> 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.<ref>University Department Of Tribal And Regional Language, Ranchi University, Jharkhand</ref>

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 titled ''Ho Hayam Paham Puti'' in Warang Chiti and introduced the letters of Warang Chiti.<ref>Eteh Turtung Akhara, Jhinkapani</ref>

A. Pathak and N.K. Verma tried to compare the Warang Chiti with [[Indus script]] in ''Echoes of Indus Valley''.<ref>Echoes of Indus valley by A.Pathak and N.K. Verma</ref> 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.<ref>Indus Script by Sudhanshu Kumar Ray</ref>

Xavier Ho Publication, Lupungutu has been publishing Ho books in the Devanagri script. John Deeney published ''Ho Grammar and Vocabulary'' in 1975.<ref>Xavier Ho (𑢹𑣉𑣉) Publication, Lupungutu,1975</ref>