Kannada script: Difference between revisions

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The Kannada script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, primarily to write the Kannada language, one of the Dravidian languages in India. It is also used for Konkani, Tulu and Kodava languages.

General

The script has 49 characters in its alphasyllabary and is phonemic. The Kannada character set is almost identical to that of other Indian languages. The number of written symbols, however, is far more than the 49 characters in the alphasyllabary, 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 Kannada writing system is an abugida, with consonants appearing with an inherent vowel.

The is classified into three categories: swaras (or vowels), vyanjanas (or consonants) and yogavaahas (part vowel/part consonants).

Note: Unicode character entities used below. You will need a font that supports Kannada to see the characters. English transliterations based on Unicode character names listed next to symbol.

Vowels

There are thirteen vowels (swaras):

ಅ (a), ಆ (aa), ಇ (e), ಈ (ee), ಉ (u), ಊ (uu), ಋ (rr), ಎ (a~), ಏ (ea), ಐ (ai), ಒ (o), ಓ (oo), ಔ (ou)

Yogavaahas

The yogavaahas (part-vowel, part consonant) include two letters.

1. The anusvara: ಂ (am)

2. The visarga: ಃ (ah)

Consonants

Two types of consonants are identified in Kannada—the structured consonants and the unstructured consonants. The structured consonants are classified according to where the tongue touches the palate of the mouth and are classified accordingly into five structured groups.

Structured consonants

	voiceless	voiceless aspirate	voiced	voiced aspirate	nasal
Velars	ಕ (ka)	ಖ (kha)	ಗ (ga)	ಘ (gha)	ಙ (nga)
Palatals	ಚ (ca)	ಛ (cha)	ಜ (ja)	ಝ (jha)	ಞ (nya)
Retroflex	ಟ (tta)	ಠ (ttha)	ಡ (dd)	ಢ (ddha)	ಣ (nna)
Dentals	ತ (ta)	ಥ (tha)	ದ (da)	ಧ (dha)	ನ (na)
Labials	ಪ (pa)	ಫ (pha)	ಬ (ba)	ಭ (bha)	ಮ (ma)

See place of articulation for more information on tongue positions.

Unstructured Consonants

The unstructured consonants are consonants that do not fall into any of the above structures:

ಯ (ya), ರ (ra), ಲ (la), ವ (va), ಶ (sha), ಷ (shha), ಸ (sa), ಹ (ha), ಳ (lla)

Numbers

The decimal numbers in the script are:

೦ (0), ೧ (1), ೨ (2), ೩ (3); ೪ (4), ೫ (5), ೬ (6), ೭ (7), ೮ (8), ೯ (9)

External links

The Unicode Book: Chapter 9 — South and Southeast Asian Scripts (PDF)
The Unicode Standard 4.0 — Kannada Code Chart (PDF)
Kannada alphabet — From Omniglot
Indian Language Converter — Transliterate from Romanised to Unicode Kannada
Free Kannada fonts and editing software — Free fonts and software to compose in Kannada, from Baraha.com

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-The '''Kannada script''',the most beautiful script among Indian languages is an [[abugida]] of the [[Brahmic family]], primarily to write the [[Kannada language]], one of the [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] languages in [[India]]. It is also used for [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]] and [[Kodava Takk|Kodava]] languages.
+The '''Kannada script''' is an [[abugida]] of the [[Brahmic family]], primarily to write the [[Kannada language]], one of the [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] languages in [[India]]. It is also used for [[Konkani language|Konkani]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]] and [[Kodava Takk|Kodava]] languages.
 ==General==