Kannada (Kannada:[ˈkənːəɖa]ⓘ)[4] is aDravidian language spoken predominantly in the state ofKarnataka in southwesternIndia, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a second or third language for 15 million speakers in Karnataka.[1] It is the official and administrative language of Karnataka.[5] It also hasscheduled status in India and has been included among the country'sdesignated classical languages.[6][7]
Kannada had 43.7[8] million native speakers inIndia at the time of the 2011 census. It is the main language of the state ofKarnataka, where it is spoken natively by 40.6 million people, or about two-thirds of the state's population. There are native Kannada speakers in the neighbouring states ofTamil Nadu (1,140,000 speakers),Maharashtra (993,000),Andhra Pradesh andTelangana (533,000),Kerala (78,100) andGoa (67,800).[19] It is also spoken as a second and third language by over 12.9 million non-native speakers in Karnataka.[20]
Kannadigas form Tamil Nadu's third biggest linguistic group; their population is roughly 1.23 million, which is 2.2% of Tamil Nadu's total population.[21][22]
In the United States, there were 35,900 speakers in 2006–2008,[24] a number that had risen to 48,600 by the time of the 2015 census. There are 4,000 speakers in Canada (according to the 2016 census), 9,700 in Australia (2016 census), 22,000 in Singapore (2018 estimate),[25] and 59,000 in Malaysia (2021 estimate).[25][better source needed]
Kannada, likeMalayalam andTamil, is aSouth Dravidian language and a descendant ofTamil-Kannada, from which it derives its grammar and core vocabulary. Its history can be divided into three stages: Old Kannada, orHaḷegannaḍa from 450 to 1200 AD, Middle Kannada (Naḍugannaḍa) from 1200 to 1700 and Modern Kannada (Hosagannaḍa) from 1700 to the present.[26][27]
Kannada has been considerably influenced bySanskrit andPrakrit—in morphology, phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. The three principal sources of influence on literary Kannada grammar appear to bePāṇini's grammar, non-Pāṇinian schools of Sanskrit grammar, particularlyKatantra andSakatayana schools, andPrakrit grammar.[28] Literary Prakrit seems to have prevailed inKarnataka since ancient times. Speakers of vernacular Prakrit may have come into contact with Kannada speakers, thus influencing their language, even before Kannada was used for administrative or liturgical purposes.[28][29][27] The scholar K. V. Narayana claims that many tribal languages now designated as Kannada dialects could be nearer to the earlier form of the language, with lesser influence from other languages.[30]
The work of the scholarIravatham Mahadevan indicates that Kannada was already a language of rich spoken tradition by the 3rd century BC. Based on native Kannada words in Prakrit inscriptions of that period, Kannada must have been spoken by a broad and stable population.[30][31][32]
Kannada includes many loan words from Sanskrit. Some unaltered loan words (Sanskrit:तत्सम,romanized: tatsama,lit. 'same as that'') includedina, 'day',kōpa, 'anger',sūrya, 'sun',mukha, 'face', andnimiṣa, 'minute'.[33] Some examples of naturalised Sanskrit words (Sanskrit:तद्भव,romanized: tadbhava,lit. 'arising from that') in Kannada arevarṇa, 'colour',pūrṇime, andrāya fromrāja, 'king'.[34] Some naturalised words of Prakrit origin in Kannada arebaṇṇa, 'colour' derived fromvaṇṇa,huṇṇime, 'full moon' frompuṇṇivā.
The earliest Kannada inscriptions are from the middle of the 5th century AD, but there are a number of earlier texts that may have been influenced by the ancestor language of Old Kannada.[35]
Iravatam Mahadevan, author of a work on early Tamil epigraphy, argued that oral traditions in Kannada and Telugu existed much before written documents were produced. Although the rock inscriptions of Ashoka were written in Prakrit, the spoken language in those regions was Kannada as the case may be. He can be quoted as follows:[36]
If proof were needed to show that Kannada was the spoken language of the region during the early period, one needs only to study the large number of Kannada personal names and place names in the early Prakrit inscriptions on stone and copper in Upper South India [...] Kannada was spoken by relatively large and well-settled populations, living in well-organised states ruled by able dynasties like the Satavahanas, with a high degree of civilisation [...] There is, therefore, no reason to believe that these languages had less rich or less expressive oral traditions than Tamil had towards the end of its pre-literate period.
Kannada linguist, historian and researcher B. A. Viveka Rai and Kannada writer, lyricist, and linguist Doddarangegowda assert that due to the extensive trade relations that existed between the ancient Kannada lands (Kuntalas,Mahishakas, Punnatas,Mahabanas,Asmakas, etc.) and Greece, Egypt, theHellenistic andRoman empires and others, there was exchange of people, ideas, literature, etc. and a Kannada book existed in the form of a palm-leaf manuscript in the old Alexandria library which was subsequently lost in the fire. They state that this also proves that the Kannada language and literature must have flourished much before the library was established in between c. 285-48 BC. This document played a vital role in getting the classical status to Kannada from the Indian Central Government.[37] TheAshoka rock edict found atBrahmagiri (dated to 250 BC) has been suggested to contain words (Isila, meaning to throw, viz. an arrow, etc.) in identifiable Kannada.[38][39][40]
In some 3rd–1st century BC Tamil inscriptions, words of Kannada influence such asNaliyura,kavuDi andposil were found. In a 3rd-century AD Tamil inscription there is usage ofoppanappa vIran. Here the honorificappa to a person's name is an influence from Kannada. Another word of Kannada origin istaayviru and is found in a 4th-century AD Tamil inscription. S. Settar studied thesittanavAsal inscription of first century AD as also the inscriptions attirupparamkunram,adakala andneDanUpatti. The later inscriptions were studied in detail by Iravatham Mahadevan also. Mahadevan argues that the wordserumi,kavuDi,poshil andtAyiyar have their origin in Kannada because Tamil cognates are not available. Settar adds the wordsnADu andiLayar to this list. Mahadevan feels that some grammatical categories found in these inscriptions are also unique to Kannada rather than Tamil. Both these scholars attribute these influences to the movements and spread of Jainas in these regions. These inscriptions belong to the period between the first century BC and fourth century AD. These are some examples that are proof of the early usage of a few Kannada origin words in earlyTamil inscriptions before the common era and in the early centuries of the common era.[31]
Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian, wrote about pirates betweenMuziris and Nitrias (Netravati River), called Nitran by Ptolemy. He also mentions Barace (Barcelore), referring to the modern port city ofMangaluru, upon its mouth. Many of these are Kannada origin names of places and rivers of the Karnataka coast of the 1st century AD.[41][42][43]
The Greek geographerPtolemy (150 AD) mentions places such as Badiamaioi (Badami), Inde (Indi), Kalligeris (Kalkeri), Modogoulla (Mudagal), Petrigala (Pattadakal), Hippokoura (Huvina Hipparagi), Nagarouris (Nagur), Tabaso (Tavasi), Tiripangalida (Gadahinglai), Soubouttou or Sabatha (Savadi), Banaouase (Banavasi), Thogorum (Tagara), Biathana (Paithan), Sirimalaga (Malkhed), Aloe (Ellapur) and Pasage (Palasige).[44] He mentions a Satavahana king Sire Polemaios, who is identified with Sri Pulumayi (or Pulumavi), whose name is derived from the Kannada word forPuli, meaning tiger. Some scholars indicate that the name Pulumayi is actually Kannada'sPuli Maiyi orOne with the body of a tiger indicating native Kannada origin for the Satavahanas.[45] Pai identifies all the 10 cities mentioned by Ptolemy (100–170 AD) as lying between the river Benda (or Binda) orBhima river in the north and Banaouasei (Banavasi) in the south, viz. Nagarouris (Nagur), Tabaso (Tavasi), Inde (Indi), Tiripangalida (Gadhinglaj), Hippokoura (Huvina Hipparagi), Soubouttou (Savadi), Sirimalaga (Malkhed), Kalligeris (Kalkeri), Modogoulla (Mudgal), and Petirgala (Pattadakal)—as being located in Northern Karnataka, which explain the existence of Kannada place names (and the language and culture) in the southern Kuntala region during the reign ofVasishtiputra Pulumayi (c. 85–125 AD, i.e., late 1st century – early 2nd century AD) who was ruling from Paithan in the north and his son, prince Vilivaya-kura or Pulumayi Kumara was ruling from Huvina Hipparagi in present Karnataka in the south.[46]
An early ancestor of Kannada (or a related language) may have been spoken by Indian traders inRoman-era Egypt and it may account for the Indian-language passages in the ancient Greek play known as theCharition mime.[47]
Followed byB. L. Rice, leading epigrapher and historian, K. R. Narasimhan following a detailed study and comparison, declared that the plates belong to the 4th century, i.e., 338 AD.[52][53][54][55][56][57] The Kannada Lion balustrade inscription excavated at the Pranaveshwara temple complex at Talagunda near Shiralakoppa of Shivamogga district, dated to 370 AD is now considered the earliest Kannada inscriptions replacing the Halmidi inscription of 450 AD.[58] The 5th century poetic Tamatekallu inscription ofChitradurga and the Siragunda inscription fromChikkamagaluru Taluk of 500 AD are further examples.[59][60][61] Recent reports indicate that theOld KannadaGunabhushitanaNishadi inscription discovered on the Chandragiri hill,Shravanabelagola, is older than Halmidi inscription by about fifty to hundred years and may belong to the period AD 350–400.[62]
Current estimates of the total number of existingepigraphs written in Kannada range from 30,000 by the scholarSheldon Pollock to over 35,000 by Amaresh Datta of theSahitya Akademi.[65][66] Prior to the Halmidi inscription, there is an abundance of inscriptions containing Kannada words, phrases and sentences, proving its antiquity. The 543 AD Badami cliff inscription ofPulakesi I is an example of a Sanskrit inscription in old Kannada script.[67][68]
The earliest copper plates inscribed in Old Kannada script and language, dated to the early 8th century AD, are associated withAlupa King Aluvarasa II from Belmannu (the Dakshina Kannada district), and display the double crested fish, his royal emblem.[73] The oldest well-preserved palm leaf manuscript inOld Kannada is that ofDhavala. It dates to around the 9th century and is preserved in the Jain Bhandar, Mudbidri,Dakshina Kannada district.[74] The manuscript contains 1478 leaves written using ink.[74]
Some earlyKadamba Dynasty coins bearing the Kannada inscriptionVira andSkandha were found in Satara collectorate.[75] A gold coin bearing three inscriptions ofSri and an abbreviated inscription of king Bhagiratha's name calledbhagi (c. 390–420 AD) in old Kannada exists.[76] A Kadamba copper coin dated to the 5th century AD with the inscriptionSrimanaragi in Kannada script was discovered in Banavasi,Uttara Kannada district.[77] Coins with Kannada legends have been discovered spanning the rule of theWestern Ganga Dynasty, the BadamiChalukyas, theAlupas, theWestern Chalukyas, theRashtrakutas, theHoysalas, theVijayanagar Empire, theKadamba Dynasty of Banavasi, theKeladi Nayakas and theMysore kingdom, the Badami Chalukya coins being a recent discovery.[78][79][80] The coins of the Kadambas of Goa are unique in that they have alternate inscription of the king's name in Kannada and Devanagari in triplicate,[81] a few coins of the Kadambas ofHangal are also available.[82]
The oldest known existing record ofKannada poetry inTripadi metre is theKappe Arabhatta record of the 7th century AD.[49][83]Kavirajamarga by King NripatungaAmoghavarsha I (850 AD) is the earliest existing literary work in Kannada. It is a writing on literary criticism and poetics meant to standardise various written Kannada dialects used in literature in previous centuries. The book makes reference to Kannada works by early writers such as KingDurvinita of the 6th century andRavikirti, the author of the Aihole record of 636 AD.[84][85] Since the earliest available Kannada work is one on grammar and a guide of sorts to unify existing variants ofKannada grammar and literary styles, it can be safely assumed that literature in Kannada must have started several centuries earlier.[84][86] An earlyextant prose work, theVaḍḍārādhane (ವಡ್ಡಾರಾಧನೆ) byShivakotiacharya of 900 AD provides an elaborate description of the life of Bhadrabahu ofShravanabelagola.[87]
Some early writers of prose and verse mentioned in theKavirajamarga, numbering 8–10, stating these are but a few of many, but whose works are lost, are Vimala or Vimalachandra (c. 777), Udaya, Nagarjuna, Jayabodhi,Durvinita (6th century), and poets including Kavisvara,Srivijaya, Pandita Chandra,Ravikirti (c. 634) and Lokapala.[88][89][90][91][92] For fragmentary information on these writers, we can refer the workKarnataka Kavi Charite. Ancient indigenous Kannada literary compositions of (folk) poetry like theChattana andBedande, which preferred to use theDesi metre, are said to have survived at least until the date of the Kavirajamarga in 850 AD and had their roots in the early Kannada folk literature. These Kannada verse-compositions might have been representative of folk songs containing influence of Sanskrit and Prakrit metrical patterns to some extent. "Kavirajamarga" also discusses earlier composition forms peculiar to Kannada, the "gadyakatha", a mixture of prose and poetry, the "chattana" and the "bedande", poems of several stanzas that were meant to be sung with the optional use of a musical instrument.[90][93][94]Amoghavarsha Nripatunga compares thepuratana-kavigal (old Kannada poets) who wrote the greatChattana poems in Kannada to the likes of the great Sanskrit poets like Gunasuri, Narayana, Bharavi, Kalidasa, Magha, etc. This Old Kannada work,Kavirajamarga, itself in turn refers to aPalagannada (Old Kannada) of much ancient times, which is nothing but the Pre-Old Kannada and also warns aspiring Kannada writers to avoid its archaisms, as per R. S. Hukkerikar. Regarding earlier poems in Kannada, the author of "Kavirajamarga" states that old Kannada is appropriate in ancient poems but insipid in contemporaneous works as per R. Narasimhacharya.[88][90][95] Gunanandi (900 AD), quoted by the grammarian Bhattakalanka and always addressed asBhagawan (the adorable), was the author of a logic, grammar andsahitya. Durvinita (529–579 AD), the Ganga king, was the pupil of the author of Sabdavatara, i.e., Devanandi Pujyapada. Durvinita is said to have written a commentary on the difficult 15thsarga of Bharavi'sKiratarjuniya in Kannada. Early Kannada writers regularly mention three poets as of especial eminence among their predecessors – Samanta-bhadra, Kavi Parameshthi and Pujyapada. Since later Kannada poets so uniformly name these three as eminent poets, it is probable that they wrote in Kannada also. Samantabhadra is placed in the 2nd century AD by Jain tradition. Old Kannada commentaries on some of his works exist. He was said to have been born in Utkalikagrama and while performing penance in Manuvakahalli, he was attacked by a disease calledBhasmaka.[88] Pujyapada also called Devanandi, was the preceptor of Ganga king Durvinita and belonged to the late 5th to early 6th century AD. Kaviparameshthi probably lived in the 4th century AD. He may possibly be the same as theKaviswara referred to in the Kavirajamarga, and theKaviparameswara praised by Chavunda Raya (978 AD) and his spiritual teacher, Nemichandra (10th century AD), all the names possibly being only epithets.[96]
Kannada works from earlier centuries mentioned in theKavirajamarga are not yet traced. Some ancient Kannada texts now considered extinct but referenced in later centuries arePrabhrita (650 AD) by Syamakundacharya,Chudamani (Crest Jewel—650 AD or earlier) by Srivaradhadeva, also known as Tumbuluracharya, which is a work of 96,000 verse-measures and a commentary on logic (Tatwartha-mahashastra).[97][98][99] Other sources dateChudamani to the 6th century or earlier.[92][100] An inscription of 1128 AD quotes a couplet by the famous Sanskrit poet Dandin (active 680–720 AD), highly praising Srivaradhadeva, for his Kannada work Chudamani, as having "produced Saraswati (i.e., learning and eloquence) from the tip of his tongue, as Siva produced the Ganges from the tip of his top-knot." Bhattakalanka (1604 CE), the great Kannada grammarian, refers to Srivaradhadeva's Chudamani as the greatest work in Kannada, and as incontestable proof of the scholarly character and value of Kannada literature. This makes Srivaradhadeva's time earlier than the 6th–7th century AD.[96] Other writers, whose works are not extant now but titles of which are known from independent references such as Indranandi's "Srutavatara", Devachandra's "Rajavalikathe",[90] Bhattakalanka's "Sabdanusasana" of 1604,[84] writings of Jayakirthi[101] are Syamakundacharya (650), who authored the "Prabhrita", and Srivaradhadeva (also called Tumubuluracharya, 650 or earlier), who wrote the "Chudamani" ("Crest Jewel"), a 96,000-verse commentary on logic.[84][92][100][102] TheKarnateshwara Katha, a eulogy for KingPulakesi II, is said to have belonged to the 7th century;[101] theGajastaka, a lost "ashtaka" (eight line verse) composition and a work on elephant management by KingShivamara II, belonged to the 8th century,[103] this served as the basis for 2 popular folk songsOvanige andOnakevadu, which were sung either while pounding corn or to entice wild elephants into a pit ("Ovam").[101][104][105] TheChandraprabha-purana by Sri Vijaya, a court poet of emperorAmoghavarsha I, is ascribed to the early 9th century.[90] His writing has been mentioned by Vijayanagara poets Mangarasa III and Doddiah (also spelt Doddayya, c. 1550 AD) and praised by Durgasimha (c. 1025 AD).[106] During the 9th century period, the Digambara Jain poet Asaga (or Asoka) authored, among other writings, "Karnata Kumarasambhava Kavya" and "Varadamana Charitra". His works have been praised by later poets, although none of his works are available today.[91] "Gunagankiyam", the earliest known prosody in Kannada, was referenced in a Tamil work dated to the 10th century or earlier ("Yapparungalakkarigai" by Amritasagara). Gunanandi, an expert in logic, Kannada grammar and prose, flourished in the 9th century AD.[90][92] Around 900 AD, Gunavarma I wrote "Sudraka" and "Harivamsa" (also known as "Neminatha Purana"). In "Sudraka" he compared his patron, Ganga king Ereganga Neetimarga II (c. 907–921 AD), to a noted king called Sudraka.[90][103] Jinachandra, who is referred to by Sri Ponna (c. 950 AD) as the author of "Pujyapada Charita", had earned the honorific "modern Samantha Bhadra".[107] Tamil Buddhist commentators of the 10th century AD (in the commentary onNeminatham, a Tamil grammatical work) make references that show that Kannada literature must have flourished as early as the BC 4th century.[108]
Around the beginning of the 9th century, Old Kannada was spoken fromKaveri toGodavari. The Kannada spoken between the riversVarada andMalaprabha was the pure well of Kannada undefiled.[109]
The late classical period gave birth to several genres of Kannada literature, with new forms of composition coming into use, includingRagale (a form of blank verse) and meters likeSangatya andShatpadi. The works of this period are based onJain andHindu principles. Two of the early writers of this period areHarihara and Raghavanka, trailblazers in their own right. Harihara established theRagale form of composition whileRaghavanka popularised theShatpadi (six-lined stanza) meter.[110] A famousJaina writer of the same period isJanna, who expressed Jain religious teachings through his works.[111]
TheVachana Sahitya tradition of the 12th century is purely native and unique in world literature, and the sum of contributions by all sections of society. Vachanas were pithy poems on that period's social, religious and economic conditions. More importantly, they held a mirror to the seed of social revolution, which caused a radical re-examination of the ideas of caste, creed and religion. Some of the important writers of Vachana literature includeBasavanna,Allama Prabhu andAkka Mahadevi.[112]
Emperor Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I of 850 AD recognised that the Sanskrit style of Kannada literature wasMargi (formal or written form of language) andDesi (folk or spoken form of language) style was popular and made his people aware of the strength and beauty of their native language Kannada. In 1112 AD, Jain poet Nayasena of Mulugunda, Dharwad district, in his Champu workDharmamrita (ಧರ್ಮಾಮೃತ), a book on morals, warns writers from mixing Kannada with Sanskrit by comparing it with mixing of clarified butter and oil. He has written it using very limited Sanskrit words that fit with idiomatic Kannada. In 1235 AD, Jain poet Andayya, wroteKabbigara Kava- ಕಬ್ಬಿಗರ ಕಾವ (Poet's Defender), also calledSobagina Suggi (Harvest of Beauty) orMadana-Vijaya andKavana-Gella (Cupid's Conquest), aChampu work in pure Kannada using only indigenous (desya) Kannada words and the derived form of Sanskrit words –tadbhavas, without the admixture of Sanskrit words. He succeeded in his challenge and proved wrong those who had advocated that it was impossible to write a work in Kannada without using Sanskrit words. Andayya may be considered as a protector of Kannada poets who were ridiculed by Sanskrit advocates. Thus Kannada is the only Dravidian language that is not only capable of using only native Kannada words and grammar in its literature (like Tamil), but also use Sanskrit grammar and vocabulary (like Telugu, Malayalam, Tulu, etc.) The Champu style of literature of mixing poetry with prose owes its origins to the Kannada language and was later incorporated by poets into Sanskrit and other Indian languages.[104][113][114][115][116][117]
During the period between the 15th and 18th centuries,Hinduism had a great influence on Middle Kannada (Naḍugannaḍa- ನಡುಗನ್ನಡ) language and literature.Kumara Vyasa, who wrote theKarṇāṭa Bhārata Kathāman̄jari (ಕರ್ಣಾಟ ಭಾರತ ಕಥಾಮಂಜರಿ), was arguably the most influential Kannada writer of this period. His work, entirely composed in the nativeBhamini Shatpadi (hexa-meter), is a sublime adaptation of the first ten books of theMahabharata.[118]During this period, the Sanskritic influence is present in most abstract, religious, scientific and rhetorical terms.[119][120][121] During this period, severalHindi andMarathi words came into Kannada, chiefly relating to feudalism and militia.[122]
The Kannada works produced from the 19th century make a gradual transition and are classified asHosagannaḍa or Modern Kannada. Most notable among the modernists was the poetNandalike Muddana whose writing may be described as the "Dawn of Modern Kannada", though generally, linguists treatIndira Bai orSaddharma Vijayavu by Gulvadi Venkata Raya as the first literary works in Modern Kannada. The first modernmovable type printing of "Canarese" appears to be theCanarese Grammar ofCarey printed atSerampore in 1817, and the "Bible in Canarese" ofJohn Hands in 1820.[a][128] The first novel printed wasJohn Bunyan'sPilgrim's Progress, along with other texts includingCanarese Proverbs,The History of Little Henry and his Bearer byMary Martha Sherwood,Christian Gottlob Barth'sBible Stories and "a Canarese hymn book."[129]
Modern Kannada in the 20th century has been influenced by many movements, notablyNavodaya,Navya,Navyottara,Dalita andBandaya. Contemporary Kannada literature has been highly successful in reaching people of all classes in society. Further, Kannada has produced a number of prolific and renowned poets and writers such asKuvempu,Bendre, andV K Gokak. Works of Kannada literature have received eightJnanpith awards,[130] the highest number awarded to any Indian language.[131]
Kannada–Kannada dictionary has existed in Kannada along with ancient works of Kannada grammar. The oldest available Kannada dictionary was composed by the poet 'Ranna' called 'Ranna Kanda' (ರನ್ನ ಕಂದ) in 996 AD. Other dictionaries are 'Abhidhana Vastukosha' (ಅಭಿದಾನ ವಾಸ್ತುಕೋಶ) by Nagavarma (1045 AD), 'Amarakoshada Teeku' (ಅಮರಕೋಶದ ತೀಕು) by Vittala (1300), 'Abhinavaabhidaana' (ಅಭಿನವಾಭಿದಾನ) by Abhinava Mangaraja (1398 AD) and many more.[132] A Kannada–English dictionary consisting of more than 70,000 words was composed byFerdinand Kittel.[133]
G. Venkatasubbaiah edited the first modern Kannada–Kannada dictionary, a 9,000-page, 8-volume series published by theKannada Sahitya Parishat. He also wrote a Kannada–English dictionary and akliṣtapadakōśa (ಕ್ಲಿಷ್ಟಪಾದಕೋಶ), a dictionary of difficult words.[134][135]
Map of Kannada dialects in the state of Karnataka.
There is also a considerable difference 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 consistent throughout Karnataka. TheEthnologue reports "about 20 dialects" of Kannada. Among them areKundagannada (spoken exclusively in Kundapura, Brahmavara, Bynduru and Hebri), Nador-Kannada (spoken byNadavaru),Havigannada (spoken mainly byHavyaka Brahmins),Are Bhashe (spoken by Gowda community mainly inMadikeri andSullia region ofDakshina Kannada), Malenadu Kannada (Sakaleshpur, Coorg, Shimoga, Chikmagalur),Sholaga,Gulbarga Kannada, Dharawad Kannada etc. All of these dialects are influenced by their regional and cultural background. The one millionKomarpants in and around Goa speak their own dialect of Kannada, known as Halegannada. They are settled throughout Goa state, throughout Uttara Kannada district and Khanapur taluk of Belagavi district, Karnataka.[136][137][138] TheHalakki Vokkaligas of Uttara Kannada and Shimoga districts of Karnataka speak in their own dialect of Kannada called Halakki Kannada or Achchagannada. Their population estimate is about 75,000.[139][140][141]
Ethnologue also classifies a group of four languages related to Kannada, which are, besides Kannada proper,Badaga,Holiya,Kurumba andUrali.[142] The Golars orGolkars are a nomadic herdsmen tribe present inNagpur,Chanda,Bhandara,Seoni andBalaghat districts ofMaharashtra andMadhya Pradesh speak the Golari dialect of Kannada, which is identical to the Holiya dialect spoken by their tribal offshoot Holiyas present in Seoni, Nagpur and Bhandara of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. There were around 3,600 speakers of this dialect as per the 1901 census. Matthew A. Sherring describes the Golars and Holars as a pastoral tribe from theGodavari banks established in the districts around Nagpur, in the stony tracts ofAmbagarh, forests around Ramplee and Sahangadhee. Along the banks of theWainganga, they dwell in the Chakurhaitee and Keenee subdivisions.[143] The Kurumvars of Chanda district of Maharashtra, a wild pastoral tribe, 2,200 in number as per the 1901 census, spoke a Kannada dialect called Kurumvari. The Kurumbas or Kurubas, a nomadic shepherd tribe were spread across theNilgiris,Coimbatore,Salem,North andSouth Arcots,Trichinopoly,Tanjore andPudukottai of Tamil Nadu,Cuddapah andAnantapur ofAndhra Pradesh,Malabar andCochin ofKerala andSouth Canara andCoorg ofKarnataka and spoke the Kurumba Kannada dialect. The Kurumba and Kurumvari dialect (both closely related with each other) speakers were estimated to be around 11,400 in total as per the 1901 census. There were about 34,250 Badaga speakers as per the 1901 census.[144]
Nasik district of Maharashtra has a distinct tribe called 'Hatkar Kaanadi' people who speak a Kannada (Kaanadi) dialect with lot of old Kannada words. Per Chidananda Murthy, they are the native people of Nasik from ancient times, which shows that North Maharashtra's Nasik area had Kannada population 1000 years ago.[145][146] Kannada speakers formed 0.12% of Nasik district's population as per 1961 census.[147]
The language uses forty-ninephonemic letters, divided into three groups:swaragalu (vowels – thirteen letters);vyanjanagalu (consonants – thirty-four letters); andyogavaahakagalu (neither vowel nor consonant – two letters:anusvaraಂ andvisargaಃ). The character set is almost identical to that of otherIndian languages. The Kannada script is almost entirely 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 forty-nine characters in the alphabet, because different characters can be combined to formcompound characters(ottakshara). Each written symbol in the Kannada script corresponds with onesyllable, as opposed to onephoneme in languages like English—the Kannada script is syllabic.
[ŋ, ɲ] are allophones before other palatal and velar consonants respectively.
Aspirated consonants very rarely occur in native vocabulary only in a few numerals like the number 9 and 80, which can be written with a /bʱ/, as inombhattu, embhattu. However, it is usually written with a /b/, as inombattu, embattu; they formed from the Proto Dravidian laryngeal *H, like in Telugu. Most of the aspirated words are loanwords and the aspiration of consonants depends entirely on the speaker and many do not do it in non-formal situations.
The alveolar trill /r/ may be pronounced as an alveolar tap [ɾ].
The voiceless retroflex sibilant /ʂ/ is commonly pronounced as a /ʃ/ except in consonant clusters with retroflex consonants.
There are also the consonants /f, z/ which occur in recent English and Perso-Arabic loans but they may be replaced by the consonants /pʰ, dʒ/ respectively by speakers.[148]
Some northern Kannada dialects have developed a /ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ/ distinction like in Marathi, Telugu and Southern Odia.[148]
Additionally, Kannada included the following phonemes, which dropped out of common usage in the 12th and 18th century respectively:
Old Kannada had an archaic phoneme /ɻ/ under retroflexes in early inscriptions that merged with /ɭ/ intervocalically or /r/ in clusters and it maintained the contrast between /r/ (< PD ∗ṯ) and /ɾ/ from (< PD ∗r). Both merged in Medieval Kannada.[148]
In old Kannada at around 10th-14th century, most of the initial /p/debuccalised into a /h/ e.g. OKn. paḍagu, Kn. haḍahu "ship".[149]
Historically, the Tamil-Malayalam languages and, independently, Telugu, phonemically palatalised /k/ before a front vowel; Kannada never developed such phonemic palatalisation (cf. Kn./kiʋi/, Ta./seʋi/, Te./tʃeʋi/ "ear");[150] however,phonetically, Kannada speakers frequently palatalise velar consonants before front vowels, for example, realising/kiʋi/ "ear" as[ciʋi] and/ɡiɭi/ "parrot" as[ɟiɭi].
/ɐ/ and/aː/ are phonetically central[ɐ,äː]./ɐ/ may be as open as/aː/ ([ä]) or higher[ɐ].
The vowels /i iː e eː/ may be preceded by /j/ and the vowels /u uː o oː/ may be preceded by /ʋ/ when they are in an initial position.
The short vowels /a i u e o/, when in an initial or a medial position tend to be pronounced as [ɐ ɪ ʊ ɛ ɔ]. In a final position, this phenomenon occurs less frequently.
/æː/ occurs in English loans but can be switched with /aː/ or /ja:/.[148]
At around the 8th century, Kannada raised the vowels e, o to i, u when before a short consonant and a high vowel, before written literature emerged in the language, e.g. Kn. kivi, Ta. cevi, Te. cevi "ear".[151]
In many dialects, e/o gets lowered to [æ, ɔ] when followed by non high vowels. Some dialects have /a/ as [ə] when a high vowel comes after it and [a] elsewhere.
Final -e's become i's, in the south its mostly with verbs but in the north it happens everywhere, eg. bere > bære > bæri. This along with the previous change can create some surface minimal pairs, eg. [bæ:ɖə] "don't" vs [be:ɖə] "ask!" (conj of /be:ɖu/).
The canonical word order of Kannada isSOV (subject–object–verb), typical of Indian languages.Kannada is a highlyinflected language with threegenders (masculine, feminine, and neuter or common) and two numbers (singular and plural). It is inflected for gender, number and tense, among other things. The first available Kannada book, a treatise on poetics, rhetoric and basic grammar is theKavirajamarga from 850 AD.
The most influential account of Kannada grammar isKeshiraja'sShabdamanidarpana (c. 1260 AD).[155][156] The earlier grammatical works include portions ofKavirajamarga (a treatise onalańkāra) of the 9th century, andKavyavalokana andKarnatakabhashabhushana (both authored byNagavarma II in the first half of the 12th century).[156]
Compound bases, calledsamāsa in Kannada, are a set of two or more words compounded together.[157] There are several types of compound bases, based on the rules followed for compounding. The types of compound bases or samāsas: tatpurusha, karmadhāraya, dvigu, bahuvreehi, anshi, dvandva, kriya and gamaka samāsa.[clarification needed] Examples:taṅgāḷi,hemmara,kannusanne.
In many ways the third-person pronouns are more like demonstratives than like the other pronouns. They are pluralised like nouns and the first- and second-person pronouns have different ways to distinguish number.[158]
While an early account of Kannada's grammar is available inShabdamanidarpana, it has played a central role in the modern linguistics thanks to its unique semantic and syntactic properties that have been significant to studies of languageacquisition andinnateness.Jeff Lidz is a significant Western linguist to have studied Kannada. His investigations found at least two properties of Kannada to be very impactful in developing contemporary understandings of language acquisition. The first observation was that Kannada has acausativemorpheme (like -ify for English, inpersonify ordeify), which appears whenever a verb with causative meaning is expressed.[159] This was significant, because it allowed him to test whether an observation of English-learning infants, that they worked out novel verb meanings based on the number of overtNPs they took, applied cross-linguistically. Given that the presence of the aforementioned causative morpheme would be a more obvious and reliable indicator for differentiating meanings, Kannada was a perfect language to test this observation; Lidz et al. (2003) found that Kannada-learning infants reliedmore heavily on the number of overt NPs than the presence of the causative morpheme.[160] This has been used bygenerativists andUGnativists to argue that verb meaning acquisition based onsyntactic bootstrapping islanguage universal and innate.[159]
The second property of major significance to develop in modern linguistic understandings lies in the fact that in Kannada, negation comes at the end of the sentence and the quantified object linearly precedes it. This means there is no capacity for confounding linear order and hierarchical relations, as there is in English. This can be used to test whether the observation for English-speaking infants of consideringhierarchical organisation more thanlinear order when decidingscope ambiguity is cross-linguistic, or just a product of English's confounded linear order. Specifically, analysing the sentence "I didn't read two books" (in Kannada), if what matters is linear order, Kannada speaking children's preferred interpretation would be one where 'two books' has wider scope than negation (i.e., there are two books I did not read), and if what matters is hierarchical organisation, their preferred interpretation would be the opposite (i.e., that it is not the case that I read two books).Lidz and Musolino (2002) found that they prefer the second, hierarchical interpretation, just like English-speaking children.[161] This has been used to argue that infants universally represent sentences not as mere strings of adjacent words, but as hierarchical objects, a regular talking point amongChomskyans and nativists.[159]
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.
ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಮಾನವರು ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರರಾಗಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಘನತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅಧಿಕಾರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸಮಾನರಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತಿಳಿವು ಮತ್ತು ಅಂತಃಸಾಕ್ಷಿಯನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದವರಾದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಅವರು ಒಬ್ಬರಿಗೊಬ್ಬರು ಸಹೋದರ ಭಾವದಿಂದ ನಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು.
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^Zydenbos, R (2012). "none". In Cushman, S; Cavanagh, C; Ramazani, J; Rouzer, P (eds.).The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (4 ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 767.ISBN978-0-691-15491-6.
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^Angadi, Jagadish (30 October 2020)."Kannada in Alexandria".Deccan Herald. Retrieved15 April 2022.
^The wordIsila found in the Ashokan inscription (called the Brahmagiri edict from Karnataka) meaning to shoot an arrow, is a Kannada word, indicating that Kannada was a spoken language in the 3rd century BC (D.L. Narasimhachar in Kamath 2001, p5)
^Salomon, Richard (1991). "Epigraphic Remains of Indian Traders in Egypt".Journal of the American Oriental Society.111 (4):731–736.doi:10.2307/603404.JSTOR603404.
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^Sheldon Pollock in Dehejia, Vidya;The Body Adorned: Sacred and Profane in Indian Art, p.5, chapter:The body as Leitmotif, 2013, Columbia University Press,ISBN978-0-231-14028-7
^Govindaraya Prabhu, S."Indian coins-Dynasties of South". Prabhu's Web Page on Indian Coinage, 1 November 2001. Archived fromthe original on 1 September 2006. Retrieved27 November 2006.
^This shows that the native vernacular of the Goa Kadambas was Kannada –Moraes (1931), p384
^Two coins of the Hangal Kadambas are preserved at the Royal Asiatic Society, Mumbai, one with the Kannada inscriptionSaarvadhari and other withNakara.Moraes (1931), p385
^abcd6th century Sanskrit poet Dandin praised Srivaradhadeva's writing as "having producedSaraswati from the tip of his tongue, just asShiva produced theGanges from the tip of his top knot" (Rice E.P., 1921, pp.25–28)
^The seventeenth-century Kannada grammarian Bhattakalanka wrote about theChudamani as a milestone in the literature of the Kannada language (Sastri (1955), p355)
^"Literature in all Dravidian languages owes a great deal to Sanskrit, the magic wand whose touch raised each of the languages from a level of patois to that of a literary idiom". (Sastri 1955, p309)
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^"The author endeavours to demonstrate that the entire Sangam poetic corpus follows the "Kavya" form of Sanskrit poetry"-Tieken, Herman Joseph Hugo. 2001. Kāvya in South India: old Tamil Caṅkam poetry. Groningen: Egbert Forsten
^Report on the administration of Mysore – Page 90 Mysore – 1864 "There is no authentic record of the casting of the first Early Canarese printing. Canarese type, but a Canarese Grammar by Carey printed at Serampore in 1817 is extant. About the same time a translation of the Scriptures was printed
^Missions in south India – Page 56Joseph Mullens – 1854 "Among those of the former are tracts on Caste, on the Hindu gods; Canarese Proverbs; Henry and his Bearer; the Pilgrim's Progress; Barth's Bible Stories; a Canarese hymn book"
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