Kannada

{{Short description|Dravidian language}} {{Other uses|Kannada (disambiguation)|Kanada (disambiguation)}} {{Distinguish|Canada|Kanata (disambiguation){{!}}Kanata}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Use Indian English|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox language | name = Kannada | nativename = {{lang|kn|ಕನ್ನಡ}} | pronunciation = {{IPA|kn|ˈkənːəɖa|}} | states = India | region = Karnataka | ethnicity = Kannadigas | speakers = L1: {{sigfig|43.697430|2}} million | date = 2011 | ref = e27 | speakers2 = L2: {{sigfig|15.009260|2}} million (2011) | speakers_label = Speakers | familycolor = Dravidian | fam2 = Southern | fam3 = Southern I | fam4 = Tamil-Kannada | fam5 = Kannadoid | ancestor = Proto-Dravidan * Old Kannada | script = *Kannada script *Kannada Braille | nation = India * Karnataka | minority = | agency = Government of Karnataka<ref>{{cite book |title=The Karnataka official language act, 1963 – Karnataka Gazette (Extraordinary) Part IV-2A |publisher=Government of Karnataka |year=1963 |pages=33}}</ref> | iso1 = kn | iso2 = kan | iso3 = kan | lingua = 49-EBA-a | image = Shukla Kannada.svg | imagescale = | imagecaption = The word "Kannada" in Kannada script | map = Kannada language distribution.svg | mapcaption = Distribution of Kannada native speakers, majority regions in dark blue and minority regions in light blue.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schwartzberg |first=Joseph E. |author-link=Joseph E. Schwartzberg |title=A Historical Atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-19-506869-6 |page=102 |chapter=Currency of Selected Languages and Scripts |chapter-url=https://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/overview/languages/himal1992max.jpg}}</ref> | glotto = nucl1305 | glottorefname = Kannada | notice = IPA | dia1 = Mangalore Kannada | dia2 = Havyaka | dia3 = Kundagannada | dia4 = Arebhashe | dia5 = Bengaluru Kannada | altname = Canarese }} {{Infobox ethnonym |person=Kannaḍiga |people=Kannaḍigaru |language=Kannaḍa }} '''Kannada''' ({{IPA|kn|ˈkənːəɖa|lang|Kannada-pronounciation.ogg}})<ref name="WesleyanMissionPress1858">{{cite book |last1=Reeve |first1=William |url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarycana00sandgoog |title=A Dictionary, Canarese and English |publisher=Wesleyan Mission Press |year=1858 |editor1-last=Sanderson |editor1-first=Daniel |location=Bangalore |access-date=18 January 2017}}</ref> is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, 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.<ref name=e27/> It is the official and administrative language of Karnataka.<ref name="official">{{cite web |title=The Karnataka Official Language Act |url=http://dpal.kar.nic.in/26%20of%201963%20(E).pdf |access-date=29 June 2007 |work=Official website of Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation |publisher=Government of Karnataka}}</ref> It also has scheduled status in India and has been declared one of the Classical languages of India.{{sfnp|Kuiper|2011|p=74}}<ref name="oldest">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2012 |title=none |encyclopedia=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |publisher=Princeton University Press |last=Zydenbos |first=R |editor-last=Cushman |editor-first=S |edition=4 |page=767 |isbn=978-0-691-15491-6 |editor-last2=Cavanagh |editor-first2=C |editor-last3=Ramazani |editor-first3=J |editor-last4=Rouzer |editor-first4=P}}</ref>

Kannada was the court language of a number of dynasties and empires of South India, Central India and the Deccan Plateau, namely the Kadamba dynasty, Western Ganga dynasty, Nolamba dynasty, Chalukya dynasty, Rashtrakutas,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Seshan |first1=Radhika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RyZhDwAAQBAJ&dq=rashtrakuta+court+language+kannada&pg=PT43 |title=Re-searching Transitions in Indian History |last2=Kumbhojkar |first2=Shraddha |date=27 June 2018 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-429-94630-1 |language=en}}</ref> Western Chalukya Empire, Seuna dynasty, Kingdom of Mysore,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramaswamy |first=Harish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UM3LjKo8Uo8C&pg=PA334 |title=Karnataka Government and Politics |date=2007 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-8069-397-7 |pages=334 |language=en}}</ref> Nayakas of Keladi,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Masica |first1=Colin P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Itp2twGR6tsC&dq=yadavas+kannada&pg=RA1-PA45 |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |date=9 September 1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-29944-2}}</ref> Hoysala dynasty and the Vijayanagara Empire.

Kannada is written using the Kannada script, which evolved from the 5th-century Kadamba script. Kannada is attested epigraphically for about one and a half millennia. Old Kannada Rashtrakuta literature flourished during the 8th-10th centuries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rastrakutas |url=http://www.classicalkannada.org/DataBase/KannwordHTMLS/CLASSICAL%20KANNADA%20LAND%20HISTORY%20AND%20PEOPLE%20HTML/RASHTRAKUTA%20DYNASTY.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110232151/http://www.classicalkannada.org/DataBase/KannwordHTMLS/CLASSICAL%20KANNADA%20LAND%20HISTORY%20AND%20PEOPLE%20HTML/RASHTRAKUTA%20DYNASTY.htm |archive-date=10 January 2011 |access-date=12 May 2008 |publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages}}</ref>{{sfnp|Zvelebil|1973|p=7}} Kannada has an unbroken literary history of around 1200 years.{{sfnp|Garg|1992|p=67}} In July 2011, a center for the study of classical Kannada was established as part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore to facilitate research related to the language.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 July 2011 |title=CIIL to head Centre for classical Kannada study |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ciil-to-head-centre-for-classical-kannada-study/169646-60-119.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111170247/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ciil-to-head-centre-for-classical-kannada-study/169646-60-119.html |archive-date=11 January 2012 |access-date=12 February 2013 |website=IBNlive}}</ref>

== Geographic distribution ==

Kannada had 43.7<ref name=":0" /> million native speakers in India at the time of the 2011 census. It is the main language of the state of Karnataka, where it is spoken natively by {{sigfig|40.622836|3}} million people, or about two-thirds of the state's population.

There are native Kannada speakers in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu ({{sigfig|1141976|3}} speakers), Maharashtra ({{sigfig|993133|3}}), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana ({{sigfig|532937|3}}), Kerala ({{sigfig|78067|3}}), and Goa ({{sigfig|67837|3}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=C-16: Population by mother tongue, India – 2011 |author=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/10191 |access-date=16 November 2022}}</ref>

It is also spoken as a second and third language by over 12.9 million non-native speakers in Karnataka.<ref name="2001census">{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indiaspeak-English-is-our-2nd-language/articleshow/5680962.cms |title=Indiaspeak: English is our 2nd language |work=The Times of India |date=14 March 2010}}</ref>

Kannadigas form Tamil Nadu's third-largest linguistic group; their population is roughly 1.23 million, which is 2.2% of Tamil Nadu's total population.<ref name="TimesofIndia">{{cite news |first=Rema |last=Nagarajan |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Kannadigas-TNs-3rd-biggest-group/articleshow/2954903.cms |title=Kannadigas TN's 3rd biggest group |newspaper=The Times of India |date=16 April 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2uPAgAAQBAJ&q=Kannada&pg=PA84 |title=The Territories and States of India |last1=Boland-Crewe |first1=Tara |last2=Lea |first2=David |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-135-35625-5 |pages=224–226}}</ref>

In the United States, there were 35,900 speakers in 2006–2008,<ref>{{cite web |title=Table 1. Detailed Languages Spoken at Home |url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/other/detailed-lang-tables.xls |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604062111/http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/other/detailed-lang-tables.xls |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> a number that had risen to 48,600 by 2015.

There are {{sigfig|3970|2}} speakers in Canada (2016 census), 9,700 in Australia (2016 census), 22,000 in Singapore (2018 estimate),<ref name="Ethnologue_kan">{{e25|kan}}</ref> and 59,000 in Malaysia (2021 estimate).<ref name="Ethnologue_kan"/>{{Better source needed|date=November 2022}}

== Development ==

Kannada, like Malayalam and Tamil, is a South Dravidian language and a descendant of Tamil-Kannada, from which it derives its grammar and core vocabulary. Its history can be divided into three stages: Old Kannada, or ''Haḷegannaḍa'' from 450 to 1200 AD, Middle Kannada (''Naḍugannaḍa'') from 1200 to 1700 and Modern Kannada (''Hosagannaḍa'') from 1700 to the present.{{sfn|Steever|1998|p=129}}<ref name="R. Narasimhacharya 1934 1">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/buddhadhammaorli0000nara/page/n10/mode/1up?q=+tamil |title=History of the Kannada Language (Readership Lectures) |author=R. Narasimhacharya |page=1 |publisher=University of Mysore|year=1934 |oclc=4615979}}</ref>

Kannada has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Prakrit—in morphology, phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. The three principal sources of influence on literary Kannada grammar appear to be Pāṇini's grammar, non-Pāṇinian schools of Sanskrit grammar, particularly ''Katantra'' and ''Sakatayana'' schools, and Prakrit grammar.<ref name=prak>{{cite book|last=Mythic Society (Bangalore, India)|title=The quarterly journal of the Mythic society (Bangalore)., Volume 76|year=1985|publisher=Mythic Society (Bangalore, India)|pages=Pages_197–210}}</ref> Literary Prakrit seems to have prevailed in Karnataka 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.<ref name=prak/><ref name="Studies">{{cite book|author1=B. K. Khadabadi |author2=Prākr̥ta Bhāratī Akādamī |title=Studies in Jainology, Prakrit literature, and languages: a collection of select 51 papers Volume 116 of Prakrit Bharti pushpa|year=1997|publisher=Prakrit Bharati Academy|pages=444 pages}}</ref><ref name="R. Narasimhacharya 1934 1"/> 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.<ref name="civil" />

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.<ref name="civil">{{cite web|title=Classical Kannada, Antiquity of Kannada |url=http://www.classicalkannada.org/LanguageEng.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425022336/http://www.classicalkannada.org/LanguageEng.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 April 2010 |publisher=Central Institute for Indian Languages |work=Centre for classical Kannada |access-date=28 August 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Tamil_epigraphy1">{{Cite book |title=Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century AD |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZBkAAAAMAAJ |editor-first=Iravatham |editor-last=Mahadevan |location=Chennai/Cambridge, Massachusetts|publisher=Cre-A/Harvard University Press |access-date=12 April 2007|isbn=978-0-674-01227-1|year=2003| volume=62 |series=Harvard Oriental Series}}</ref>

Kannada includes many loan words from Sanskrit. Some unaltered loan words ({{langx|sa|तत्सम|tatsama|same as that'}}) include {{langx|sa|label=none|dina||day}}, {{langx|sa|label=none|kōpa||anger}}, {{langx|sa|label=none|sūrya||sun}}, {{langx|sa|label=none|mukha||face}}, and {{langx|sa|label=none|nimiṣa||minute}}.<ref name="tatsama">{{cite book|last=Kulli|first=Jayavant S|title=History of grammatical theories in Kannada|year=1991|publisher=International School of Dravidian Linguistics|pages=330 pages}}</ref> Some examples of naturalised Sanskrit words ({{langx|sa|तद्भव|tadbhava|arising from that}}) in Kannada are {{langx|kn|label=none|varṇa||colour}}, {{langx|kn|label=none|pūrṇime}}, and {{lang|kn|rāya}} from {{langx|sa|label=none|rāja||king}}.<ref name=banna>{{cite book|last=Jha|first=Ganganatha|title=Journal of the Ganganatha Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Volume 32|year=1976|publisher=Ganganatha Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha|pages=see page 319}}</ref> Some naturalised words of Prakrit origin in Kannada are {{langx|kn|label=none|baṇṇa||colour}} derived from {{lang|pra|vaṇṇa}}, {{langx|kn|huṇṇime|label=none||full moon}} from {{lang|pra|puṇṇivā}}. {{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}

==History==

===Early traces=== [[File:Halmidi OldKannada inscription.JPG|left|upright|thumb|The Halmidi inscription at Halmidi village, in old-Kannada, is usually dated to 450 AD (Kadamba Dynasty).]] thumb|right|Old-Kannada inscription dated 578 AD (Badami Chalukya dynasty), outside Badami cave no.3 [[File:TalakadInscription.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Old-Kannada inscription of c. 726 AD, discovered in Talakad, from the rule of King Shivamara I or Sripurusha (Western Ganga Dynasty)]] [[File:Old Kannada inscription from the Rashtrakuta period (9th century) at the Durga Devi temple in Virupaksha temple complex at Hampi.jpg|thumb|upright|Old-Kannada inscription of the 9th century (Rashtrakuta Dynasty) at Durga Devi temple in Hampi, Karnataka]] [[File:Atakur memorial stone with inscription in old Kannada (949 C.E.).jpg|thumb|upright|The famous Atakur inscription (AD 949) from Mandya district, a classical Kannada composition in two parts; a fight between a hound and a wild boar, and the victory of the Rashtrakutas over the Chola dynasty in the famous battle of Takkolam]] [[File:Old Kannada inscription (c.1057) in Kalleshvara temple at Hire Hadagali.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Old Kannada inscription dated 1057 AD of Western Chalukya King Someshvara I at Kalleshwara Temple, Hire Hadagali in Bellary district]] [[File:Old Kannada inscription (1112 CE) of King Vikramaditya VI in the Mahadeva temple at Itagi.jpg|thumb|upright|Old-Kannada inscription ascribed to King Vikramaditya VI (Western Chalukya Empire), dated AD 1112, at the Mahadeva Temple in Itagi, Koppal district of Karnataka state]] [[File:Old-Kannada inscription at Arasikere Ishwara temple.jpg|left|thumb|Old-Kannada inscription of 1220 AD (Hoysala Empire) at Ishwara temple of Arasikere town in the Hassan district]] [[File:Kannada inscription (1509 AD) of Krishnadeva Raya at entrance to mantapa of Virupaksha temple in Hampi.JPG|thumb|upright|Kannada inscription dated 1509, of King Krishnadevaraya (Vijayanagara Empire), at the Virupaksha temple in Hampi describes his coronation]] [[File:Kannada inscription (17th century) at Gaurishvara temple at Yelandur 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Kannada inscription dated 1654, at Yelandur with exquisite relief]]

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.{{sfn|Bhat|1993|p=102,103}}

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. He pointed out that Prakrit inscriptions of that period contained large numbers of Kannada personal and place names. <ref name="civil2">{{cite web |title=Classical Kannada, Antiquity of Kannada |url=http://www.classicalkannada.org/LanguageEng.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425022336/http://www.classicalkannada.org/LanguageEng.html |archive-date=25 April 2010 |access-date=28 August 2011 |work=Centre for classical Kannada |publisher=Central Institute for Indian Languages}}</ref>

The Ashoka rock edict ({{circa|250 BCE}}) found at Brahmagiri contains Kannada words such as words (''isila'', meaning to fire an arrow).<ref name="isila">The word ''Isila'' 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)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=B. |first=Dr. Suresha |date=October 2018 |title=A study on Ashoka's Inscriptions with special reference to Karnataka |url=https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1810731.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1810731.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |website=JETIR |page=3}}</ref>

Old Kannada words are also found in inscriptions in Northern Tamil Nadu and Kerala<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahadevan |first=Iravatham |title=Early Tamil Epigraphy |publisher=Central Institute of Classical Tamil |year=2014 |isbn=9798698179535 |edition=2}}</ref>{{rp|page=144}} First-century Sittanavasal Cave inscriptions contain words such as such as ''erumi-nadu'' (a location) and ''pocil'' (entrance){{rp|page=453}}. Other examples include ''kaavithi'' (village officer's wife) from 1st century CE Tirumlai{{rp|page=459}} and ''thaayiyaru'' (mothers) in the 4th century CE Nekanurpatti inscription.{{rp|page=523}}.

Extensive trade relations between the ancient Kannada lands (Kuntalas, Mahishakas, Punnatas, Mahabanas, Asmakas, etc.) and Greece, Egypt, the Hellenistic and Roman empires and others led to exchange of people, ideas, and literature. The Library of Alexandria contained Kannada palm-leaf book, indicating that Kannada language and literature must have flourished before the library was established in between {{circa|285-48 BCE}}. This document later played a vital role in establishing Kannada as one of the Classical Languages of India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Angadi |first=Jagadish |date=30 October 2020 |title=Kannada in Alexandria |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/spectrum/spectrum-top-stories/kannada-in-alexandria-909294.html |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref> Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian, wrote about pirates between Muziris and the Netravati River, and also mentions Barcelore (possibly modern Mangaluru, upon its mouth.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India|last=Warmington|first=E. H.|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014 |orig-year=1928|isbn=978-1-107-43214-7|pages=112–113}}</ref> The Greek geographer Ptolemy (writing {{circa|150 CE}}) mentions ten Kannada place names from Northern Karnataka, between Bhima River in the north and Banaouasei (Banavasi) in the south: Nagarouris (Nagur), Tabaso (Tavasi), Inde (Inde), Tiripangalida (Gadhinglaj), Hippokoura (Huvina Hipparagi), Soubouttou (Savadi), Sirimalaga (Malkhed), Kalligeris (Kalkeri), Modogoulla (Mudgal), and Petirgala (Pattadakal).

Pliny also mentions King Sire Polemaios (Vasishthiputra Pulumavi ({{Circa|85}}–125 AD)), whose name is derived from {{langx|kn|puli|translation=tiger}}, perhaps indicating a native Kannada origin for the Satavahanas<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dltXAAAAMAAJ&q=pulumayi+tiger |title=Mysore State, 1956–1966 |publisher=Director of Publicity & Information, Government of Mysore |year=1966 |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref> and explaining the presence of Kannada language and culture in the southern Kuntala country during the period when Pulumavi ruled from Paithan in the north and his son or Pulumayi Kumara ruled from Huvina Hipparagi in present Karnataka in the south.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pai |first=M. Govinda |year=1942 |title=THE VIḶIVĀYAKURAS AND SIVALAKURA OF THE KOLHAPUR COINS |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44002572 |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=23 |issue=1/4 |pages=319–329 |jstor=44002572 |issn=0378-1143}}</ref>

An early ancestor of Kannada (or a related language) may have been spoken by Indian traders in Roman-era Egypt and it may account for the Indian-language passages in the ancient Greek play known as the Charition mime.<ref name="Salomon1991">{{Cite journal |last=Salomon |first=Richard |date=1991 |title=Epigraphic Remains of Indian Traders in Egypt |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=111 |issue=4 |pages=731–736 |doi=10.2307/603404| jstor = 603404}}</ref>

===Epigraphy=== {{main|Kannada inscriptions|Halmidi inscription|Kappe Arabhatta|Shravanabelagola inscription|Tyagada Brahmadeva Pillar|Atakur inscription|Doddahundi nishidhi inscription}} The earliest well-attested example of a full-length Kannada language stone inscription containing Brahmi characters with characteristics of old Kannada script can be found in the Halmidi inscription, usually dated {{Circa|450 AD}}. Its exestence indicates that Kannada had become an administrative language by that time. The Halmidi inscription provides invaluable information about the history and culture of Karnataka.<ref name="admin">K. V. Ramesh (1984), p. 10, 55</ref><ref name="hal">Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 2, Sahitya Akademi (1988), pp. 1717, 1474</ref><ref name="Oldest inscription">A report on Halmidi inscription, {{cite news |title=Halmidi village finally on the road to recognition |url=http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/03/stories/2003110304550500.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031124063238/http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/03/stories/2003110304550500.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 November 2003 |author=Muralidhara Khajane |access-date=25 November 2006 |location=Chennai, India |work=The Hindu |date=3 November 2003}}</ref><ref name="ind">Kamath (2001), p. 10</ref>

A set of five copper plate inscriptions discovered in Mudiyanur, though in the Sanskrit language, is whitten in the in the Kadamba script. Some epigraphers have suggested that the plates are contemporary with the Halmidi inscription, but detailed study places them more than a century later, in 338 BE. <ref>{{Cite web |date=30 October 2021 |title=When ancient copper plates came to Kannada's rescue |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/spectrum/spectrum-statescan/when-ancient-copper-plates-came-to-kannadas-rescue-1045565.html |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=Lewis Benjamin |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.213548 |title=Epigraphia Carnatica Inscription In Kolar District Vol.10 |year=1912 |pages=111–114}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vagarnal |first=Avinasha |date=28 December 2021 |title=Ancient copper plates of Kannada older than Halmidi inscription are in Kolar – ಕೋಲಾರದಲ್ಲಿದೆ ಹಲ್ಮಿಡಿ ಶಾಸನಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಪ್ರಾಚೀನವಾದ ಕನ್ನಡ ಭಾಷೆಯ ತಾಮ್ರದ ಪತ್ರ! |url=https://vijaykarnataka.com/news/kolar/ancient-copper-plates-of-kannada-older-than-halmidi-inscription-are-in-kolar/videoshow/88542760.cms |access-date=15 April 2022 |website=Vijay Karnataka |language=kn}}</ref>

The 5th century poetic Tamatekallu inscription of Chitradurga and the Siragunda inscription from Chikkamagaluru Taluk of 500 AD are further examples.<ref name="chikka">R. Narasimhacharya (1988), p. 6</ref><ref name="rice">Rice E. P. (1921), p. 13</ref><ref name="tamate">Govinda Pai in Bhat (1993), p. 102</ref> Recent reports indicate that the Old Kannada''Gunabhushitana Nishadi'' 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://hindu.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092054690500.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922145102/http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/20/stories/2008092054690500.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 September 2008 |title= Mysore scholar deciphers Chandragiri inscription |access-date=20 September 2008 |location=Chennai, India |newspaper=The Hindu |date=20 September 2008 }}</ref>

Early Kannada inscriptions have been discovered in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in addition to Karnataka. This indicates the spread of the influence of the language over the ages, especially during the rule of large Kannada empires.<ref name="jura">Kamath (2001), p83</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Sircar 1965|pages=202–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Luce 1985|pages=62, n.16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1991/JSS_085_0g_Guy_WarriorRulerSteleFromSriKsetra.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1991/JSS_085_0g_Guy_WarriorRulerSteleFromSriKsetra.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=A WARRIOR-RULER STELE FROM SRI KSETRA, PYU, BURMA|last=Guy|first=John|year=1996|website=Journal of The Siam Society – Siamese Heritage|publisher=Journal of The Siam Society}}</ref>

The earliest copper plates inscribed in Old Kannada script and language, date to the early 8th century CE, are associated with Alupa King Aluvarasa II include the double crested fish, his royal emblem.<ref name="Kannada copperplate">Gururaj Bhat in Kamath (2001), p97</ref>

The oldest well-preserved palm leaf manuscript in Old Kannada is a copy of the of ''Dhavala'', dating to around the 9th century. It is preserved in the Jain Bhandar, Mudbidri, Dakshina Kannada.<ref name="Palm leaf manuscript">{{cite web |title=Preserving voices from the past |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug212005/sundayherald101012005820.asp |last=Mukerjee |first=Shruba|work=Sunday Herald |date=21 August 2005|access-date=11 April 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061022233151/http://deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug212005/sundayherald101012005820.asp  |archive-date = 22 October 2006}}</ref> The manuscript contains 1478 leaves written using ink.<ref name="Palm leaf manuscript" />

=== Coins === Some early Kadamba Dynasty coins bearing the Kannada inscription ''Vira'' and ''Skandha'' were found in Satara collectorate.<ref name="sat">The coins are preserved at the Archaeological Section, Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Mumbai – Kundangar and Moraes in Moraes (1931), p382</ref> A gold coin bearing three inscriptions of ''Sri'' and an abbreviated inscription of king Bhagiratha's name called ''bhagi'' (c. 390–420 AD) in old Kannada exists.<ref name="bhagi">The coin is preserved at the Indian Historical Research Institute, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai – Kundangar and Moraes in Moraes (1938), p 382</ref> A Kadamba copper coin dated to the 5th century AD with the inscription ''Srimanaragi'' in Kannada script was discovered in Banavasi, Uttara Kannada district.<ref name="Kadamba coin">{{cite news |title=5th century copper coin discovered at Banavasi |url=http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/06/stories/2006020609090400.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526191104/http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/06/stories/2006020609090400.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 May 2007 |date=6 February 2006|work=The Hindu |location=Chennai, India}}</ref> Coins with Kannada legends have been discovered spanning the rule of the Western Ganga Dynasty, the Badami Chalukyas, the Alupas, the Western Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Hoysalas, the Vijayanagar Empire, the Kadamba Dynasty of Banavasi, the Keladi Nayakas and the Mysore kingdom, the Badami Chalukya coins being a recent discovery.<ref name="coins">Kamath (2001), p12, p57</ref><ref name="coins1">{{cite web |title=Indian coins-Dynasties of South |url=http://prabhu.50g.com/ |last=Govindaraya Prabhu |first=S |publisher=Prabhu's Web Page on Indian Coinage, 1 November 2001 |access-date=27 November 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901102258/http://prabhu.50g.com/ |archive-date=1 September 2006 }}</ref><ref name="coins2">{{cite web |title=Vijayanagar Coins-Catalogue |url=http://www.vijayanagaracoins.com/htm/history.htm |author1=Harihariah Oruganti-Vice-President |author2=Madras Coin Society |access-date=27 November 2006 |archive-date=25 October 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051025110358/http://www.vijayanagaracoins.com/htm/history.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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,<ref name="triple">This shows that the native vernacular of the Goa Kadambas was Kannada – Moraes (1931), p384</ref> a few coins of the Kadambas of Hangal are also available.<ref name="han">Two coins of the Hangal Kadambas are preserved at the Royal Asiatic Society, Mumbai, one with the Kannada inscription ''Saarvadhari'' and other with ''Nakara''. Moraes (1931), p385</ref>

==Literature== {{Main|Kannada literature|List of important milestones in Kannada literature | List of notable epics in the Kannada language}}

===Old Kannada=== {{Main|Rashtrakuta literature|Western Ganga literature| Kannada literature in the Western Chalukya Empire|Hoysala literature | Medieval Kannada literature}} [[File:11th century Someshwara temple, Lakshmeswar, Karnataka India - 89.jpg|thumb|Shankha Jain Basadi temple at Lakshmeshwar where Adikavi Pampa wrote the Adipurana]]

The oldest known literary work in Kannada is ''Kavirajamarga'', by King Nripatunga Amoghavarsha I (850 AD), a work of literary criticism and poetics meant to standardise the various written Kannada dialects used in literature in previous centuries. The book makes reference to Kannada works by early writers such as King Durvinita of the 6th century and Ravikirti, the author of the Aihole record of {{CE|636}}.<ref name="extinct_works6">Sastri (1955), p355</ref><ref>Kamath (2001), p90</ref> From this, it can be understood that literature in Kannada must have started centuries earlier.<ref name="extinct_works6"/><ref name="extinct_works5">{{cite web |title=History of the Kannada Literature-I |url=https://www.kamat.com/kalranga/kar/literature/history1.htm |author=Jyotsna Kamat |publisher=Kamat's Potpourri |work=Kamat's Potpourri, 4 November 2006 |access-date=25 November 2006}}</ref> An early extant prose work, the ''Vaḍḍārādhane'' (ವಡ್ಡಾರಾಧನೆ) by Shivakotiacharya of 900 AD provides an elaborate description of the life of Bhadrabahu of Shravanabelagola.<ref name="kavirajamarga">Sastri (1955), p356</ref>

The ''Kavirajamarga,'' mentions a number of other early writers of prose and verse whose works are now lost include are Vimalachandra , Durvinita, Srivijaya, and Ravikirti. <ref name="jstor">{{Cite journal |last=Rice |first=Benjamin Lewis |date=April 1890 |title=Early History of Kannaḍa Literature |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25208973 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |language=en |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=254–256, 245–262 |jstor=25208973}}</ref><ref>Rao in Datta (1994), pp. 2278–2283</ref><ref name=":5">R. Narasimhacharya (1934), pp. 2, 4–5, 12–18, 29</ref><ref name=":6">Warder (1988), pp. 240–241</ref><ref name="dandin">6th century Sanskrit poet Dandin praised Srivaradhadeva's writing as "having produced Saraswati from the tip of his tongue, just as Shiva produced the Ganges from the tip of his top knot" (Rice E.P., 1921, pp.25–28)</ref>

Works of early Kannada poetry like the ''Chattana'' and ''Bedande'', composed in the ''desi'' 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. ''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.<ref name=":5" /><ref>Garg (1987), vol. 4</ref>

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 CE by Jain tradition. Pujyapada, a renowned grammarian and acharya lived around 510 CE to 600 CE. Kaviparameshthi probably lived in the 4th century CE.<ref name="archive">{{Cite book |last=Rice |first=Edward Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofkanares00rice_0/page/22/mode/1up?view=theater |title=A History of Kanarese Literature |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1915 |pages=22–26 |language=en}}</ref>

The oldest known existing record of Kannada poetry in ''tripadi'' metre is the Kappe Arabhatta, a verse inscription of the eponymous Chalukya warrior, inscribed {{circa| 700CE}}.<ref name="hal" /><ref name="poetry">Kamath (2001), p. 67</ref>

The late classical period gave birth to several genres of Kannada literature. The works of this period are based on Jain and Hindu principles, and new poetic forms came into use, including ''ragale'' (a form of blank verse established by Harihara), ''sangatya'' and ''shatpadi'' (six-lined stanzas, a form popularaised by Raghavanka.<ref name="hari">Sastri (1955), pp 361–2</ref> Another writer of the same period is Janna, who expressed Jain religious teachings through his works.<ref name="jan">Narasimhacharya (1988), p20</ref>

The Vachana 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 include Basavanna, Allama Prabhu and Akka Mahadevi.<ref name="akka">Sastri (1955), p361</ref>

===Middle Kannada=== {{Main|Kannada literature in Vijayanagara empire|Literature of the kingdom of Mysore}} 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 the ''Karṇāṭa Bhārata Kathāman̄jari'' (ಕರ್ಣಾಟ ಭಾರತ ಕಥಾಮಂಜರಿ), was arguably the most influential Kannada writer of this period. His work, entirely composed in the native ''Bhamini Shatpadi'' (hexa-meter), is a sublime adaptation of the first ten books of the Mahabharata.<ref name="kumar">Sastri (1955), p364</ref> During this period, the Sanskritic influence is present in most abstract, religious, scientific and rhetorical terms.<ref name="influence">"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)</ref><ref name="inf">Takahashi, Takanobu. 1995. Tamil love poetry and poetics. Brill's Indological library, v. 9. Leiden: E.J. Brill, p16,18</ref><ref name="sang">"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</ref> During this period, several Hindi and Marathi words came into Kannada, chiefly relating to feudalism and militia.<ref>{{Cite book | year=1899 | title = A Kannaḍa-English school-dictionary: chiefly based on the labours of the Rev. Dr. F. Kittel | first1=J. |last1=Bucher | first2=Ferdinand |last2=Kittel | publisher=Basel Mission Book & Tract Depository | url=https://archive.org/details/kannadaenglishsc00buchrich}}</ref>

Hindu saints of the Vaishnava sect such as Kanakadasa, Purandaradasa, Naraharitirtha, Vyasatirtha, Sripadaraya, Vadirajatirtha, Vijaya Dasa, Gopala Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Prasanna Venkatadasa produced devotional poems in this period.<ref name="bhakti">Sastri (1955), pp 364–365</ref> Kanakadasa's ''Rāmadhānya Charite'' (ರಾಮಧಾನ್ಯ ಚರಿತೆ) is a rare work, concerning with the issue of class struggle.<ref name="ragi">The writing exalts the grain Ragi above all other grains that form the staple foods of much of modern Karnataka (Sastri 1955, p365)</ref> This period saw the advent of ''Haridasa Sahitya'' (''lit'' Dasa literature), which made rich contributions to ''Bhakti'' literature and sowed the seeds of Carnatic music. Purandara Dasa is widely considered the ''Father of Carnatic music''.<ref name="pura">{{cite book |last=Moorthy |first=Vijaya |title=Romance of the Raga |publisher=Abinav publications |year=2001 |page=67 |isbn=978-81-7017-382-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2s2xJetsy0wC&q=Romance+of+the+Raga&pg=PP1}}</ref><ref name="tattu">Iyer (2006), p93</ref><ref name="kana">Sastri (1955), p365</ref>

===Modern Kannada=== {{Main|Modern Kannada literature|Kannada poetry}} The Kannada works produced from the 19th century make a gradual transition and are classified as ''Hosagannaḍa'' or Modern Kannada. Most notable among the modernists was the poet Nandalike Muddana whose writing may be described as the "Dawn of Modern Kannada", though generally, linguists treat ''Indira Bai'' or ''Saddharma Vijayavu'' by Gulvadi Venkata Raya as the first literary works in Modern Kannada. The first modern movable type printing of "Canarese" appears to be the ''Canarese Grammar'' of Carey printed at Serampore in 1817, and the "Bible in Canarese" of John Hands in 1820.{{efn|The British called the language Canarese in their official records.}}<ref>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</ref> The first novel printed was John Bunyan's ''Pilgrim's Progress'', along with other texts including ''Canarese Proverbs'', ''The History of Little Henry and his Bearer'' by Mary Martha Sherwood, Christian Gottlob Barth's ''Bible Stories'' and "a Canarese hymn book."<ref>Missions in south India – Page 56 Joseph 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"</ref>

Modern Kannada in the 20th century has been influenced by many movements, notably ''Navodaya'', ''Navya'', ''Navyottara'', ''Dalita'' and ''Bandaya''. 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 as Kuvempu, Bendre, and V K Gokak. Works of Kannada literature have received eight Jnanpith awards,<ref>{{Cite news |author= |date=20 September 2011 |title=Jnanpith for Kambar |url=https://www.thehindu.com/arts/books/article2468374.ece |newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref> the highest number awarded to any Indian language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jnanpith.net/laureates/index.html |title=Welcome to: Bhartiya Jnanpith |publisher=jnanpith.net |access-date=7 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013122739/http://jnanpith.net/laureates/index.html |archive-date=13 October 2007 }}</ref>

=== Dictionaries === The oldest known Kannada-Kannada, dictionary, ''Ranna Kanda'' was composed by the poet Ranna in 996 AD. Other pre-modern Kannada dictionaries include ''Abhidanavastukosa'', a dictionary of Sanskrit words for Kannada users, composed in 1054 by Nagavarma and 'Abhinavaabhidaana', by Abhinava Mangaraja (1398).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Učida |first1=Norihiko |url=http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/data/kandic/kannada-english_dictionary.pdf |title=Kannada-English etymological dictionary |last2=Rajapurohit |first2=B. B |publisher=Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies |year=2013 |isbn=978-4-86337-128-6 |location=Tokyo |oclc=906810377 |access-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021024502/http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/data/kandic/kannada-english_dictionary.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Missionary Ferdinand Kittel published a Kannada–English dictionary of more than 70,000 words.<ref name="kittel">{{cite web |author=Manjulakshi & Bhat |title=Kannada Dialect Dictionaries and Dictionaries in Subregional Languages of Karnataka |url=https://www.languageinindia.com/sep2005/kannadadictionary1.html |access-date=11 April 2007 |work=Language in India, Volume 5: 9 September 2005 |publisher=Central Institute of Indian Languages, University of Mysore}}</ref> and ''A Grammar of the Kannada language in English'' (1903).

G. Venkatasubbiah edited the first modern Kannada–Kannada dictionary, the 9,000-page, 8-volume ''Kannaḍa nighaṇṭu'', published by Sahitya Parishat. He also wrote a Kannada–English dictionary and a dictionary of difficult words.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Muralidhara Khajane |date=22 August 2012 |title=Today's Paper / NATIONAL: 100 years on, words never fail him |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3805517.ece |newspaper=The Hindu|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20120825000137/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3805517.ece|archive-date=25 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Johnson Language |date=20 August 2012 |title=Language in India: Kannada, threatened at home |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2012/08/language-india |access-date=12 February 2013 |newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>

==Dialects== {{Main|Kannada dialects}} thumb|Map of Kannada dialects in the state of Karnataka.

There is considerable difference between the spoken and written forms of the language. Modern standard Kannada and its written form, primarily based on the Mysore–Bangalore variety,<ref>Upadhyaya, U.P. “The Structure of Modern Kannada.” University of Madras, 1971.</ref> is more or less consistent throughout Karnataka.<ref>Government of India. Census of India: Language Handbook – Karnataka, 2011.</ref> Spoken Kannada tends to vary from region to region, though most dialects remain mutually intelligible. Linguists broadly group Kannada dialects into Southern, Northern, Central, and Coastal varieties,<ref>Michail Andronov 2003. ''A comparative grammar of the Dravidian languages''</ref> though the boundaries between them often overlap.<ref>Schiffman, Harold F. A Reference Grammar of Kannada. Cambridge University Press, 2011.</ref>. Northern Kannada dialects preserve older phonological features not found in southern dialects.<ref>Sastri, R.N. A History of Kannada Language. University of Mysore, 1966.</ref> Coastal dialects show lexical influence from Tulu and Konkani due to prolonged language contact.<ref>Bhat, D.N. Shankara. “Languages of the Coastal Karnataka.” International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics, Vol. 12, 1983.</ref>

Dialects of Kannada language fall into include: ;Coastal * Mangalore Kannada * Halakki Kannada (Halakki Vokkaligas of Uttara Kannada and Shimoga).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/halakki.htm|title=Halakki Farmers of Uttara Kannada|last=Kamat|first=K. L.|website=Kamat's Potpourri}}</ref> *Havigannada (used mainly by Havyaka Brahmins)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Manjulakshi |first1=L |last2=Shripad |first2=Bhat |title=Language in India |url=https://www.languageinindia.com/sep2005/kannadadictionary1.html |website=www.languageinindia.com |access-date=28 November 2025}}</ref> *Kundagannada (Kundapura, Brahmavara, Bynduru and Hebri)<ref>Upadhyaya, U.P. “Regional Variations in Kannada.” Indian Linguistics, Vol. 28, 1967.</ref> * Nador-Kannada (used by Nadavaru) * Halegannada (spoken by Komarpant in Goa, Uttara Kannada and Khanapur, Karnataka.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10603/32126/6/06_chapter%201.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10603/32126/6/06_chapter%201.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=GOA ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE 20TH CENTURY|year=1995|website=ShodhGanga}}</ref> * Hatkar - a conservative dialect that preserves many Old Kannada terms, spoken by Hatkars in the Nasik district, Maharashtra.<ref>{{cite web|last1=S.|first1=Kiran Kumar|title=The Kannada History of Maharashtra|url=https://kiranasis.blogspot.in/2015/07/the-kannada-history-of-maharashtra.html|date=17 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Region between Godavari, Cauvery was once Karnataka|url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/439873/039region-godavari-cauvery-once-karnataka039.html|newspaper=Deccan Herald|date=5 November 2014|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20141108134755/http://www.deccanherald.com/content/439873/039region-godavari-cauvery-once-karnataka039.html|archive-date=8 November 2014}}</ref> Kannada speakers formed 0.12% of Nasik district's population as per 1961 census.<ref>{{cite web|title=The People – Population|url=https://cultural.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/Nasik/006%20ThePeople/001%20Population.htm|website=Nasik District Gazetteers|publisher=Government of Maharashtra}}</ref>

;Northern * Dharwad (Dharwad, Belagavi, Haveri, and Gadag) - preserves some older phonological features not found in southern dialects.<ref>Sastri, R.N. A History of Kannada Language. University of Mysore, 1966.</ref>

;South-Western * Arebhashe (Spoken in the Gowda community, mainly in Madikeri and Sullia)<ref>Nambiar, K.P. “Arebhashe: A Dialect of Kannada.” Central Institute of Indian Languages, 1976.</ref>

;Southern * Bengaluru Kannada * Banakal Kannada

==Writing system== {{Main|Kannada script|Kannada braille}}

The language uses forty-nine phonemic letters, divided into three groups: ''swaragalu'' (vowels – thirteen letters); ''vyanjanagalu'' (consonants – thirty-four letters); and ''yogavaahakagalu'' (neither vowel nor consonant – two letters: ''anusvara'' {{lang|kn|ಂ}} and ''visarga'' {{lang|kn|ಃ}}). The character set is almost identical to that of other Indian 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 form ''compound'' characters ''(ottakshara)''. Each written symbol in the Kannada script corresponds with one syllable, as opposed to one phoneme in languages like English—the Kannada script is syllabic.

== Phonology == thumb|Spoken Kannada

=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Dental/ alveolar !Retroflex !Post-alv./ palatal !Velar !Glottal |- ! colspan="2" |Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} (ಮ) |{{IPA link|n}} (ನ) |{{IPA link|ɳ}} (ಣ) |({{IPA link|ɲ}}) (ಞ) |({{IPA link|ŋ}}) (ಙ) | |- ! rowspan="4" |Plosive/ Affricate !voiceless |{{IPA link|p}} (ಪ) |{{IPA link|t̪}} (ತ) |{{IPA link|ʈ}} (ಟ) |{{IPA link|tʃ}} (ಚ) |{{IPA link|k}} (ಕ) | |- !aspirated |{{IPA link|pʰ}} (ಫ) |{{IPA link|t̪ʰ}} (ಥ) |{{IPA link|ʈʰ}} (ಠ) |{{IPA link|tʃʰ}} (ಛ) |{{IPA link|kʰ}} (ಖ) | |- !voiced |{{IPA link|b}} (ಬ) |{{IPA link|d̪}} (ದ) |{{IPA link|ɖ}} (ಡ) |{{IPA link|dʒ}} (ಜ) |{{IPA link|ɡ}} (ಗ) | |- !breathy |{{IPA link|bʱ}} (ಭ) |{{IPA link|d̪ʱ}} (ಧ) |{{IPA link|ɖʱ}} (ಢ) |{{IPA link|dʒʱ}} (ಝ) |{{IPA link|ɡʱ}} (ಘ) | |- ! colspan="2" |Fricative | |{{IPA link|s}} (ಸ) |{{IPA link|ʂ}} (ಷ) |{{IPA link|ʃ}} (ಶ) | |{{IPA link|h}} (ಹ) |- ! colspan="2" |Approximant |{{IPA link|ʋ}} (ವ) |{{IPA link|l}} (ಲ) |{{IPA link|ɭ}} (ಳ) |{{IPA link|j}} (ಯ) | | |- ! colspan="2" |Rhotic | |{{IPA link|r}} (ರ) | | | | |}

* Most consonants can be geminated. * [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 in ''ombhattu, embhattu''. However, it is usually written with a /b/, as in ''ombattu, 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.<ref name="bhk"/> * Some northern Kannada dialects have developed a /ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ/ distinction like in Marathi, Telugu and Southern Odia.<ref name="bhk"/>

Additionally, Kannada included the following phonemes, which dropped out of common usage in the 12th and 18th century respectively: * /{{IPA link|r}}/ ಱ (ṟ), the alveolar trill. * /{{IPA link|ɻ}}/ ೞ (ḻ), the retroflex central approximant.

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.<ref name="bhk">{{Cite book|title= The Dravidian Languages |last= Krishnamurti |first= Bhadriraju |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-77111-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54fV7Lwu3fMC}}</ref>

In old Kannada at around 10th-14th century, most of the initial /p/ debuccalised into a /h/ e.g. OKn. paḍagu, balupu, keḍapu, Kn. haḍahu, baluhu, {keḍavu, keḍahu} "ship, strength, to pull down".{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=120}}

Historically, the Tamil-Malayalam languages and, independently, Telugu, phonemically palatalised /k/ before a front vowel; Kannada never developed such phonemic palatalisation (cf. Kn. {{IPA|/kiʋi/}}, Ta. {{IPA|/seʋi/}}, Te. {{IPA|/tʃeʋi/}} "ear");{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=128}} however, ''phonetically'', Kannada speakers frequently palatalise velar consonants before front vowels, for example, realising {{IPA|/kiʋi/}} "ear" as {{IPA|[ciʋi]}} and {{IPA|/ɡiɭi/}} "parrot" as {{IPA|[ɟiɭi]}}.

=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Front ! colspan="2" |Central ! colspan="2" | Back |- ! short ! long !short !long ! short ! long |- style="text-align: center;" ! Close | {{IPA link|i}} (ಇ) | {{IPA link|iː}} (ಈ) | | | {{IPA link|u}} (ಉ) | {{IPA link|uː}} (ಊ) |- style="text-align: center;" !Mid | {{IPA link|e}} (ಎ) | {{IPA link|eː}} (ಏ) | | | {{IPA link|o}} (ಒ) | {{IPA link|oː}} (ಓ) |- style="text-align: center;" ! Open | colspan="2" | |{{IPA link|a}} (ಅ) |{{IPA link|aː}} (ಆ) | | |}

* {{IPA|/ɐ/}} and {{IPA|/aː/}} are phonetically central {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ɐ}}, {{IPAplink|äː}}]}}. {{IPA|/ɐ/}} may be as open as {{IPA|/aː/}} ({{IPAblink|ä}}) or higher {{IPAblink|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:/.<ref name="bhk"/>

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".{{sfnp|Krishnamurti|2003|p=106}}

===Colloquial speech=== Sources:<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/598435 | jstor=598435 | last1=Bright | first1=William | title=Phonological Rules in Literary and Colloquial Kannada | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | date=1970 | volume=90 | issue=1 | pages=140–144 | doi=10.2307/598435 | url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schiffman |first=Harold |url=https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/ |title=A Reference Grammar of Spoken Kannada |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-295-96031-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/411694 | jstor=411694 | title=Dravidian Metaphony | last1=Bright | first1=William | journal=Language | date=1966 | volume=42 | issue=2 | pages=311–322 | doi=10.2307/411694 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

* Initial i/e have a y- onset and w- for u/o. * 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/).

==Grammar== {{Main|Kannada grammar}}

The canonical word order of Kannada is SOV (subject–object–verb), typical of Indian languages. Kannada is a highly inflected language with three genders (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 the ''Kavirajamarga'' from 850 AD.

The most influential account of Kannada grammar is Keshiraja's ''Shabdamanidarpana'' (c. 1260 AD).<ref name="GS Gai">''Studies in Indian History, Epigraphy, and Culture'' – By Govind Swamirao Gai, pp. 315</ref><ref name="F. Kittel, 'A Grammar of the Kannada Language'">''A Grammar of the Kannada Language''. F. Kittel (1993), p. 3.</ref> The earlier grammatical works include portions of ''Kavirajamarga'' (a treatise on ''alańkāra'') of the 9th century, and ''Kavyavalokana'' and ''Karnatakabhashabhushana'' (both authored by Nagavarma II in the first half of the 12th century).<ref name="F. Kittel, 'A Grammar of the Kannada Language'" />

===Compound bases=== Compound bases, called ''samāsa'' in Kannada, are a set of two or more words compounded together.<ref>Ferdinand Kittel, pp. 30</ref> 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.{{Clarify|date=January 2010}} Examples: ''taṅgāḷi'', ''hemmara'', ''kannusanne''.

===Pronouns=== 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.<ref>Bhat, D.N.S. 2004. ''Pronouns''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 13–14</ref>

== Significance to modern linguistics == While an early account of Kannada's grammar is available in ''Shabdamanidarpana,'' 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 language acquisition and innateness. 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 a causative morpheme (like -''ify'' for English, in ''personify'' or ''deify''), which appears whenever a verb with causative meaning is expressed.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Gleitman |first1=Lila R. |last2=Liberman |first2=Mark Y. |last3=McLemore |first3=Cynthia A. |last4=Partee |first4=Barbara H. |date=14 January 2019 |title=The Impossibility of Language Acquisition (and How They Do It) |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011718-011640 |journal=Annual Review of Linguistics |language=en |volume=5 |issue= |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011718-011640 |issn=2333-9683|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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 overt NPs 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 relied ''more heavily'' on the number of overt NPs than the presence of the causative morpheme.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lidz |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Gleitman |first2=Henry |last3=Gleitman |first3=Lila |date=1 April 2003 |title=Understanding how input matters: verb learning and the footprint of universal grammar |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0010027702002305 |journal=Cognition |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=151–178 |doi=10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00230-5 |pmid=12684198 |issn=0010-0277|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This has been used by generativists and UG nativists to argue that verb meaning acquisition based on syntactic bootstrapping is language universal and innate.<ref name=":1" />

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 considering hierarchical organisation more than linear order when deciding scope 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lidz |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Musolino |first2=Julien |date=1 June 2002 |title=Children's command of quantification |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0010027702000136 |journal=Cognition |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=113–154 |doi=10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00013-6 |pmid=12175570 |issn=0010-0277|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This observation has been used to argue that infants universally represent sentences not as mere strings of adjacent words, but as hierarchical objects, an important point among Chomskyans and nativists.<ref name=":1" />

== Sample text == The given sample text is Article 1 from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<ref>{{cite web |title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights |url=https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html |website=www.un.org |access-date=29 March 2020 |language=en |date=6 October 2015|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20160106102704/https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html|archive-date=6 January 2016}}</ref>

===English=== 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.

===Kannada=== {{lang|kn|ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಮಾನವರು ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರರಾಗಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಘನತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅಧಿಕಾರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸಮಾನರಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತಿಳಿವು ಮತ್ತು ಅಂತಃಸಾಕ್ಷಿಯನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿದವರಾದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಅವರು ಒಬ್ಬರಿಗೊಬ್ಬರು ಸಹೋದರ ಭಾವದಿಂದ ನಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬೇಕು.}}

===Romanisation (ISO 15919)=== Ellā mānavaru svatantrarāgiyē huṭṭiddāre hāgu ghanate mattu adhikāragaḷalli samānarāgiddāre. Tiḷivu mattu antaḥsākṣīyannu paḍedavarāddarinda avaru obbarigobbaru sahōdara bhāvadinda naḍedukoḷḷabēku.

===IPA=== {{IPA|/ellaː maːn̪ɐʋɐɾu sʋɐt̪ɐn̪t̪ɾɐɾaːɡijeː huʈʈid̪d̪aːɾe haːɡu gʱɐn̪ɐt̪e mɐt̪t̪u ɐd̪ʱikaːɾɐɡɐɭɐlli sɐmaːn̪ɐɾaːɡid̪d̪aːɾe ǁ t̪iɭiʋu mɐt̪t̪u ɐn̪t̪ɐkkɐɾɐɳɐɡɐɭɐn̪n̪u pɐɖed̪ɐʋɐraːd̪d̪ɐɾin̪d̪ɐ ɐʋɐɾu obbɐɾiɡobbɐɾu sɐhoːd̪ɐɾɐ bʱaːʋɐd̪in̪d̪ɐ n̪ɐɖed̪ukoɭɭɐbeːku ǁ/}}

==Notes== {{Noteslist}}

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography== {{Refbegin|40em}} * {{cite book |last=Bhat |first=Thirumaleshwara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FgvHhDqmJw8C |title=Govinda Pai |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7201-540-4}} * {{cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian literature-vol 2 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |year=1988 |isbn=978-81-260-1194-0}} * {{cite encyclopedia |year=1992 |title=Kannada literature |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |last=Garg |first=Ganga Ram |isbn=978-81-7022-374-0}} * {{cite book |last=Kamath |first=Suryanath U. |title=A concise history of Karnata.k.a. from pre-historic times to the present |publisher=Jupiter books |year=2002 |location=Bangalore |lccn=80905179 |oclc=7796041 |orig-date=2001 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Kittel |first=F |title=A Grammar of the Kannada Language Comprising the Three Dialects of the Language (Ancient, Medieval and Modern) |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-206-0056-0 |location=New Delhi, Madras |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Kloss |first=Heinz |title=The Written languages of the world: a survey of the degree and modes of use |volume=2 part 1 |last2=McConnell |first2=Grant D. |publisher=Université Laval |year=1978 |isbn=978-2-7637-7186-1 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |title=Understanding India-The Culture of India |publisher=Britannica educational Printing |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-61530-203-1 |editor-last=Kuiper |editor-first=Kathleen |place=New York |contribution=Dravidian Studies: Kannada}} * {{cite book |last=Narasimhacharya |first=R. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.489059 |title=History of Kannada Literature |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1988 |isbn=978-81-206-0303-5 |location=New Delhi, Madras |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Narasimhacharya |first=R. |url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryKannadaLanguage |title=History of Kannada Language |publisher=University of Mysore |year=1934 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Ramesh |first=K. V. |title=Chalukyas of Vatapi |publisher=Agam Kala Prakashan |year=1984 |location=New Delhi |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Rice |first=E. P. |title=Kannada Literature |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1982 |isbn=978-81-206-0063-8 |location=New Delhi |orig-date=1921 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Rice |first=B. L. |title=Mysore Gazetteer Compiled for Government-vol 1 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=2001 |isbn=978-81-206-0977-8 |location=New Delhi, Madras |orig-date=1897 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Sastri |first=Nilakanta K.A. |title=A history of South India from prehistoric times to the fall of Vijayanagar |publisher=Indian Branch, Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-560686-7 |location=New Delhi |orig-date=1955 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Shapiro |first=Michael C. |title=Language And Society in South Asia |last2=Schiffman |first2=Harold F. |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |year=1981 |isbn=978-81-208-2607-6 |location=New Delhi |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last=Steever |first=S. B. |title=The Dravidian Languages |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-415-10023-6 |editor-last=Steever |editor-first=S. B. |series=Routledge Language Family Descriptions |place=London |pages=129–157 |contribution=Kannada}} * {{cite book |last=Zvelebil |first=Kamil |title=Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India |publisher=Brill |year=1973 |isbn=978-90-04-03591-1 |location=Leiden, Netherlands}} {{Refend}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Masica |first=Colin P. |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-521-29944-2 |location=Cambridge}} * {{cite book |last=Moraes |first=George M. |author-link=George M. Moraes |title=The Kadamba Kula, A History of Ancient and Medieval Karnataka |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1990 |isbn=81-206-0595-0 |orig-year=1931}} * {{cite book |last=Varadpande |first=Manohar Laxman |title=History of Indian Theatre |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=1987 |isbn=978-81-7017-221-5}} * {{cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |title=The Penguin History of Early India |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-14-302989-2 |location=New Delhi}} * {{cite book |last=Zydenbos |first=Robert |url=https://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/book/736?lang=en |title=A Manual of Modern Kannada |publisher=XAsia Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-3-946742-82-1 |location=Heidelberg |doi=10.20345/digitue.12651}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{cite web |url=http://inscriptions.whatisindia.com/ |title=Indian inscriptions-South Indian inscriptions, Vol 20, 18, 17, 15, 11 and 9, Archaeological survey of India, What Is India Publishers (P) Ltd |access-date=18 November 2006 |archive-date=15 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415023748/http://inscriptions.whatisindia.com/ |url-status=dead }} * [https://pdfrat.com/english-kannada-kannada-english-dictionary/ English to Kannada Dictionary, Kannada to English Dictionary PDF]

{{Dravidian languages}} {{Languages of India}} {{Languages of Karnataka}} {{Languages spoken in Andhrapradesh}} {{Languages spoken in Telangana}} {{Languages spoken in Tamilnadu}} {{Languages spoken in Kerala}} {{Karnataka topics}} {{Sister bar|Kannada|auto=1|voy=Kannada_phrasebook|wikt=Category:Kannada language|iw=kn}}

Category:Languages attested from the 5th century Category:Classical Language in India Category:Dravidian languages Category:Kannada language Category:Languages of Andhra Pradesh Category:Languages of Karnataka Category:Languages of Kerala Category:Languages of Tamil Nadu Category:Languages of Telangana Category:Languages written in Brahmic scripts Category:Official languages of India