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 while Koho is a Cham exonym.

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.

Phonology

Data below are from Olsen (2015).

Consonants

Initial consonants

Final consonants

Vowels

Morphology

Compounding

Compounding is a common way of coining new words in Koho. Some examples:

Affixing

One of the more productive prefixes in Sre is the causative tơn-, converts intransitive verbs to causative verbs. If the prefixed verbs have a nasal initial, then the nasal cluster avoidance rule applied.

Cultural References

Sources