Language/Kannada/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation
Kannada, a Dravidian language, is predominantly spoken in Karnataka, a southwestern state of India. The Kannada alphabet (ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ) evolved from the Kadamba and Chalukya scripts, descendants of the Brahmi script, used between the 5th and 7th centuries AD. In the 19th century, under the influence of Christian missionary organizations, the Kannada and Telugu scripts were standardized.
After completing this lesson, explore related topics: Vowels: Pronunciation and Writing, Kannada Grammar Conjuncts.
Kannada Consonants
Kannada features a rich set of consonants, divided into structured and unstructured categories.
| Letter | IPA |
|---|---|
| ಕ | [ka] |
| ಖ | [kʰa] |
| ಗ | [ɡa] |
| ಘ | [ɡʱa] |
| ಙ | [ŋa] |
| ಚ | [tʃa] |
| ಛ | [tʃʰa] |
| ಜ | [dʒa] |
| ಝ | [dʒʱa] |
| ಞ | [ɲa] |
| ಟ | [ʈa] |
| ಠ | [ʈʰa] |
| ಡ | [ɖa] |
| ಢ | [ɖʱa] |
| ಣ | [ɳa] |
| ತ | [t̪a] |
| ಥ | [t̪ʰa] |
| ದ | [d̪a] |
| ಧ | [d̪ʱa] |
| ನ | [n̪a] |
| ಪ | [pa] |
| ಫ | [pʰa] |
| ಬ | [ba] |
| ಭ | [bʱa] |
| ಮ | [ma] |
| ಯ | [ja] |
| ರ | [ra] |
| ಲ | [l̪a] |
| ವ | [ʋa] |
| ಶ | [ça] |
| ಷ | [ʂa] |
| ಸ | [sa] |
| ಹ | [ħa] |
| ಳ | [ɭa] |
Kannada Structured Consonants
The structured consonants are classified according to where the tongue touches the palate of the mouth and are classified accordingly into 5 groups.
| Voiceless | Voiceless aspirate | Voiced | Voiced aspirate | Nasal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velars | ಕ (ka) | ಖ (kha) | ಗ (ga) | ಘ (gha) | ಙ (ṅa) |
| Palatals | ಚ (ca) | ಛ (cha) | ಜ (ja) | ಝ (jha) | ಞ (ña) |
| Retroflex | ಟ (ṭa) | ಠ (ṭha) | ಡ (ḍa) | ಢ (ḍha) | ಣ (ṇa) |
| Dentals | ತ (ta) | ಥ (tha) | ದ (da) | ಧ (dha) | ನ (na) |
| Labials | ಪ (pa) | ಫ (pha) | ಬ (ba) | ಭ (bha) | ಮ (ma) |
Kannada Unstructured consonants
The unstructured consonants are consonants that do not fall into the above structures:
- ಯ (ya)
- ರ (ra)
- ಱ (ṟa; obsolete)
- ಲ (la)
- ವ (va)
- ಶ (śa)
- ಷ (ṣa)
- ಸ (sa)
- ಹ (ha)
- ಳ (ḷa)
- ೞ (ḻ; obsolete).
Kannada Vowels
There are 13 vowel letters. When a vowel follows a consonant, it is written with a diacritic rather than as a separate letter.
| Letter | Diacritic | ISO | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| ಅ | ◌ | a | [a] |
| ಆ | ಾ | ā | [aː] |
| ಇ | ಿ | i | [i] |
| ಈ | ೀ | ī | [iː] |
| ಉ | ು | u | [u] |
| ಊ | ೂ | ū | [uː] |
| ಋ | ೃ | rū | [rɨ] |
| ಎ | ೆ | e | [e] |
| ಏ | ೇ | ē | [eː] |
| ಐ | ೈ | ai | [eʲ] |
| ಒ | ೊ | o | [o] |
| ಓ | ೋ | ō | [oː] |
| ಔ | ೌ | au | [oʷ] |
Practice and Application
Practice writing and pronouncing each consonant and vowel. Pay attention to structured consonants and vowel diacritics.
Further Learning
Continue your Kannada language journey with advanced topics such as sentence structure and verb conjugations.
Video: Pronunciation
Kannada Online Virtual Keyboard