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Telugu (తెలుగు)is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where it is the official language. It is the Dravidian language with the largest number of speakers (including non-native speakers), the second-largest spoken language in India after Hindi, and one of the 23 national languages of the Republic of India.
History Origins Telugu originated from the Proto-Dravidian language. It probably split from Proto-Dravidian between 1500 BCE and 1000 BCE, which was roughly the same time the Tamil language became distinct in terms of literary activity. Telugu belongs to the South-central Dravidian language subfamily, whose members originated from the Proto-Dravidian spoken in the central part of the Deccan plateau. Other languages of the South-central group include the rustic Gondi, Konda, Kui and Kuvi languages, all of which are linguistically closest to Telugu. Etymology of Telugu The etymology of the word Telugu is not known for certain. The popular version is that it is derived from Trilinga, from the three lingas or shrines to Shiva at Srisailam, Drakasharamam and Kaleshwaram. This is widely disputed by the scholarly community. According to K.L. Ranjanam, the word is rather derived from talaing, who were chiefs who conquered the Andhra region. M.R. Shastri is of the opinion that it is from telunga, an amalgamation of the Gondi words telu, meaning "white", and the pluralization -unga, probably referring to white or fair-skinned people. In another view courtesy of G.J. Somayaji, ten- refers to 'south' in Proto-Dravidian, and the word could be derived from tenungu meaning "people of the South". Telugu as a Distinct Language It is possible to broadly define four stages in the linguistic history of the distinct Telugu language: 200 BCE - 500 CE The first phase is somewhat obscure, because the primary sources are Prakrit/Sanskrit inscriptions found in the region, in which Telugu places and personal names are found. From this we know that the language of the people was Telugu, while the rulers, who were of the Satavahana dynasty, spoke Prakrit. Telugu words appear in the Maharashtri Prakrit anthology of poems (the Gathasaptashathi) collected by the first century BCE Satavahana King Hala. Telugu speakers were probably the oldest peoples inhabiting the land between the Krishna and Godavari rivers. 500 CE - 1100 CE The first inscription that is entirely in Telugu corresponds to the second phase of Telugu history. This inscription dated 575 CE was found in the Cuddapah district region and is attributed to the Renati Cholas. Telugu was most exposed to the influence of Sanskrit, as opposed to Prakrit, during this period. This period mainly corresponded to the advent of literature in Telugu. This literature was initially found in inscriptions and poetry in the courts of the rulers, and later in written works such as Nannayya's ''Mahabharatam'' (1022 CE). During the time of Nannayya, the literary language diverged from the popular language. This was also a period of phonetic changes in the spoken language. 1100 CE - 1400 CE The third phase is marked by further stylization and sophistication of the literary language. Ketana (13th century) in fact prohibited the use of spoken words in poetic works. This period also saw the beginning of Muslim rule in the Telangana region. 1400 CE - 1900 CE During the fourth phase, Telugu underwent a great deal of change (as did other Indian languages), progressing from medieval to modern. The language of the Telangana region started to split into a distinct dialect due to Muslim influence: Sultanate rule under the Tughlaq dynasty had been established earlier in the northern Deccan during the 14th century. South of the Godavari river (Rayalaseema region), however, the Vijayanagara empire gained dominance from 1336 till the late 1600s, reaching its peak during the rule of Krishnadevaraya, under whom in the 16th century Telugu literature underwent what is considered to be its golden age. In the latter half of the 17th century, Muslim rule, now in the hands of the Mughals, strengthened and extended further south, culminating in the establishment of the princely state of Hyderabad by the Asaf Jah dynasty in 1724. This heralded an era of Persian/Arabic influence in the Telugu language, especially among the people of Hyderabad. The effect is also felt in the prose of the early 19th century, as in the Kaifiyats. The period of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries saw the influence of the English language and modern communication/printing press as an effect of the British rule, especially in the areas that were part of the Madras Presidency. Literature from this time had a mix of classical and modern traditions and included works by scholars like Kandukuri Viresalingam and Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao. Since the 1940s, what was considered an elite literary form of the Telugu language has now spread to the common people with the introduction of mass media like television, radio and newspapers. This form of the language is also taught in schools as a standard. In the current decade the Telugu language, like other Indian languages, has undergone globalization due to the increasing settlement of Telugu-speaking people abroad. Modern Telugu movies, although still retaining their dramatic quality, are linguistically separate from post-Independence films. Geographic distribution Telugu is mainly spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh and to a lesser extent in the neighboring states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh in India. It is also spoken in Bahrain, Fiji, Malaysia,Mauritius, United Arab Emirates and the United States where there is a Telugu diaspora. Official status Telugu is one of the official languages of India. It was declared the official language of Andhra Pradesh when the state was formed in October 1953 on linguistic lines. It has also has official language status in Pondicherry Union Territory, especially in Yanam District. Dialects The dialects of Telugu identified by Ethnologue are Along with the most standard forms of Indian languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi, Standard Telugu is often called a Shuddha Bhaasha ("pure language"). Sounds 19th century Englishmen called Telugu the Italian of the East as all native words in Telugu end with a vowel sound, but it is believed that Italian explorer Niccolò Da Conti coined the phrase in the 15th century. Possibly because of its high use of open syllables (consonant+vowel), Telugu is sometimes also nicknamed "Tenugu", which means "as sweet as honey". Vowels Like other major Dravidian languages, the Telugu vowel set adds short and in addition to the long /eː/ and /oː/ of the Indo-Aryan languages. The rhotics: ఋ and ౠ (originally and ), like the liquids: ఌ and ౡ (originally and ) have now turned into the syllables , , , respectively. They are fast going out of currency and are no longer included in the standard Telugu school textbooks issued by the government of Andhra Pradesh, which now prefers the actual consonants with a appended (e.g. (monk) used to be written ఋషి but nowadays, రుషి is preferred). Consonants క ఖ గ ఘ ఙ చ ఛ జ ఝ ఞ ట ఠ డ ఢ ణ త థ ద ధ న ప ఫ బ భ మ య ర ల వ శ ష స హ ళ క్ష ఱ The consonants correspond almost one-to-one to the set in sanskrit, with two exceptions. One is the historical form of ఱ which is now again being phased out by the current form ర. (e.g. /gurːam/ (horse) was written గుఱ్ఱం but is now written గుర్రం). The other is the retroflex lateral ళ . Phonology Though the Telugu consonant set lists aspirated consonants (both voiced and unvoiced), they're reserved mostly for transcribing Sanskrit borrowings. To most native speakers, the aspirated and unaspirated consonants are practically allophonic (like in Tamil). The distinction is made however, rather strictly, in written or literary Telugu. Grammar In Telugu, Karta కర్త (nominative case or the doer), Karma కర్మ (object of the verb) and Kriya క్రియ (action or the verb) follow a sequence. Telugu also has the Vibhakthi విభక్తి (preposition) tradition. Inflection Telugu is often considered an agglutinative language, where certain syllables are added to the end of a noun in order to denote its case: These agglutinations apply to all nouns generally in the singular and plural. Here is how other cases are manifested in Telugu: Location Motion Morphosyntactic alignment Relation Polyagglutination While the examples given above are single agglutinations, Telugu allows for polyagglutination, the unique feature of being able to add multiple suffixes to words to denote more complex features: For example, one can affix both "నించి; ninchi - from" and "లో; lo - in" to a noun to denote from within. An example of this: "రాములోనించి; ramuloninchi - from within Ramu" Here is an example of a triple agglutination: "వాటిమధ్యలోనించి; - from in between them" Vowel Harmony Like in Turkish and Finnish, Telugu words have vowels in inflectional suffixes harmonised with the vowels of the preceding syllable. Inclusive/Exclusive Pronouns Telugu exhibits one of the rare features that Dravidian languages share with few others: the inclusive and exclusive we. The bifurcation of the First Person Plural pronoun (we in English) into inclusive (మనము; manamu) and exclusive (మేము; mēmu) versions can also be found in Tamil and Malayalam, although it is not used in modern Kannada. Gender Telugu pronouns follow the systems for gender and respect also found in other Indian languages. The second person plural మీరు is used in addressing someone with respect, and there are also respectful third personal pronouns (ఆయన m. and ఆవిడ f.) pertaining to both genders. A specialty of the Telugu language, however, is that the third person non-respectful feminine (అది ) is used to refer to objects, and there is no special neuter gender that is used. Vocabulary Like all Dravidian languages, Telugu has a base of words which are essentially Dravidian in origin. Words that describe objects/actions associated with common or everyday life: like తల; tala (head), పులి; puli (tiger), ఊరు; ūru (town/city) have cognates in other Dravidian languages and are indigenous to the Dravidian language family. However, Telugu is also largely Sanskritized, that is, it has a wide variety of words of Sanskrit/Prakrit origin. The Indo-Aryan influence can be attributed historically to the rule of the Satavahana kings, who used Prakrit as the official language of courts and government, and to the influence of literary Sanskrit during the 11th - 14th centuries CE. Today, Telugu is arguably the Dravidian language with the most Indo-Aryan influence. As is the case with Indian languages spoken in the north, what is called "pure" Telugu is almost exclusively based on Sanskrit. The vocabulary of Telugu especially in the Telangana region has a trove of Persian-Arabic borrowings, which have been modified to fit Telugu phonology. This was due to centuries of Muslim rule in these regions: the erstwhile kingdoms of Golkonda and Hyderabad. (e.g. కబురు, for Urdu , خبر or జవాబు, for Urdu , جواب) Modern Telugu vocabulary can be said to constitute a diglossia, because the formal, standardized version of the language, heavily influenced by Sanskrit, is taught in schools and used by the government and Hindu religious institutions. However, everyday Telugu varies depending upon region and social status. There is a large and growing middle class whose Telugu is interspersed with English. Popular Telugu, especially in urban Hyderabad, spoken by the masses and seen in movies that are directed towards the masses, includes both English and Hindi/Urdu influences. Writing system
Vocabulary examples Literature in Telugu Main article: Telugu literature Telugu literature is generally divided into six periods, viz., (1) the pre-Nannayya period (before 1020 CE) (2) the Age of the Puranas (1020-1400), (3) the Age of Srinatha (1400-1510), (4) the Age of the Prabandhas (1510-1600), (5) the Southern period (1600-1820), and (6) the Modern Period (after 1820). In the earliest period there were only inscriptions from 575 CE onwards. Nannaya's (1022-1063) translation of the Sanskrit Mahabharata into Telugu is the piece of Telugu literature as yet discovered. The diction is so masterly that historians think that there must have been earlier works in Telugu. After the death of Nannaya, there was a kind of social and religious revolution in the Telugu country. Tikkana (13th century) and Yerrana (14th century) continued the translation of the Mahabharata started by Nannaya. Quite a few poets continued writing in Telugu and we come to the age of Srinatha. During this period, some Telugu poets translated Sanskrit poems and dramas, while others attempted original narrative poems. The popular Telugu literary form called the Prabandha, was evolved during this period. Srinatha (1365-1441) was the foremost poet, who popularised this style of composition (a story in verse having a tight metrical scheme). Srinatha's, Sringara Naishadham is particularly well-known. We may also refer to the Ramayana poets in this context. The earliest Ramayana in Telugu is generally known as the Ranganatha Ramayana, though authorised by the chief Gona Buddha Reddi. Then there were the great religious poets like Potana (1450-1510), Jakkana (second half of the 14th century) and Gaurana (first half of the 15th century). The golden period of Telugu literature was the 16th and 17th centuries A.D., Krishnadevaraya's Amuktamalayada is regarded as a Mahakavya. Peddana's Manucharitra is another outstanding Mahakavya. Telugu literature flourished in the south in the Samsthanas like Madurai, Tanjavur etc., and that is why the age itself was called the "Southern Period". We find a comparatively larger number of poets among the rulers, women and non-Brahmins who popularised the desi meters. With the conquest of the Deccan by the Mughals in A.D.1687, there ensued a period of decadence (1750-1850) in literature. Then emerged a period of transition (1850-1910), following a long period of Renaissance. Europeans like C.P. Brown played an important role in the development of Telugu language and literature. In common with the rest of India, Telugu literature of this period was increasingly influenced by European literary forms like the novel, short story, prose, drama, etc. The father of modern Telugu literature is Kandukuri Viresalingam Pantulu (1848-1919), who wrote a novel, Rajasekhara Charitamu, inspired by the Vicar of Wakefield. He was the first person in modern times to use literature to eradicate social evils. He was followed by Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Gurazada Appa Rao, Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Katuri Venkateswara Rao, Jashuva, Devulapalli Venkata Krishna Sastry, Sri Sri, Puttaparty Narayana Charyulu and others in the sphere of poetry. Viswanatha Satyanarayana had won the coveted Jnanpith Award. Kanyasulkam (Bride-Money), the first social play in Telugu by Gurazada Appa Rao was a thumping success. We also find the progressive movement, free verse movement and Digambara style finding expression in Telugu verse. The well-known modern Telugu novelists were Unnava Lakshminarayana (of Malapalli fame), Viswanatha Satyanarayana (Veyi Padagalu), Kutumba Rao and Buchchi Babu. Telugu is specially known for its daring experiments in the field of poetry and drama. Jnanpith award winners for Telugu Viswanatha Satyanarayana (1970); Dr. C. Narayana Reddy (1988). See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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