Kannada

Kannada is a special language spoken mainly in the state of Karnataka in southwest India. Many people there, about 44 million, speak Kannada as their first language, and many more use it as a second or third language. It is very important in Karnataka because it is the official language used in schools, government offices, and many other places.

Kannada has a long and rich history. It was used by many important kingdoms and empires in South India, Central India, and the Deccan Plateau over many years. These included the Kadamba dynasty, Western Ganga dynasty, Chalukya dynasty, Rashtrakutas, and the Vijayanagara Empire.

People write Kannada using its own special script, which developed from an older script called the Kadamba script. Kannada has been used in writing for more than 1,200 years! The literature in Kannada is very respected and has won many big awards, including eight Jnanpith Awards and one International Booker Prize. In 2011, a special center was set up in Mysore to help study and learn more about this beautiful language.

Geographic distribution

Kannada is mainly spoken in the state of Karnataka in India, where about two-thirds of the people speak it as their first language.

People who speak Kannada also live in nearby states such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, and Goa. In Karnataka, many more people use Kannada as a second or third language. There are also Kannada speakers in countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia.

The Malayalam language spoken by people of Lakshadweep includes many words from Kannada.

Development

Kannada is a South Dravidian language and comes from an older language called Tamil-Kannada. Its history has three main parts: Old Kannada from 450 to 1200 AD, Middle Kannada from 1200 to 1700, and Modern Kannada from 1700 until today.

Kannada has been shaped by other languages like Sanskrit and Prakrit. Many words in Kannada come from these languages. For example, words like "day" and "sun" are similar to their Sanskrit versions. Some words changed a little but still feel familiar, like "colour" and "king".

History

Main articles: Halmidi inscription, Kappe Arabhatta, Shravanabelagola inscription of Nandisena, Tyagada Brahmadeva Pillar, Atakur inscription, Doddahundi nishidhi inscription, and List of people associated with the study of Kannada inscriptions

The earliest Kannada inscriptions date back to the middle of the 5th century AD. Before that, there were texts that might have been influenced by the language that came before Old Kannada.

Scholars believe that people in Karnataka spoke Kannada long before it was written down. Even though ancient rock inscriptions were written in a different language, the people living there spoke Kannada. Researchers think that Kannada had a rich spoken history, just like other languages.

Over time, Kannada influenced other languages. Words from Kannada appear in very old inscriptions written in another language. This shows that Kannada was spoken and used in trade with places far away, including ancient Greece and Rome. The names of places and rivers along the coast of Karnataka also come from Kannada.

Literature

The oldest known record of Kannada poetry is the Kappe Arabhatta from the 7th century AD. The Kavirajamarga by King Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I, written in 850 AD, is the earliest existing literary work in Kannada. It focuses on literary criticism and poetics, aiming to standardize Kannada dialects used in earlier literature. The book mentions works by early writers like King Durvinita from the 6th century and Ravikirti, who wrote in 636 AD.

Early Kannada writers include Vimala or Vimalachandra, Udaya, Nagarjuna, Jayabodhi, Durvinita, Kavisvara, Srivijaya, Pandita Chandra, Ravikirti, and Lokapala. Ancient Kannada poetry forms like Chattana and Bedande, which used the Desi metre, survived until at least 850 AD. These poems sometimes mixed Kannada with influences from Sanskrit and Prakrit metres. The Kavirajamarga also talks about earlier forms of Kannada writing, such as gadyakatha (a mix of prose and poetry), chattana, and bedande.

Kannada literature grew over time, with new styles like Ragale (blank verse) and meters such as Sangatya and Shatpadi emerging. Writers like Harihara and Raghavanka were important in developing these new forms. The Vachana Sahitya tradition of the 12th century included short poems that reflected social, religious, and economic life, and questioned ideas of caste and religion. Important Vachana writers include Basavanna, Allama Prabhu, and Akka Mahadevi.

During the Middle Kannada period (15th to 18th centuries), Hinduism greatly influenced Kannada literature. Kumara Vyasa was a major writer, adapting parts of the Mahabharata into Kannada using the Bhamini Shatpadi meter. This period also saw the rise of Haridasa Sahitya, devotional poetry that contributed to Bhakti literature and Carnatic music. Purandara Dasa is often called the Father of Carnatic music.

Modern Kannada literature began in the 19th century with works like Hosagannaḍa. Poets like Nandalike Muddana are seen as pioneers. The 20th century saw many movements shape Kannada literature, and the language has produced famous poets and writers such as Kuvempu, Bendre, and V K Gokak. Kannada literature has won eight Jnanpith awards, the most for any Indian language.

The oldest known Kannada-Kannada dictionary, Ranna Kanda, was written by the poet Ranna in 996 AD. Other early dictionaries include Abhidanavastukosa by Nagavarma in 1054 and Abhinavaabhidaana by Abhinava Mangaraja in 1398. Missionary Ferdinand Kittel published a Kannada–English dictionary with over 70,000 words and a grammar book in 1903.

G. Venkatasubbiah edited the first modern Kannada–Kannada dictionary, the 9,000-page, 8-volume Kannaḍa nighaṇṭu, published by Sahitya Parishat. He also wrote a Kannada–English dictionary and a dictionary of difficult words.

Dialects

The Kannada language has big differences between how people speak and how they write. The standard form used in schools and books is mostly the same all over Karnataka. But when people talk, their words change depending on where they live, even though most can still understand each other.

Experts sort Kannada dialects into four main groups: Southern, Northern, Central, and Coastal. These groups sometimes mix together. Northern dialects keep older sounds that southern ones do not have. Coastal dialects borrow words from Tulu and Konkani because people in those places have talked together for a long time.

Writing system

The Kannada language uses forty-nine letters. These letters are split into three groups: vowels, consonants, and two special letters called anusvara and visarga. The Kannada writing system is very easy to read because each symbol stands for one syllable, unlike English where letters can make many different sounds. Sometimes, letters are combined to create special symbols for compound sounds.

Phonology

Kannada has many sounds, like most languages. Some sounds can be said in more than one way, depending on where they appear in a word.

The language includes special sounds borrowed from other languages, such as English and Arabic words. Some local ways of speaking Kannada also have unique sounds found in nearby languages.

Grammar

Kannada words usually follow a subject-object-verb order, like many other Indian languages. It is a language that changes words a lot to show gender, number, and time. Kannada has three genders — masculine, feminine, and neuter — and two numbers: singular and plural.

The first book about Kannada was called Kavirajamarga, written in 850 AD. It talked about poetry, speaking skills, and basic grammar rules. Later, a very important book about Kannada grammar was written by Keshiraja. It is called Shabdamanidarpana and was written around 1260 AD.

Significance to modern linguistics

Kannada has helped linguists understand how people learn languages. One important finding is that Kannada uses a special word ending when showing that something makes another thing happen. This helped researchers see if children learning Kannada use the same rules as children learning English.

Another important point is about how Kannada says "no" at the end of a sentence. This helps scientists see if children understand sentences in the same way, no matter what language they speak. Studies show that children learning Kannada think about sentences in a similar way to children learning English. This supports the idea that how we understand sentences is a natural part of our minds.

Sample text

The given sample text is Article 1 from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

English

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Kannada

ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಮಾನವರು ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರರಾಗಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಘನತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅಧಿಕಾರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸಮಾನರಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತಿಳಿವು ಮತ್ತು ಅಂತಃಸಾಕ್ಷಿಯನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದವರಾದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಅವರು ಒಬ್ಬರಿಗೊಬ್ಬರು ಸಹೋದರ ಭಾವದಿಂದ ನಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು.

Romanisation (ISO 15919)

Ellā mānavaru svatantrarāgiyē huṭṭiddāre hāgu ghanate mattu adhikāragaḷalli samānarāgiddāre. Tiḷivu mattu antaḥsākṣīyannu paḍedavarāddarinda avaru obbarigobbaru sahōdara bhāvadinda naḍedukoḷḷabēku.

IPA

/ellaː maːn̪ɐʋɐɾu sʋɐt̪ɐn̪t̪ɾɐɾaːɡijeː huʈʈid̪d̪aːɾe haːɡu gʱɐn̪ɐt̪e mɐt̪t̪u ɐd̪ʱikaːɾɐɡɐɭɐlli sɐmaːn̪ɐɾaːɡid̪d̪aːɾe ǁ t̪iɭiʋu mɐt̪t̪u ɐn̪t̪ɐkkɐɾɐɳɐɡɐɭɐn̪n̪u pɐɖed̪ɐʋɐraːd̪d̪ɐɾin̪d̪ɐ ɐʋɐɾu obbɐɾiɡobbɐɾu sɐhoːd̪ɐɾɐ bʱaːʋɐd̪in̪d̪ɐ n̪ɐɖed̪ukoɭɭɐbeːku ǁ/