Telugu language

Etymology

The speakers of the language call it "Telugu" or "Tenugu". The older forms of the name include Teluṅgu, Tenuṅgu and Teliṅga.

The etymology of Telugu is not certain. Some historical scholars have suggested a derivation from Sanskrit triliṅgam, as in Trilinga Desa, "the country of the three lingas".

Tradition holds that Shiva descended as a lingam on three mountains: Kaleshwaram, Srisailam, and Bhimeswaram, which are said to have marked the boundaries of the Trilinga Desa. Atharvana Acharya in the 13th century wrote a grammar of Telugu, calling it the "Trilinga grammar" (Trilinga Śabdānusāsana). Appa Kavi in the 17th century explicitly wrote that "Telugu" was derived from Trilinga. Scholar Charles P. Brown comments that it was a "strange notion" as all the predecessors of Appa Kavi had no knowledge of such a derivation.

Atharvana Acharya in the 13th century wrote a grammar of Telugu in Sanskrit, calling it the "Trilinga grammar" (Trilinga Śabdānusāsana) in this grammar it was stated that God Brahma created Telugu for an ancient and legendary king called Andhra Vishnu, who ruled Andhra Desa or Trlinga Desa from his capital Srikakulam, on the banks of river Krishna, and Telugu was the language of the land and people of Trilinga Desa.

George Abraham Grierson and other linguists doubt this derivation, holding rather that Telugu was the older term and Trilinga must be a later Sanskritisation of it. If so the derivation itself must have been quite ancient because Triglyphum, Trilingum and Modogalingam are attested in ancient Greek sources, the last of which can be interpreted as a Telugu rendition of "Trilinga".

Another view holds that tenugu is derived from the proto-Dravidian word ten– "south" to mean "the people who lived in the south/southern direction" (relative to Sanskrit and Prakrit-speaking peoples). The name telugu then, is a result of 'n' -> 'l' alternation established in Telugu.

Lost Literature / Lost Grammar

According to the natve tradition Telugu grammar has a hoary past. Sage Kanva was said to be the first grammarian of Telugu. A Rajeswara Sarma discussed the hisoricity and content of Kanva's grammar written in Sanskrit. He cited twenty grammatical aphorisms ascribed to Kanva, and concluded that Kanva wrote an ancient Telugu Grammar which was lost.

History

According to the Russian linguist M. S. Andronov, Telugu split from the Proto-Dravidian languages between 1500 and 1000 BC. According to linguist Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Telugu, as a Dravidian language, descends from Proto-Dravidian, a proto-language. Linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-Dravidian was spoken around the third millennium BC, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the culture associated with the Neolithic societies of South India.

A legend gives the Lepakshi town a significant place in the Ramayana — this was where the bird Jatayu fell, wounded after a futile battle against Ravana who was carrying away Sita. When Sri Rama reached the spot, he saw the bird and said compassionately, “Le Pakshi” — ‘rise, bird’ in Telugu. This indicates the presence of Telugu Language during Ramayana period.

There is a mention of Telugu people or Telugu country in ancient Tamil literature as Telunka Nadu (Land of Telugu people).

Telugu words were found in Hebrew literature.

Earliest records

Inscriptions with Telugu words dating back to 400 BC to 100 BC have been discovered in Bhattiprolu in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. The English translation of one inscription reads, "gift of the slab by venerable Midikilayakha".

Dated between 200 BCE and 200 CE, a Prakrit work called Gāthā Saptaśatī written by Sathavahana King Hala, Telugu words like అత్త, వాలుంకి, పీలుఅ, పోట్టం, కిలించిఅః, అద్దాఏ, భోండీ, సరఅస్స, తుప్ప, ఫలహీ, వేంట, రుంప-రంప, మడహసరిఆ, వోడసుణఓ, సాఉలీ and తీరఏ have been used.

Post-Ikshvaku period

The period from 575 AD to 1022 AD corresponds to the second phase of Telugu history, after the Andhra Ikshvaku period. This is evidenced by the first inscription that is entirely in Telugu, dated 575 AD, which was found in the Rayalaseema region and is attributed to the Renati Cholas, who broke with the prevailing custom of using Sanskrit and began writing royal proclamations in the local language. During the next fifty years, Telugu inscriptions appeared in Anantapuram and other neighboring regions.

Telugu was more influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrit during this period, which corresponded to the advent of Telugu literature. Telugu literature was initially found in inscriptions and poetry in the courts of the rulers, and later in written works such as Nannayya's Mahabharatam (1022 AD). During the time of Nannayya, the literary language diverged from the popular language. It was also a period of phonetic changes in the spoken language.

Middle Ages

The third phase is marked by further stylization and sophistication of the literary language. During this period the split of the Telugu and Kannada alphabets took place. Tikkana wrote his works in this script.

Vijayanagara Empire

The Vijayanagara Empire gained dominance from 1336 to the late 17th century, reaching its peak during the rule of Krishnadevaraya in the 16th century, when Telugu literature experienced what is considered its Golden Age.

Delhi Sultanate and Mughal influence

With the exception of Coastal Andhra, a distinct dialect developed in the Telangana State and the parts of Rayalaseema region due to Persian/Arabic influence: the Delhi Sultanate of the Tughlaq dynasty was established earlier in the northern Deccan Plateau during the 14th century. In the latter half of the 17th century, the Mughal Empire extended further south, culminating in the establishment of the princely state of Hyderabad State by the dynasty of the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1724. This heralded an era of Persian influence on the Telugu language, especially Hyderabad State. The effect is also evident in the prose of the early 19th century, as in the Kaifiyats.

In the princely Hyderabad State, the Andhra Mahasabha was started in 1921 with the main intention of promoting Telugu language, literature, its books and historical research led by Madapati Hanumantha Rao (the founder of the Andhra Mahasabha), Komarraju Venkata Lakshmana Rao (Founder of Library Movement in Hyderabad State), Suravaram Pratapareddy and others.

Colonial period

The 16th-century Venetian explorer Niccolò de' Conti, who visited the Vijayanagara Empire, found that the words in Telugu language end with vowels, just like those in Italian, and hence referred it as "The Italian of the East"; a saying that has been widely repeated.

In the period of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries saw the influence of the English language and modern communication/printing press as an effect of the British rule, especially in the areas that were part of the Madras Presidency. Literature from this time had a mix of classical and modern traditions and included works by scholars like Gidugu Venkata Ramamoorty, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Gurazada Apparao, Gidugu Sitapati and Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao.

Since the 1930s, what was considered an elite literary form of the Telugu language, has now spread to the common people with the introduction of mass media like movies, television, radio and newspapers. This form of the language is also taught in schools and colleges as a standard.

Post-independence period

1. Telugu is one of the 22 languages with official status in India.
2. The Andhra Pradesh Official Language Act, 1966, declares Telugu the official language of the state that is currently divided into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This enactment was implemented by GOMs No 420 in 2005.
3. Telugu also has official language status in the Yanam district of the union territory of Puducherry.
4. Telugu, along with Kannada, was declared as one of the classical languages of India in the year 2008.
5. The fourth World Telugu Conference was organized in Tirupati in the last week of December 2012 and deliberated at length on issues related to Telugu language policy
6. Telugu is the third most spoken native language in India after Hindi and Bengali.

Epigraphical Records

According to the famous Japanese Historian Noboru Karashima who once served as the President of the Epigraphical Society of India in 1985 calculated that there are approximately 10,000 inscriptions which exist in the Telugu language as of the year 1996 making it one of the most densely inscribed languages. Telugu inscriptions are found in all the districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They are also found in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and other states in India.

Telugu Country Boundaries

Andhra is characterised as having its own mother tongue, and its territory has been equated with the extent of the Telugu language. The equivalence between the Telugu linguistic sphere and geographical boundaries of Andhra is also brought out in an eleventh century description of Andhra boundaries. Andhra, according to this text, was bounded in north by Mahendra mountain in the modern Ganjam District of Orissa and to the south by Kalahasti temple in Chittor District. But Andhra extended westwards as far as Srisailam in the Kurnool District, about halfway across the modern state. Page number-36. According to other sources in the early sixteenth century A.D, the northern boundary is Simhachalam and the southern limit is Tirupati of the Telugu Country.

Dialects

There are three major dialects: Telangana dialect, laced with Urdu words, spoken mainly in Telangana, Andhra dialect spoken in Khammam district of Telangana and coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema dialect spoken in the four Rayalaseema districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Waddar, Chenchu, and Manna-Dora are all closely related to Telugu. Dialects of Telugu are Berad, Dasari, Dommara, Golari, Kamathi, Komtao, Konda-Reddi, Salewari, Vadaga, Srikakula, Vishakhapatnam, East Godaveri, Rayalseema, Nellore, Guntur, Vadari and Yanadi.

In Karnataka the dialect sees more influence of Kannada and is a bit different than what is spoken in Andhra. There are significant populations of Telugu speakers in the eastern districts of Karnataka viz. Bangalore Urban, Bellari, Chikballapur, Kolar.

In Tamil Nadu the Telugu dialect is classified into Salem, Coimbatore, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Madras Telugu dialects. It is also spoken in pockets of Virudhunagar, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Theni, Madras(Chennai) and Thanjavur districts.

Geographic distribution

Telugu is natively spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Yanam district of Puducherry. Telugu speaking migrants are also found in the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, some parts of Jharkhand and the Kharagpur region of West Bengal in India. At 7.2% of the population, Telugu is the third-most-spoken language in the Indian subcontinent after Hindi and Bengali. In Karnataka, 7.0% of the population speak Telugu, and 5.6% in Tamil Nadu.

The Telugu diaspora numbers more than 800,000 in the United States, with the highest concentration in Central New Jersey; Telugu speakers are found as well in Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, Canada (Toronto), Fiji, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Myanmar, Ireland, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

According to the M.L.A representing Hosur Constituency K.Gopinath, the Telugu population in Tamil Nadu is 40%.

Phonology

The roman transliteration of the Telugu script is in National Library at Kolkata romanisation.

Telugu words generally end in vowels. In Old Telugu, this was absolute; in the modern language m, n, y, w may end a word. Atypically for a Dravidian language, voiced consonants were distinctive even in the oldest recorded form of the language. Sanskrit loans have introduced aspirated and murmured consonants as well.

Telugu does not have contrastive stress, and speakers vary on where they perceive stress. Most place it on the penultimate or final syllable, depending on word and vowel length.

Vowels

Telugu features a form of vowel harmony wherein the second vowel in disyllabic noun and adjective roots alters according to whether the first vowel is tense or lax. Also, if the second vowel is open (i.e., /aː/ or /a/), then the first vowel is more open and centralized (e.g., [mɛːka] 'goat', as opposed to [meːku] 'nail'). Telugu words also have vowels in inflectional suffixes that are harmonized with the vowels of the preceding syllable.

/æː/ only occurs in loan words.

Telugu has two diphthongs: /ai/ ఐ ai and /au/ ఔ au .

Consonants

The table below illustrates the articulation of the consonants.

*The aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants occur mostly in loan words, as do the fricatives apart from native /s̪/.

Grammar

The Telugu Grammar is called vyākaranam (వ్యాకరణం).

The first treatise on Telugu grammar, the Āndhra Śabda Cinṭāmaṇi, was written in Sanskrit by Nannayya, considered the first Telugu poet and translator, in the 11th century AD. This grammar followed patterns described in grammatical treatises such as Aṣṭādhyāyī and Vālmīkivyākaranam, but unlike Pāṇini, Nannayya divided his work into five chapters, covering samjnā, sandhi, ajanta, halanta and kriya. Every Telugu grammatical rule is derived from Pāṇinian concepts.

In the 19th century, Chinnaya Suri wrote a simplified work on Telugu grammar called Bāla Vyākaraṇam, borrowing concepts and ideas from Nannayya's grammar.

This sentence can also be interpreted as 'Rama will go to school', depending on the context, but it does not affect the SOV order.

Inflection

Telugu nouns are inflected for number (singular, plural), gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and case (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative, instrumental, and locative).

Gender

Telugu has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.

Pronouns

Telugu pronouns include personal pronouns (the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about); indefinite pronouns; relative pronouns (connecting parts of sentences); and reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is acted on by the verb's subject).

Telugu uses the same forms for singular feminine and neuter gender—the third person pronoun (అది /ad̪ɪ/) is used to refer to animals and objects.

The nominative case (karta), the object of a verb (karma), and the verb are somewhat in a sequence in Telugu sentence construction. "Vibhakti" (case of a noun) and "pratyāyamulu" (an affix to roots and words forming derivatives and inflections) depict the ancient nature and progression of the language. The "Vibhaktis" of Telugu language " డు [Du], ము [mu], వు [vu], లు [lu]", etc., are different from those in Sanskrit and have been in use for a long time.

Vocabulary

Sanskrit influenced Telugu of Andhra and Telangana regions for about 1500 years; however, there is evidence that suggests an older influence. During the period 1000–1100 AD, Nannaya's re-writing of the Mahābhārata in Telugu (మహాభారతము) re-established its use, and it dominated over the royal language, Sanskrit. Telugu absorbed tatsamas from Sanskrit.

The vocabulary of Telugu, especially in Telangana state, has a trove of Persian–Arabic borrowings, which have been modified to fit Telugu phonology. This was due to centuries of Turkic rule in these regions, such as the erstwhile kingdoms of Golkonda and Hyderabad (e.g., కబురు, /kaburu/ for Urdu /xabar/, خبر or జవాబు, /dʒavaːbu/ for Urdu /dʒawɑːb/, جواب).

Modern Telugu vocabulary can be said to constitute a diglossia because the formal, standardised version of the language is either lexically Sanskrit or heavily influenced by Sanskrit, is taught in schools, and is used by the government and Hindu religious institutions. However, everyday Telugu varies depending upon region and social status.

Writing system

Telugu script is written from left to right and consists of sequences of simple and/or complex characters. The script is syllabic in nature—the basic units of writing are syllables. Since the number of possible syllables is very large, syllables are composed of more basic units such as vowels (“accu” or “swaram”) and consonants (“hallu” or “vyanjanam”). Consonants in consonant clusters take shapes that are very different from the shapes they take elsewhere. Consonants are presumed pure consonants, that is, without any vowel sound in them. However, it is traditional to write and read consonants with an implied 'a' vowel sound. When consonants combine with other vowel signs, the vowel part is indicated orthographically using signs known as vowel “mātras”. The shapes of vowel “mātras” are also very different from the shapes of the corresponding vowels.

The overall pattern consists of sixty symbols, of which 16 are vowels, three vowel modifiers, and forty-one consonants. Spaces are used between words as word separators.

The sentence ends with either a single bar । (“pūrna virāmam”) or a double bar ॥ (“dīrgha virāmam”). Traditionally, in handwriting, Telugu words were not separated by spaces. Modern punctuation (commas, semicolon, etc.) were introduced with the advent of print.

There is a set of symbols for numerals, though Arabic numbers are typically used.

Telugu is assigned Unicode codepoints: 0C00-0C7F (3072–3199).

Number system

Telugu has ten digits employed with the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. However, in modern usage, the Arabic numerals have replaced them.

Script

The Telugu script is an abugida consisting of 60 symbols – 16 vowels, 3 vowel modifiers, and 41 consonants. Telugu has a complete set of letters that follow a system to express sounds.

Telugu has full-zero (anusvāra) ( ం ), half-zero (arthanusvāra or candrabindu) (ఁ) and visarga ( ః ) to convey various shades of nasal sounds. [la] and [La], [ra] and [Ra] are differentiated.

Telugu has ĉ and ĵ, which are not represented in Sanskrit. Their pronunciation is similar to the 's' sound in the word treasure (i.e., the postalveolar voiced fricative) and 'z' sound in zebra (i.e., the alveolar voiced fricative), respectively.

Telugu script is derived from the Brahmi Script like that of Kannada and Tamil.

Telugu Gunintalu:
క కా కి కీ కు కూ కృ కౄ కె కే కై కొ కో కౌ క్ కం కః
ఖ ఖా ఖి ఖీ ఖు ఖూ ఖృ ఖౄ ఖె ఖే ఖై ఖొ ఖో ఖౌ ఖ్ ఖం ఖః

Literature

Telugu literature is generally divided into six periods:

In the Telugu literature Tikkana was given agraasana (top position) by many famous critics.

In the earliest period there were only inscriptions from 575 AD onwards. Nannaya's (1022–1063) translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata into Telugu is the earliest piece of Telugu literature as yet discovered. After the demise of Nannaya, there was a kind of social and religious revolution in the Telugu country.

Tikkana (13th century) and Yerrapragada (14th century) continued the translation of the Mahabharata started by Nannaya. Telugu poetry also flourished in this period, especially in the time of Srinatha.

During this period, some Telugu poets translated Sanskrit poems and dramas, while others attempted original narrative poems. The popular Telugu literary form called the Prabandha evolved during this period. Srinatha (1365–1441) was the foremost poet, who popularized this style of composition (a story in verse having a tight metrical scheme). Srinatha's Sringara Naishadham is particularly well known.

Annamayya, Annamacharya(1408-1503) Popularly Kown as PADHA KAVITHA PITAMAHAA(పద కవితా పితామహా). He had a great influence on Telugu language,his prodigious literary career earned him a place among the all-time greats of Telugu literature.His wife, Timmakka, had written Subhadra Kalyanam, and is considered the first female poet in Telugu literature.

The Ramayana poets may also be referred in this context. The earliest Ramayana in Telugu is generally known as the Ranganatha Ramayana, authored by the chief Gona Buddha Reddy. The works of Pothana (1450–1510), Jakkana (second half of the 14th century) and Gaurana (first half of the 15th century) formed a canon of religious poetry during this period. Padakavitha Pithamaha – Annamayya, contributed many original Telugu Paatalu (Songs) to the language.

The 16th and 17th centuries is regarded as the "golden age" of Telugu literature. Krishnadevaraya's Amuktamalyada, and Pedhdhana's Manucharithra are regarded as Mahaakaavyaas. Sri Krishnadeva Raya stated in his work Amuktamalyada that, Sri Andhra Vishnu (Srikakuḷandhra Mahaviṣhṇu), the earlier Telugu King of Krishna river region (whom later the people believed was an Ansh of Lord Vishnu), appeared to him in his dreams and stated that : "Desa bhashalandu Telugu Lessa" meaning "Telugu is the best among the languages of the nation". Telugu literature flourished in the south in the traditional "samsthanas" (centres) of Southern literature, such as Madurai and Tanjore. This age is often referred to as the Southern Period. There were also an increasing number of poets in this period among the ruling class, women and working class who popularised indigenous (desi) meters.

Following the Mughal annexation of the Deccan in 1687, Telugu literature experienced a period of diminished activity. Notable compositions by Tyagaraja are among the few recognized works from this era. A transitional phase ensued between 1850 and 1910, leading into a prolonged Renaissance. Europeans, notably C.P. Brown, significantly contributed to the evolution of both the Telugu language and its literary tradition. Mirroring trends across India, Telugu literature during this period began to adopt European literary styles, including the novel, short story, prose, and drama.

Paravastu Chinnayya Soori (1807–1861) is a well-known Telugu writer who dedicated his entire life to the progress and promotion of Telugu language and literature. Sri Chinnayasoori wrote the Bala Vyakaranam in a new style after doing extensive research on Telugu grammar. Other well-known writings by Chinnayasoori are Neethichandrika, Sootandhra Vyaakaranamu, Andhra Dhatumoola, and Neeti Sangrahamu.

Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1848–1919) is generally considered the father of modern Telugu literature. His novel Rajasekhara Charitamu was inspired by the Vicar of Wakefield. His work marked the beginning of a dynamic of socially conscious Telugu literature and its transition to the modern period, which is also part of the wider literary renaissance that took place in Indian culture during this period. Other prominent literary figures from this period are Gurajada Appa Rao, Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Gurram Jashuva, Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Devulapalli Krishnasastri and Srirangam Srinivasa Rao, popularly known as Mahakavi Sri Sri. Sri Sri was instrumental in popularising free verse in spoken Telugu (vaaduka bhasha), as opposed to the pure form of written Telugu used by several poets in his time. Devulapalli Krishnasastri is often referred to as the Shelley of Telugu literature because of his pioneering works in Telugu Romantic poetry.

Viswanatha Satyanarayana won India's national literary honour, the Jnanpith Award for his magnum opus Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu. C. Narayana Reddy won the Jnanpith Award in 1988 for his poetic work, Viswambara. Ravuri Bharadhwaja won the 3rd Jnanpith Award for Telugu literature in 2013 for Paakudu Raallu, a graphic account of life behind the screen in film industry. Kanyasulkam, the first social play in Telugu by Gurajada Appa Rao, was followed by the progressive movement, the free verse movement and the Digambara style of Telugu verse. Other modern Telugu novelists include Unnava Lakshminarayana (Maalapalli), Bulusu Venkateswarulu (Bharatiya Tatva Sastram), Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao and Buchi Babu.

Telugu support on digital devices

Telugu input, display, and support was initially provided on the Microsoft Windows platform. Subsequently, various browsers, office applications, operating systems, and user interfaces were localized for Windows and Linux platforms by vendors and free and open-source software volunteers. Telugu-capable smart phones were also introduced by vendors in 2013.