knn

Kannada

indopersica

Script Part One

The Kannada letters and words described in this book are each accompanied by a pronunciation key in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Please refer to these IPA keys for the exact pronunciation of a Kannada letter or word. The IPA is a scientific notation used for accurately transcribing the sounds of most human languages. More about the IPA can be found at http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipa . The similarities described in this book between the pronunciations of Kannada letters and corresponding English letters are only guidelines and should be considered as such.

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This letter has a sound similar to k in skip

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This letter has a sound similar to g in go

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These are the letters weve just seen

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This letter has a sound similar to p in speak

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This letter has a sound similar to b in bat

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These are the letters weve seen so far

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This letter has a sound similar to tch in catch

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This letter has a sound similar to dge in badge

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These are the letters weve seen so far

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The sounds of these letters are all called consonants

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Heres a vowel sound

This vowel sounds similar to u in cut

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Look at these letters

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The sounds of these letters are made up of a consonant and a vowel Notice how the letters look slightly different from their original shape?

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In short

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Heres another vowel

i
This vowel sounds similar to i in pin

This vowel has a special sign of its own

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Now look at these combo letters, each having the sound of a consonant plus a vowel

ki

pi

bi

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Again, notice the difference from the original shape of the basic letter?

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In short

ki

pi

bi

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Notice the slightly different shape of this letter, compared to the others

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And another vowel

u
This vowel sounds similar to u in bull

This vowel, too, has a special sign of its own

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And some new combo letters, with their shape slightly changed from the original

ku

pu

bu

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And again, in short k ku

pu

bu

Get the idea?!

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Notice the slightly different shape of this letter, compared to the others

pu

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These are all the various basic and combo letters weve seen thus far

ki

ku

pi

pu

bi

bu

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These letters look similar

i u

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When two letters come one after the other and the first one has no vowel sound, that is, it is a

letter,

then the second letter is written in a mini version below the first one

+ + + +

= =

pi

bu

bu

= =
b

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Note that in such cases, any vowel or other signs originally belonging to the second letter are written attached to the first letter

+ + + +

= =

pi

bu

bu

= =
b

Its as if the first and the second letter together form a new joint letter

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Here are the mini versions of all the letters weve seen so far When the second letter has no vowel k k

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When the second letter has the vowel k k

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When the second letter has the vowel i ki ki

pi

pi

bi

bi

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And when the second letter has the vowel u ku ku

pu

pu

bu

bu

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To sum up, the mini versions are special forms that appear after a letter having

These mini versions can occur in the middle or at the end of a word, but never at the beginning

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This letter has a sound similar to y in yo-yo

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This letter has a sound similar to r in Italian Roma This is a rolled /r/, as in Spanish or Italian

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This letter has a sound similar to l in lad

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This letter has a sound similar to v in victory

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These are the letters weve just seen

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This is how these letters look, when the sound is added

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This is how these letters look, when the i sound is added

ji

ri

li

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Notice the slightly different shape of this letter, compared to the others

ri

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This is how these letters look, when the u sound is added

ju

ru

lu

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Notice the slightly different shape of this letter, compared to the others

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These are all the various basic and combo letters weve just seen

ji

ju

r r ri ru

li

lu

i u

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These letters look very similar

pi

pu

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These combo letters look somewhat similar

ju

Remember that ju has an extra curl at the end

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Here are the mini versions of the letters weve just seen When the second letter has no vowel

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When the second letter has the vowel

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When the second letter has the vowel i

ji

ji

ri

ri

li

li

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And when the second letter has the vowel u

ju

ju

ru

ru

lu

lu

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Note that most of the mini versions weve just seen look quite different from their full versions

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These mini versions look somewhat similar

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r likes being different from the rest

For instance, you would expect

+
to look like

But it doesnt! Instead, it is written like this

rk

That is,

r takes on a special mini form

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and jumps ahead of the next letter!

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Some more examples will make this a little clear

+ +

pi

=
rpi

ju

=
rju

+
r

=
r

+ +

=
rr

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Dont stress. This will become second nature as you learn more.

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These are some actual Kannada words Can you read them?

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Here are their pronunciations and meanings biri ju ru1

crack, burst r

eon, era ru move aside, shift bbu

category plli

church

stink, stench jj1

lizard pukkl1

expenditure ikkpp1

coward, sissy

fathers younger brother

Some pronunciation keys above have been marked with a superscript 1 In these keys, is a short or lazily pronounced version of and is a short or lazily pronounced version of u For now, just assume = =u
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This letter has a sound similar to s in sit

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This letter has a sound similar to sh in ship Some people pronounce this letter similar to s in sit

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This letter has a sound similar to h in hat

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These are the letters weve just seen

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This is how these basic letters are modified to make the combo letters for , i and u

si i i

su u u

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Notice the slightly different shapes of these letters

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These are all the various basic and combo letters weve just seen

si

su

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These letters look somewhat similar

pi

pu

si

su

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Here are the mini versions of the letters weve just seen When the second letter has no vowel

+ =

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When the second letter has the vowel

+ =

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When the second letter has the vowel i

si

si

+ =
i i

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And when the second letter has the vowel u su su

u u

u u

+ =

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Some actual Kannada words with these letters weve just seen

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How many correct? sri sii

OK, all right iu

sweet bb

infant kj

festival uu

possible slp

madness, mania rs

a little, some isu1

short ukrr

expand, enlarge
1

Venus (planet)
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is a short or lazily pronounced version of i For now, just assume = i

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This letter has a sound similar to n in tenth To pronounce this letter, the tip of your tongue touches the back of your front teeth

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This letter has a sound similar to m in mother

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These are the basic letters weve just seen

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This is how these basic letters are modified to make the combo letters for , i and u

ni

mi

nu

mu

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These are all the various basic and combo letters weve just seen

ni

nu

mi

mu

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These sets of letters look similar

si

su

ni

nu

pi

pu

mi

mu

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Here are the mini versions of the letters weve just seen When the second letter has no vowel

When the second letter has the vowel

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When the second letter has the vowel i

ni

ni

mi

nu

mi

nu

And when the second letter has the vowel u

mu

mu

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Note that most of the mini versions weve just seen look quite different from their full versions

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Some actual Kannada words with these letters weve just seen

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Heres how you pronounce them, and what they mean

mnu

rm

son innu

skin brm

gold nm

Brahma, a Hindu god mulu

birth mnnsu

mould, fungus miksru

forgive, pardon ikkmm

mixer, blender munnu

fathers younger brothers wife

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go forward, proceed

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Remember the mini version rule? Lets extend it slightly. When two or more letters come one after the other and all before the last have no vowel sound, that is, they are all

letters,

then all letters after the first one are written in their respective mini versions below the first one

lkj

+ + =
i i

+ + =
m b ru mbru

+ + =
m p s mps

+ + =
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Again, remember that any vowel or other signs originally belonging to the last letter are written attached to the first letter

lkj

+ + =
i i

+ + =
m b ru mbru

+ + =
m p s mps

+ + =
So, all these letters in question together form a new joint letter

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r, as expected, decides to rebel

Remember that

rk

+ =
Lets extend this rule a bit

rkj

+ + =
That is,

r takes on its special mini form

and jumps ahead of all the letters

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One thing to note

Since

kr

+ =
therefore

krj

+ + =
So,

r takes on its special mini form

only when it is the first letter of such a no-vowel sequence

like in the example we saw on the previous page

rkj

+ + =
The good news is, such strings of letters are quite rare in Kannada
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Heres a new vowel, along with its sign

This vowel sounds similar to e in pen

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Now look at these combo letters, each having the sound of a consonant plus the e vowel

ke

pe

be

je

re

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And some more combo letters, with this new vowel

le

se

ne

me

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Heres a few words with our new vowel

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And heres how you say them, and what they mean

mne

kere

house, home bele

lake be

price, value lekk

about, concerning sippe

calculation, accounts ee

peel, husk esru

step, pace jemen

name mee

Yemen, an Arab country

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praise

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Heres another vowel, along with its sign

This vowel sounds similar to o in but shorter in length or

This sign looks like

+
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Now look at these combo letters, each having the sound of a consonant plus the o vowel

ko

po

bo

jo

ro

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And some more combo letters, with this new vowel

lo

so

no

mo

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Note that for j

the right-most curl is removed before the o

vowel is added

jo

- +

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And some new words with our new vowel

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Here are their pronunciations and meanings sose nore

daughter-in-law koe

foam, froth ou

muck soppu

thick sauce ore

green vegetables poru

outside obbr

arrogance imo

manure mnolisu

Shimoga, a town in Karnataka persuade, win over Thats all for now. See you in the next part!
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End of Part One

Typeset in Segoe UI (English & IPA) and Vagisha (Kannada) For more information on the Kannada script and its history http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kannada.htm

References: Baraha Antarajla Nighanu http://baraha.com/kannada/index.php Glosbe Kannada Hindi Dictionary http://glosbe.com/kn/hi/ Khandbahale, Sunil. Khandbahale.com http://www.khandbahale.com/kannada Spencer, Harold. A Kanarese Grammar http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/kannada/ Kannada Wiktionary http://kn.wiktionary.org v2013-01-05 2012 Arvind Iyengar. All Rights Reserved.