Telugu Language

Telugu is a Dravidian language spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It one of the 23 national languages in India and is the official language of the state. According to research, Telugu is one Dravidian language that is spoken by the largest number of speakers, that is after Hindi.

According to Russian linguist M S Andronov, Telugu originated from the Proto-Dravidian language. It split from this language somewhere between 1500 BC and 1000 BC.

The people who speak Telugu have originated form the central part of the Deccan Plateau and the language itself belong to the South Central Dravidian language sub family. Other languages from the group include Gondi, Konda, Kui and Kuvi languages which are linguistically closest to Telegu.

The etymology of the word Telugu is of great dispute even today. According to a popular version, Telugu was derived from Trilinga, the three shrines to Lord Shiva in Srisailam. However, according to K L Ranjanam the word was derived from Talaing who conquered the Andhra region. This debate still continues as there are many opinions and version as to the etymology of Telugu.

Englishmen in the 19 century called Telugu of the East all words in Telugu end with a vowel sound. Telugu is also called Tenugu which means Sweet as Honey. This could be due to the high use of open syllables, that is consonants + vowels, in the languages.

Telugu uses both short /e/ and /o/ along with long /e:/ and /o:/ which is similar to other Dravidian languages. Telugu has voiced and unvoiced consonants. However, this is reserved for written Telugu and not spoken.

Telugu also follows vowel harmony. As one sees in Turkish and Finnish, Telugu to uses vowels as suffix that are harmonized with the vowels in the preceding syllable. As with other Indian languages, Telugu has the system of gender and respect including in the second and the third person.

Telugu vocabulary is derived from Sanskrit and many words are derived from Sanskrit and Prakrit. Telugu is the only Dravidian language that has a lot of Indo-Aryan influence. In present time, the Telugu spoken by the masses has a lot of influence from English, Hindi and Urdu.

Telugu is written from left to right and consist of simple or complex characters. Telugu language has 60 symbols out of which 16 are vowels, 3 vowel modifiers, and 41 consonants.

External References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_language
• http://www.teluguworld.org/Telugu/dravidian_class.html

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