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Kannada alphabet 
Origin
The
Kannada alphabet developed from the Kadamba and Cālukya scripts,
descendents of
Brahmi
which were used between the 5th and 7th centuries AD. These scripts
developed into the Old Kannada script, which by about 1500 had morphed
into the Kannada and Telugu scripts. Under the influence of Christian
missionary organizations, Kannada and Telugu scripts were standardized
at the beginning of the 19th century.
Notable features
- Kannada is
a alphasyllabary in which all consonants have an inherent vowel.
Other vowels are indicated with diacritics, which can appear above,
below, before or after the consonants.
- When they
appear the the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as
independent letters.
- When
consonants appear together without intervening vowels, the second
consonant is written as a special conjunt symbol, usually below the
first.
Used to write:
Kannada or Canarese, the official language of the southern
Indian state of Karnataka. Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken by
about 44 million people in the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
Kannada alphabet
Vowels
Consonants
A selection
of conjunct consonants
Numerals
Sample text in
Kannada
Transliteration
Ellā mānavarū svatantrarāgiyē janisiddāre.
Hāgū ghanate mattu hakku gaḷalli samānarāgiddāre. Vivēka mattu
antaḥkaraṇagaḷannu paḍedavarāddarinda avaru paraspara sahōdara
bhāvadinda vartisabēku.
Translation
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.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Thanks to Arvind
Iyengar for providing the sample text.
Longer sample text (Tower of Babel)
Links
Free Kannada fonts
http://www.prajavani.net/fonts/download.htm
http://www.kannadaprabha.com/fonts/help.asp
Online Kannada lessons
http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~kulki/kannada/kanindex.html
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/kannada/
Online Kannada <> English
dictionary
http://www.kannadakasturi.com/
Online Kannada news in Kannada
http://www.prajavani.net
http://www.kannadaprabha.com |
