Kannada script

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Kannada
The syllable ka in Kannada
ka in Kannada 		Distribution area of ​​Kannada
Font Abugida
languages Kannada , Tulu , Kodava , Konkani
Used in Karnataka
ancestry Protosinaitic script
 →  Phoenician script
  →  Aramaic script
   →  Brahmic script
    →  Kannada
particularities Belongs to the Indian font family.
Unicode block Kannada (0C80 to 0CFF)

The Kannada script ( Kannada ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ , also Canarese script ) is a syllable alphabet from the Indian group of scripts . Mainly the Dravidian language Kannada is written in it, as well as some other regional languages ​​used in the southern Indian state of Karnataka such as Tulu and Kodava . Konkani speakers resident in Mangalore also use this script for their language.

Sanskrit text written in different scripts: "May Shiva bless whoever pleases the language of the gods." ( Kalidasa ).

history

Kannada inscription in the temple of Basaral ( Hoysala dynasty, 13th century)

The Kannada script has the same origins as the Telugu script used in the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh , to which it is still very similar today. Both derive from the ancient Canarese script, in which both Kannada and Telugu were written from the 13th century . The old Canarian script, in turn, developed from the Kadamba script in the 10th century . It is a South Indian descendant of the Brahmi script , the oldest Indian script, which has been handed down from the 5th century . From the 15th century onwards, minor differences between the Kannada and Telugu scripts developed in the ancient Canarian script, which were fixed in the 19th century by the introduction of letterpress printing by European missionaries. Most noticeable is the difference in the sign for ka ( ಕ in Kannada, క in Telugu). Typically for a South Indian script, the Kannada script is characterized by its round shapes.

Working principle

Street sign in Kannada and English

As with all Indian scripts, the Kannada script is an intermediate form of the alphabet and syllabary , a so-called Abugida . This means that the basic element of the script is a consonant sign with the inherent vowel a (e.g. ಕ ka , ಮ ma ). If the consonant is followed by another vowel, this is expressed using a diacritical mark (e.g. ಕಾ kā , ಮಾ mā ). This so-called secondary vowel sign is dependent and forms a fixed unit with the consonant sign. Only at the beginning of the word are vowels represented by independent characters (e.g. ಅ a , ಆ ā ). Consonant connections are expressed using ligatures . In the Kannada script, the second consonant usually appears under the first (e.g. ಕ್ಕ kka ), some ligatures have special forms (e.g. ರ್ತ rta from ರ and ತ ). At the end of a word, a consonant that is not followed by a vowel is expressed by a diacritical mark called virama (e.g. ಕ್ k ). Like all Indian scripts, the Kannada script is clockwise, i.e. i.e., it is written from left to right.

character

The character inventory of the Kannada script includes 34 consonant characters, 13 vowel characters and two additional characters. By combining characters from these three categories, a far greater number of connecting characters can be created.

Consonant sign

The Kannada script today has 34 consonant characters (ವ್ಯಂಜನ vyajana ). In old books there were also the letters ಱ and ೞ. Since their pronunciation had coincided with ರ ( ra ) or ಳ ( ḷa ), they were replaced by these letters from around 1800. Unlike in the Latin alphabet, for example, the order of the characters is not arbitrary, but reflects the phonology of Sanskrit . The enumeration of the consonant signs begins with the plosives and nasals according to their place of articulation ( velar , palatal , retroflex , dental , labial ) from back to front, i.e. H. from the soft palate to the lips, in order. The plosives appear in rows of voiceless , voiceless- aspirated , voiced and voiced-aspirated, followed by the homorganen (spoken at the same point of articulation) nasal (e.g. ka , kha , ga , gha , ṅa ). The plosives are followed by the semi-vowels (according to Sanskrit grammar these are ya , ra , la and va ), the sibilants (sibilants) śa, ṣa, sa, the breath ha and finally, as the last consonant , the one belonging to the Kannada (not in Sanskrit occurring) retroflex consonant ḷa .

Plosives
Velare ಕ ka [ kʌ ] ಖ kha [ kʰʌ ] ಗ ga [ gʌ ] ಘ gha [ gʱʌ ] ಙ ṅa [ ŋʌ ]
Palatal ಚ ca [ ʧʌ ] ಛ cha [ ʧʰʌ ] ಜ yes [ ʤʌ ] ಝ jha [ ʤʱʌ ] ಞ ña [ ɲʌ ]
Retroflexes ಟ ṭa [ ʈʌ ] ಠ ṭha [ ʈʰʌ ] ಡ ḍa [ ɖʌ ] ಢ ḍha [ ɖʱʌ ] ಣ ṇa [ ɳʌ ]
Dental ತ ta [ t̪ʌ ] ಥ tha [ t̪ʰʌ ] ದ da [ d̪ʌ ] ಧ dha [ d̪ʱʌ ] ನ na [ n̪ʌ ]
Labials ಪ pa [ pʌ ] ಫ pha [ pʰʌ ] ಬ ba [ bʌ ] ಭ bha [ bʱʌ ] ಮ ma [ mʌ ]
Other consonants
ಯ ya [ jʌ ] ರ ra [ rʌ ] ಱ r [⁠ ṟ ⁠] ಲ la [ lʌ ] ವ va [ ʋʌ ] ಶ śa [ ɕʌ ] ಷ ṣa [ ʂʌ ] ಸ sa [ sʌ ] ಹ ha [ hʌ ] ಳ ḷa [ ɭʌ ] ೞ l [⁠ ɺ ⁠]

Vowels

The Kannada script knows 13 vowels (ಸ್ವರ svara ): five short vowels, one consonant vowel, five long vowels and two diphthongs ). The vowels also include the "consonantic vowel" r̥ , which occurs in Sanskrit loan words in the Kannada. It is spoken [ rɨ ] or [ ru ]. In addition, there are signs for three more endemic in Sanskrit consonant vowel ೠ R , ಌ L and ೡ l . The independent vowel signs only appear at the beginning of the word.

Independent vowel signs
ಅ a [⁠ ʌ ⁠] ಆ ā [ aː ] ಇ i [⁠ i ⁠] ಈ ī [ iː ] ಉ u [⁠ u ⁠] ಊ ū [ uː ] ಋ r̥ [ rɨ / ru ] ಎ e [⁠ e ⁠] ಏ ē [ eː ] ಐ ai [ aj ] ಒ o [⁠ o ⁠] ಓ ō [ oː ] ಔ au [ aw ]

To express post-consonant vowels, the Kannada script uses diacritical marks , the so-called dependent vowel marks . They form a unit with the consonant sign. The consonant-vowel connections with the consonant k are given as an example .

Consonant-vowel connections
ಕ ka [ kʌ ] ಕಾ kā [ kaː ] ಕಿ ki [ ki ] ಕೀ kī [ kiː ] ಕು ku [ ku ] ಕೂ kū [ kuː ] ಕೃ kr̥ [ krɨ / kru ] ಕೆ ke [ ke ] ಕೇ kē [ keː ] ಕೈ kai [ kaj ] ಕೊ ko [ ko ] ಕೋ kō [ koː ] ಕೌ kau [ kaw ]

Additional characters

Besides knowing the Kannada alphabet two additional characters (ಯೋಗವಾಹ yogavāha express), the two sounds from Sanskrit: the Anusvara ಂ M and visarga ಃ h .

Additional characters
ಕಂ kaṃ [ came ] ಕಃ kaḥ [ kah ]

Digits

The Kannada script has its own characters for the decimal digits .

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

literature

  • William Bright: The Dravidian Scripts . In: Sanford B. Steever (Ed.): The Dravidian Languages . London: Routledge, 1998. pp. 40-71.
  • Florian Coulmas : The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems . Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0-631-21481-X . Keyword: Kannada script (p. 257 f.).

Web links