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]
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.
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].
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.
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
The Vietnamese acrobatic show Teh Dar by Lune Productions uses the Koho language.
References
^Kơho at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) Maa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ abcOlsen, Neil H. (2015). "Kơho-Sre". In Jenny, Mathias; Sidwell, Paul (eds.). The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Leiden: Brill.
^Le, Tan Duong (2003). A phonological comparison of Maa and Koho varieties (Master’s thesis). Payap University.
