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

Structured consonants are grouped based on their articulation points.

	Voiceless	Voiceless Aspirate	Voiced	Voiced Aspirate	Nasal
Velars	ಕ (ka)	...	Labials	ಪ (pa)	...

Kannada Unstructured Consonants

Unstructured consonants don't fit into the above categories:

• ಯ (ya)
• ...
• ೞ (ḻ; obsolete).

Kannada Vowels

Kannada has 13 vowels, which are written with diacritics when following a consonant.

Letter	Diacritic	ISO	IPA
ಅ	◌	a	[a]	...	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.

Kannada Online Virtual Keyboard