Telugu language
Telugu (
తెలుగు telugu,
IPA: [t̪elugu]) is a language primarily spoken in the
state of
Andhra Pradesh and the district of
Yanam,
India, where it is an
official language. Also spoken in the neighbouring states of
Chattisgarh,
Karnataka,
Maharashtra,
Orissa and
Tamil Nadu, it is the language with the third largest number of
native speakers in India (74 million as of 2001) and thirteenth in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide.
[1] It is one of the twenty-two
scheduled languages of the Republic of India[2] and one of the four
classical languages.
[3][4] Written in the
Brahmi script, Telugu is a
south-central Dravidian language heavily influenced by Sanskrit
[5] and Prakrit.
[6] Also influenced by Urdu around
Hyderabad region.Telugu is the only literary language outside the South-Dravidian Branch. Its literature goes back to 11th century A.D. Its ancient forms were attested through inscriptions dating back to 200 A.D.
[7][8]
Though Telugu belongs to
South-Central Dravidian group, it retains several features of Sanskrit that have been lost in north-Indian Sanskrit-based languages such as Hindi and Bengali, especially in terms of pronunciation of vowels and consonants. For instance, Telugu retains the original Sanskrit pronunciation of
అం /əⁿ/,
ఐ /əi/, and
ఔ /əu/.
[8]
It has been claimed by the linguists Chenchiah , Raja M. Bhujanga Rao Bahadur and Korada Subrahmanyam that Telugu is the Vikriti language, a language descended from
Sanskrit.
[9] However, most linguists classify as a
South-Central Dravidian language, unrelated to Sanskrit.
Etymology
The etymology of
Telugu is not known for certain. It is thought to have been derived from
trilinga, as in
Trilinga Desa, "the country of the three lingas". According to a
Hindu legend,
Shiva descended as
linga on three mountains namely, Kaleswara, Srisaila and Bhimeswara, which marked the boundaries of the Telugu country.
[10] Trilinga Desa is the land in between these three
Shiva temples namely
Kaleshwaram,
Srisailam and
Draksharamam. Trilinga Desa forms the traditional boundaries of the Telugu region. Telugu has also been known as "Tenungu", "Tenugu" and "Telungu," which were all popularized by
Nannayya and
Tikkana.
According to Marepalli Ramachandra Sastry, Telu means white and unga means plural in
Gondi. So, telunga means people who are white in complexion.
[11]
History
Ikshvakus
The
Andhra Ikshvakus (
Sanskrit इक्श्वाकू,
Telugu ఇక్ష్వాకులు) were one of the earliest recorded ruling dynasties of
Andhra Pradesh and are said to have been the first
Kshatriya rulers in the
Andhra region. They ruled the eastern Andhra country along the
Krishna river during the later half of the 2nd century CE. .
[12] Their capital was Vijayapuri (
Nagarjunakonda).
Lexical traces and epigraphy
Andhra Empire or Satavahana Dynasty
The
Sātavāhana Empire (
Telugu:
శాతవాహన సామ్రాజ్యము) or
Andhra Empire, was a royal
Indian dynasty based from
Amaravati. The earliest traces of Telugu are found in late BCE inscriptions. Telugu is influenced by
Prakrit and
Sanskrit. Epigraphic evidence suggests that during the Andhra
Satavahana dynasty, the rulers spoke Prakrit while the general population spoke an early form of Telugu.
Inscriptions containing Telugu words dated to the 3rd century BCE were discovered in
Bhattiprolu in
Kurnool district. The English translation of one inscription reads: "Gift of the slab by venerable Midikilayakha".
[13] Telugu words appear in the
Maharashtri Prakrit anthology of poems (the
Gatha Saptashati) collected by the 1st century BCE Satavahana King
Hāla.
[575 AD to 1022 AD
The first inscription that is entirely in Telugu corresponds to the second phase of Telugu history. This inscription, dated 575 AD, 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. This 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).
[14] During the time of Nannayya, the literary language diverged from the popular language. This 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. Ketana (13th century) in fact prohibited the use of spoken words in poetic works.
[14] During this period the separation of
Telugu script from the common
Telugu-Kannada script took place.
[15] Tikkana wrote his works in this script.
Vijayanagara Empire
Vijayanagara empire(
Rayalaseema region) gained dominance from 1336 till the late 17th century, reaching its peak during the rule of
Sri Krishnadevaraya in the 16th century, when Telugu literature experienced what is considered its
golden age.
[14] Pada kavita pitamaha,
Annamacharya, contributed many Telugu songs to this great language.
Muslim rule
With the exception of Coastal
Andhra region, the language in the Telangana and Rayalseema regions was influenced much as people started to split into a distinct dialect due to Muslim influence on them:
Sultanate rule under the
Tughlaq dynasty had been established earlier in the northern Deccan during the 14th century. In the latter half of the 17th century, Muslim rule extended further south, culminating in the establishment of the princely state of
Hyderabad by the
Asaf Jah dynasty in 1724. This heralded an era of
Persian/
Arabic influence on the Telugu language, especially among the people of
Hyderabad. The effect is also felt in the prose of the early 19th century, as in the
Kaifiyats.
[14]
Colonial period
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
Kandukuri Veeresalingam,
Gurazada Apparao and
Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao.
[14]
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
Telugu is one of the 22
official languages of India. The Andhra Pradesh Official Language Act, 1966, declares Telugu the official language of Andhra Pradesh. This enactment was implemented by GOMs No 420 in 2005.
[16][17]
Telugu also has official language status in the
Yanam District of the
Union Territory of
Puducherry.
Telugu, along with Kannada, was declared as one of the classical languages of India in the year 2008 after Sanskrit (in 2005) and
Tamil (in 2004). The declaration year of classical language order is insignificant, as we have to keep in mind all these languages were ancient and born centuries ago.
Phonology
Telugu words generally end in vowels. Telugu was called the
Italian of the East by Italian explorer
Niccolò Da Conti. He coined the phrase in 15th century when he visited Vijayanagara empire during the reign of Vira Vijaya Bukka Raya in 1520s.
Like Turkish, Hungarian and Finnish, Telugu words also have vowels in inflectional suffixes harmonized with the vowels of the preceding syllable.
Telugu features a form of
vowel harmony wherein the second vowel in disyllabic noun and adjective roots alters whether the first vowel is tense or lax.
[18] If the second vowel is open (i.e.
/aː/ or
/a/), then the first vowel will be more open and centralized (e.g.
[mɛːka] 'goat', as opposed to
[meːku] 'nail').
Alphabets
Literary Telugu has complete set of letters which follows scientific system to express sounds. It is highly conducive for Phonetics.
It has more letters than any Indian language. Some of them are introduced to express fine shades of difference in sounds.
Onamaalu, or the Telugu alphabet consist of 60 symbols - 16 vowels, 3 vowel modifiers, and 41 consonants.
Sanskrit and Telugu alphabets are similar and exhibit one-one correspondence. Telugu has complete set of letters which follows scientific system to express sounds.
[19] It is highly conducive for Phonetics. It has more letters than any Indian language. Some of them are introduced to express fine shades of difference in sounds.
[19]
Telugu has full-Zero or
anusvāra(
ం ), half-zero or
arthanusvāra or
Chandrabindu (
ఁ) and
Visarga to convey various shades of nasal sounds. la and La, ra and Ra are differentiated.
[19]
Telugu has .CH and .JH which are not represented in Sanskrit, and S, SH, and KSH which are not found in Tamil.
[19]
Telugu script can reproduce the full range of Sanskrit phonetics without losing any of the text's originality.
[19] Telugu has made its letters expressive of all the sounds and hence it has to deal with significant borrowings from
Sanskrit,
Tamil and
Hindustani.
[19]
Number system
Telugu has its own numerical system, as shown below.
Grammar
The rules of classical Telugu grammar are collectively known as Vyākaranam (
వ్యాకరణం), .
The first treatise on Telugu grammar, the "Andhra Sabda Chintamani" was written in
Sanskrit by
Nannayya, considered the first Telugu poet and translator, in the 11th century A.D. This grammar followed the patterns which existed in grammatical treatises like
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 19th century, Chinnaya Suri wrote a simplified work on Telugu grammar called "
Bāla Vyākaranam" by borrowing concepts and ideas from Nannayya's grammar.
Subject-Object-Verb
The primary word order of Telugu is SOV (Subject-Object-Verb)
This sentence can also be interpreted as 'Ramu will go to school' depending on the context. But it does not affect the SOV order.
Inflection
Unlike other dravidian languages, Telugu is an
inflected language, Telugu nouns are inflected for number (singular, plural), gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and case (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative, instrumental, and locative).
[20]
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 (connect parts of sentences) and reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb's subject).
Telugu uses the same forms for singular feminine and neuter genders – the third person pronoun (
అది /ad̪ɪ/) is used to refer to animals and objects.
[21][22][clarification needed]
Vocabulary
Telugu incorporates a high percentage of
Sanskrit words and a lower percentage of
Dravidian words. It also contains, to a lesser extent,
Arabic and
Persian words such as "maidanamu" (maydan in Arabic), "kalamu" (
qalam in Arabic) and "
Bazaar" (originally Persian word). Today, Telugu is classified as a Dravidian language characterized by a significant presence of Sanskrit loan words.
The vocabulary of Telugu, especially in
Telangana region, has a trove of
Persian-
Arabic borrowings, which have been modified to fit Telugu phonology. This was due to centuries of
Muslim 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, standardized version of the language, heavily influenced by Sanskrit, is taught in schools and used by the government and
Hindu religious institutions. However, everyday Telugu varies depending upon region and social status.
It has been claimed by the linguist Chenchiah and Raja M. Bhujanga Rao Bahadur that Telugu is the Vikriti language, a language descended from
Sanskrit.
[9] However, most linguists classify as a
Dravidian language, unrelated to Sanskrit.
Writing system
The name Telugu written in the Telugu script
The famous Muslim historian and scholar of 10th century,
Al-Biruni referred to Telugu language and script as "Andhri".
[23]
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 (“achchu” 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 to be 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 “maatras”. The shapes of vowel “maatras” 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 | (“purna viramam”) or a double bar || (“deergha viramam”). Traditionally, in handwriting, Telugu words were not separated by spaces. Modern punctuation (commas, semicolon, etc.) were introduced with the advent of print.
[24]
There is a set of symbols for
numerals, though Arabic numbers are typically used.
Telugu is assigned
Unicode codepoints: 0C00-0C7F (3072–3199).
[25]
Carnatic music
Thanjavur was the heart of the Tamil
Chola dynasty (from the 9th century to the 13th), but in the second quarter of the 16th century a
Telugu Nayak viceroy (Raghunatha Nayaka) was appointed by the emperor of
Vijayanagara, thus establishing a court whose language was Telugu. Telugu Nayaka rulers acted as the governors in the present day
Tamil Nadu area with headquarters at
Thanjavur (1530–1674 CE) and
Madurai (1530–1781 CE). After the collapse of
Vijayanagar,
Thanjavur and
Madurai Nayaks became independent and ruled for the next 150 years until they were replaced by Marathas. This was the period when several Telugu families migrated from
Andhra and settled down in
Thanjavur and
Madurai in
Tamilnadu. Most of the great composers of
Carnatic music belonged to these families. Telugu, a language ending with vowels, giving it a mellifluous quality, was also considered suitable for musical expression. Of the trinity of
Carnatic music composers, compositions of
Tyagaraja and
Syama Sastri compositions were largely in Telugu, while Tamil composer
Muthuswami Dikshitar is noted for his Sanskrit texts. Tyagaraja is remembered both for his devotion and the bhava of his krithi, a song form consisting of pallavi, (the first section of a song) anupallavi (a rhyming section that follows the pallavi) and charanam (a sung stanza, which serves as a refrain for several passages in the composition). The texts of his krithis are almost all in Sanskrit and Telugu (the contemporary language of the court). This use of a living language, as opposed to ritual language of Sanskrit, is in keeping with the bhakti ideal of the immediacy of devotion. Sri Syama Sastri, the oldest of this trinity, was taught Telugu and Sanskrit by his father, who was a
pujari (Hindu priest). Syama Sastri's texts were largely composed in Telugu, widening their popular appeal. Some of his most famous compositions include the nine krithis, Navaratnamaalikā, in praise of the goddess Meenakshi at
Madurai, and his eighteen krithi in praise of Kamakshi. As well as composing krithi, he is credited with turning the svarajati, originally used for dance, into a purely musical form.
[edit] 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 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.
[26]
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.
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 Budda 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 CE is regarded as the "golden age" of Telugu literature.
Krishnadevaraya's
Amukthamalayadha, and Pedhdhana's
Manucharithra are regarded as
Mahaakaavyaas. Sri Krishnadeva Raya stated "Desa bhashalandu Telugu Lessa" meaning "Among the nation's languages, Telugu is the best". 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 non-
Brahmins who popularised indigenous (
desi)
meters.
With the conquest of the
Deccan by the
Mughals in 1687, Telugu literature entered a lull.
Tyagaraja's compositions are some of the known works from this period. Then emerged a period of transition (1850–1910), followed by a long period of
Renaissance.
Europeans like C.P. Brown played an important role in the development of Telugu language and literature. In common with the rest of India, Telugu literature of this period was increasingly influenced by European literary forms like 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 Andhra 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.
[27] 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.
[28] C. Narayana Reddy also received the award for his contributions to Telugu literature.
[29] 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.
[14] Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, a well known Telugu poet, has been a recipient of the
Sahitya Akademi Award. He is best known for his work,
Na Desham, Na Prajalu (
My country, My people), which was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature 2004. His works have been translated into many languages. He wrote under the pen name "Seshen".
Geographic distribution
Telugu is mainly spoken in the state of
Andhra Pradesh and
Yanam district of
Puducherry as well as in the neighboring states of
Tamil Nadu,
Puducherry,
Karnataka,
Maharashtra,
Orissa,
Chhattisgarh, some parts of
Jharkhand and the
Kharagpur region of
West Bengal in India. It is also spoken in the
United States, where the Telugu diaspora numbers more than 800,000, with the highest concentration in
Central New Jersey; as well as in
Australia,
New Zealand,
Bahrain,
Canada,
Fiji,
Malaysia,
Singapore,
Mauritius,
Ireland,
South Africa, the
United Arab Emirates,
United Kingdom and also most of the western European countries, where there is also a considerable Telugu
diaspora. Telugu is the second most spoken language in the Indian subcontinent after
Hindi. In
Tamil Nadu, about 8% of the population speak Telugu, where it commonly known as
Telungu
Dialects
Waddar,
[30] Chenchu,
[31] Savara,
[32] and Manna-Dora
[33] are all closely related to Telugu.
[34] Dialects of Telugu are Berad, Dasari, Dommara, Golari, Kamathi, Komtao, Konda-Reddi, Salewari, Telangana, Warangal, Mahaboobnagar (Palamuru), Gadwal (Rayalaseema mix), Narayanapeta (Kannada and Marathi influence), Vijayawada, Vadaga, Srikakula, Visakhapatnam, Toorpu (East) Godavari, Paschima (West) Godavari, Kandula, Rayalaseema, Nellooru, Prakasam, Guntooru, Tirupati, Vadari and Yanadi (Yenadi).
[35]
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, Madurai, Madras and Thanjavur districts. Along with the most standard forms of Indian languages like
Kannada,
Tamil,
Hindi,
Bangla,
Gujarati,
Oriya and
Marathi, Standard Telugu is often called
శుద్ధ తెలుగు(Shudda Telugu) or
అచ్చ తెలుగు (
accha telugu).
Pedda Bala Shiksha
Pedda Bala Shiksha is a complete, two volume Telugu encyclopedia written by Gajula Satya Narayana. It covers Telugu grammar, Panchatantra tales, and exercises and it is used to teach Telugu to children.
