Kannada

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Kannada
ಕನ್ನಡ kannaḍa
Native toKarnataka, India
Native speakers
50 million (2001)
Official status
Official language in
Karnataka, India
Regulated byVarious academies and the Government of Karnataka
Language codes
ISO 639-1kn
ISO 639-2kan
ISO 639-3kan

Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ kannaḍa; also, less commonly, Kanarese) is one of the major Dravidian languages of southern India and one of the oldest languages in India. Speakers of its various dialects number roughly 50 million people. It is the state language of Karnataka, one of the four southern states in India. It is written using the Kannada script. it is not be confused with the nation name of Canada.

History

The first record on Kannada language is traced to Emperor Ashoka's Brahmagiri edict dated 230 BC. The first example of full length Kannada language stone inscription (shilashasana) in Kannada script can be found in the Halmidi inscription, dated c. 450 CE. Prior to this, there is an abundance of inscriptions containing Kannada words, phrases and sentences. The earliest copper plate inscription (tamarashasana)(8th c. CE) in Kannada belongs to Alupa ruler Aluvarasa II from Belmannu,South Kanara district. Kannada language inscriptions are the highest of any language in India, with more than 40,000. These inscriptions were not only discovered in Karnataka but also quite commonly in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and TamilNadu. Some inscriptions were also found in MadhyaPradesh (Jabalpur) and Uttar Pradesh. Charition mime, a Greek drama discovered at Oxyrhynchus and dated to 2nd century CE. or earlier contains scenes where Indian characters in the skit speak dialogue in Kannada. This was deciphered by Dr. E. Hultzsch, a noted German indologist. This indicates the spread of the language over the ages, especially during the rule of large Kannada empires. Recent discovery of copper coin dated back to 5th century CE. in Banavasi with Kannada script inscription on it proves that Kannada language and script had become official by the time of the Kadambas of Banavasi. Coinage with Kannada legends are common from the time of Chalukyas.

Kavirajamarga, of King Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I (850A.D.) is the earliest literary work available in Kannada. It is a complex work on Kannada grammar meant to standardize various Kannada dialects used in literature in previous centuries. The book also makes references to Kannada works by early writers such as King Durvinita (495 - 535 A.D.) of Ganga dynasty of Talkad. A very early prose work in Kannada, Vaddaradhane by Sivakotyacharya of 9th century described the life of Bhadrabahu of Shravanabelagola elaborately.

The development of Kannada as a distinct language from a southern proto-Dravidian language is probably impossible to date. However, the written tradition of this language is around 1500-1600 years based on the archeological evidences. The initial development of the Kannada language is similar to that of other Dravidian languages and independent of Sanskrit. During later centuries, Kannada, along with other Indian languages like Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi etc., has been highly influenced by Sanskrit vocabulary and literary styles.

Many historians consider that only Sanskrit and Tamil languages are older than Kannada based on available inscriptions and literature. Many Kannada works from 6th, 7th and 8th centuries mentioned in Kavirajamarga are not yet traced. Kannada literature has been prolific ever since. Chudamani (a 96,000 verse-measures), a commentary on logic Tatwarthamahashastra by Tambulacharya is said to have belonged to the 7th century. Gajastaka a work on elephant management by king Shivamara II of Ganga dynasty belonged to the 8th century.

Prior to and during the early Christian era, Kannada country seems to have been in close trade ties with the Greek and Roman empires of the west. Greek dramatists of 4th century BC. seem to have been familiar with Kannada language. This is evident in their usage of Kannada words and phrases in their dramas and skits. As Historian K. Appadurai puts it, Kannada is one of the most ancient literatures not only of South India, but of all India as well. Since the earliest extant Kannada work is one of complex grammar and a guide of sorts to unify existing variants of Kannada grammar and literary styles, it can be safely assumed that literature in Kannada must have started several centuries earlier. Tamil Buddhist commentators of the 10th century A.D. (Comentary on Nemrinatham, a Tamil grammatical work) makes references to Kannada literature of the 4th century CE.

Kannada is a highly inflected language with three genders (masculine, feminine, neutral or common) and two numbers (singular, plural). It is inflected for gender, number and tense, among other things.

Some interesting facts about Kannada language history and antiquity can be found in this link below.

Dialects

There is also a sharp distinction between the spoken and written forms of the language. Spoken Kannada tends to vary from region to region. The written form is more or less constant throughout Karnataka, however. The ethnologue identifies about 20 dialects of Kannada. Notable of them are Kunda (spoken exclusively in Kundapura), Havyaka (spoken mainly by Havyaka Brahmins), Are Bhashe (spoken mainly in Sullia region of Dakshina Kannada), Soliga Kannada, Badaga Kannada, Gulbarga Kannada, Dharavada Kannada, Chitradurga Kannada,Old Mysore Kannada,etc... Basically all these dialects are influenced by their regional and cultural background.The Mumbai Karnataka has a Marathi and Hindi mix Kannada, Hyderabad Karnataka has Urdu mix Kannada, Coastal Karnataka identifies with Konkani and Tulu mix Kannada and so on.

Classification

The written Kannada language has come under various religious and social influences in its 1600 years of known existence. Linguists generally divide the written form into four broad categories.

  • Poorvada Halegannada (Pre-ancient Kananda) : This is the language of Halmidi scripture thought to be from fourth or fifth century.
  • Halegannada (Ancient Kannada) : From ninth century CE onwards, until fourteenth century Kannada works were classified under 'Ancient Kannada'. In this period Kannada developed into a matured language. Mostly Jain and Saivite poets produced works in this period.

This period saw the emergence of Vachana Sahitya, a unique and native form of literature and is the sum contributions from all sections of society.

  • Nadugannada ( Middle Kannada) : In this period Brahmanical Hinduism had a great influence on Kannada. A Kannada grammar based on Sanskrit grammar was developed by Keshiraja Bhatta. Language itself Sanskritized to a large extent. Non-brahmin Hindu saints like Kanakadasa and Purandaradasa also produced devotional poems in this period. Kanakadasa's Ramadhanya Charite is a rare work on class struggle. This period saw the advent of Haridasa Sahitya which made rich contributions to bhakti literature and sowed the seeds of carnatic music.
  • Hosagannada ( Modern Kannada) : The Kannada works produced by the end of nineteenth century and later are classified under Hosagannada or Modern Kannada. However, till the beginning of twentieth century there were Kannada literary works that could still be classified under Middle Kannada. Most notable among them is poet Muddana's works. Sometimes, his works were described as the 'dawn of Modern Kannada'. Generally, linguists treat Indira Bai or Saddharma Vijayavu by Gulvadi Venkata Raya as the first literary work in Modern Kannada.

Modern Kannada in twentieth century has been influenced by many movements. Notable among them are Navodaya, Navya, Dalita/Bandaya. Presently Kannada literature is ahead of all other languages in India with seven Jnanpith awards and forty six Sahitya Academy awards.

Jnanpith Awardees

  1. Kuvempu for Sri Ramayana Darshanam (1967)
  2. Da.Ra.Bendhre for Naaku thanthi (1973)
  3. Shivaram Karanth for Mookajjiya Kanasugalu (1977)
  4. Masti Venkatesh Iyengar for Chikkaveera Raajendhra (1983)
  5. Vi.Kru.Gokak for Bhaaratha Sindhhu Rashmi (1990)
  6. U.R.Ananthamurthy for his works in Kannada (1994)
  7. Girish Karnad for his works in Kannada (1998)
Kannada language edition of Wikipedia

Geographic distribution

Kannada is mainly spoken in Karnataka in India, and to a good extent in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu Kerala and in Goa.

Official status

A Kannada language sign board

Kannada is one of the 22 official languages of India and is the official language of the state of Karnataka.

Kannada script

Main article: Kannada script

The language has 52 letters phonemic and according to academic profile 49 letters are present in Kannada language. These 49 letters are divided into two groups: Swaragalu (15 letters) and "Vyanjanagalu" (34 letters), similar to the vowels and consonants of English, respectively. The character set is almost identical to that of other Indian languages. The script itself, derived from brahmi script, is fairly complicated like most other languages of India owing to the occurrence of various combinations of "half-letters", or symbols that attach to various letters in a manner similar to diacritical marks (such as aigüe, grave, and cédille marks) in the Romance languages. The Kannada script is almost perfectly phonetic, but for the sound of a "half n" (which becomes a half m). The number of written symbols, however, is far more than the 52 characters in the alphabet, because different characters can be combined to form compound characters (ottaksharas). Each written symbol in the Kannada script corresponds with one syllable, as opposed to one phoneme in languages like English. The script of Kannada is also used in other languages such as Tulu, Kodava Takk and Konkani.

Transliteration

Several transliteration schemes are used to type Kannada characters using a standard keyboard. These include Baraha (based on ITRANS) and Nudi, the government of Karnataka's standard for Kannada transliteration.

Unicode

Kannada[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+0C8x ಀ ಁ ಂ ಃ ಄ ಅ ಆ ಇ ಈ ಉ ಊ ಋ ಌ ಎ ಏ
U+0C9x ಐ ಒ ಓ ಔ ಕ ಖ ಗ ಘ ಙ ಚ ಛ ಜ ಝ ಞ ಟ
U+0CAx ಠ ಡ ಢ ಣ ತ ಥ ದ ಧ ನ ಪ ಫ ಬ ಭ ಮ ಯ
U+0CBx ರ ಱ ಲ ಳ ವ ಶ ಷ ಸ ಹ ಼ ಽ ಾ ಿ
U+0CCx ೀ ು ೂ ೃ ೄ ೆ ೇ ೈ ೊ ೋ ೌ ್
U+0CDx ೕ ೖ ೝ ೞ
U+0CEx ೠ ೡ ೢ ೣ ೦ ೧ ೨ ೩ ೪ ೫ ೬ ೭ ೮ ೯
U+0CFx  ೱ   ೲ  ೳ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Extinct Kannada Letters

Until the thirteenth century, Kannada literary works employed letters 'rh', 'lh (zh)', whose manner of articulation most plausibly could be akin to those in present day Malayalam. Tamil is supposed to exhibit only 'lh' and not 'rh'. The later Kannada works replaced 'rh' and 'lh' with ರ (ra) and ಳ (La) respectively.

Another letter (or unclassified vyanjana (consonant)?) that has become extinct is 'nh' or 'inn' (Again this has its equivalent in Malayalam). The usage of this consonant was observed until the 1980s in mostly coastal Karnataka (especially, Dakshina Kannada district) Kannada works. Now hardly any mainstream works use this consonant. This letter has been replaced by ನ್(consonant n).

The Dictionary

A German priest Reverend Ferdinand Kittel composed the first Kannada dictionary consisting of more than 70,000 words.

Possible mis-interpretation

The term "Kannada language" is often mis-interpreted as meaning "the language of Canada". However, the languages of Canada are English and French.

See also

Kannada Literature

Kannada edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General
Learning Resources
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