ಕನ್ನಡ ವರ್ಣಮಾಲೆ (kannaDa warNamAle, the kannaDa Alphabet)

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Note: FireFox renders individual kannaDa letters correctly, but it has trouble rendering conjuncts. For example, it does not display the kannaDa heading above correctly. MS Internet Explorer does not seem to have this problem.

The kannaDa alphabet has 49 or 50 or 51 letters, depending on who you ask, and which rules you follow. All these counts are correct, because none of the omitted letters cause any loss of expression.

We show below the kannaDa alphabet along with some information on pronunciation and writing. The first table on the right hand side under the heading 'Grouped Consonants' describes the layout.

We also show how one could write kannaDa letters using English script, using a transliteration scheme. (The word 'kannaDa' is spelled using this scheme throughout this page.) This scheme allows us to write kannaDa using a QWERTY keyboard. Some software even let you type in English and automatically generate kannaDa  (and other language) letters using this scheme. A draft of this page was created using baraha, one such software.

Many transliteration schemes are possible for kannaDa. We use the scheme baraha uses.

ಸ್ವರಗಳು (Vowels)

kannaDa has 13 or 14 (we show 14) vowels. The vowels ಐ and ಔ can be considered diphthongs. The other twelve vowels are in pairs. Each pair has a short and a long version. For example, ಅ and ಆ. The vowel ೠ (RU) is no longer used. It is unclear if this vowel was ever used.

kannaDa has two special letters called ಯೋಗವಾಹಗಳು (yOgawAhas): The letter ಅಂ called ಅನುಸ್ವಾರ (anuswAra), and the letter ಅಃ called ವಿಸರ್ಗ (wisarga). These letters are conventionally listed with vowels, and they may not be used independently--they always follow another letter (vowel or consonant). Here, we show them used with the vowel ಅ (a), as is the convention.

 ಅ

 ಆ

 ಇ

 ಈ

 ಉ

 ಊ

 ಋ

 ೠ

 ಎ

 ಏ

 ಐ

 ಒ

 ಓ

 ಔ

 ಅಂ 

 ಅಃ
a A i I u U Ru RU e E ai o O au M H

s:a

s:á

s:i

s:í

s:u

s:ú

s:ru

s:rú

s:e

s:é

g:ei

s:o

s:ó

g:ou

s:am

s:aha
hut hot hit heat hook hoop ≈hurt - hen hare hike one hope hound ≈hum ≈Aha

 

 

ವರ್ಗೀಯ ವ್ಯಂಜನಗಳು (Grouped Consonants)

There are five groups of consonants, each with five letters. The last letter in each group produces a nasal sound.

 

  ಕ

   ಖ

 ಗ

   ಘ

  ಙ

    ← kannaDa letters
ka Ka  kha ga Ga gha ~ga    ← English transliteration. We show alternatives where available, but recommend using the first alternative.

e:ka

e:kha

e:ga

e:gha

e:nga

    ← Pronunciation key. The letter before ':' sign indicates the language of the key.
  e = English; g = German; s = Spanish
hike dark-horse hug dog-house -    ← English words illustrating pronunciation (letters in bold). The symbol ≈ indicates approximate pronunciation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ಚ

ಛ

ಜ

ಝ

ಞ
ca Ca ja Ja    jha ~ja

e:cha

e:cha

e:ja

e:jha

s:ña
hutch ≈challenge hedge hedge-hog vignette

 

 

 ಟ

 ಠ

ಡ

ಢ

ಣ

    ← There is no real equivalent to these letters in Latin and Germanic languages. The first four of these letters sound harder in kannaDa. They are said with the tongue rolled back.
Ta Tha Da Dha Na  

e:ta

e:tha

e:da

e:dha

-

  
hut ant-hill had mad-house ≈pond    

 

 

ತ

ಥ

ದ

ಧ

ನ
ta tha da Da  dha na

s:ta

s:tha

s:da

s:dha

s:na
heath faith-hill the buddha hen

 

 

ಪ

ಫ

ಬ

ಭ

ಮ
pa Pa pha ba Ba  bha ma

e:pa

e:pha

e:ba

e:bha

e:ma
hop up-hill hob club-house hum

 

 

ಅವರ್ಗೀಯ ವ್ಯಂಜನಗಳು (Miscellaneous Consonants)

There are nine or ten miscellaneous consonants (we show ten). Some people discount the consonant ಕ್ಷ (kSha) because it is really a combination of the consonants ಕ (ka) and ಷ (Sha).

Native speakers of kannaDa (and other Indian languages) tend to use the English letter v to indicate the consonant ವ (wa), especially at the beginning of a word, but use the letter w for the same consonant when it appears later in a word. For example, the kannaDa word for 'universe' is often written vishwa. However, to correctly pronounce this consonant, we recommend using the English letter w always, for example, wishwa. (Incidentally, no letter in the kannaDa alphabet can generate the sound the English letter v does.)

 

ಯ

ರ

ಲ

ವ

ಶ

ಷ

ಸ

ಹ

ಳ

ಕ್ಷ
ya ra la wa va sha Sha sa ha La kSha

e:ya

e:ra

e:la

e:wa

e:sha

e:ssha

s:sa

e:ha

e:la

e:kssha
yet her pole wing hash hush sit hen ≈world rickshaw

 

Author: Sudarshan Murthy. Last modified: Sunday February 10, 2008 05:21 PM