Telugu Writing Lesson: About the Telugu...

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Learn Telugu through English Telugu Writing, Speaking & Grammar Lessons eBook (Vol. 1) - By Praveen Ragi www.praveenragitelugu.com 17 Telugu Writing Lesson: About the Telugu Alphabet Today, you are going to learn about the ‘Varnamala’ or ‘Aksharamala’ in Telugu. That means the alphabet in the Telugu language. As I told in our previous lesson, Telugu Varnamala is divided into three parts. They are vowels, consonants and ubhayaksharalu. Ubhayaksharalu in Telugu are full zero (‘’) (in Telugu we say, (sunna), half zero (‘ ’) (in Telugu we say, అరన [arasunna]) and సర గ (visarga) (‘ ’). Like English, Telugu also contains both vowels and consonants. In English there are only five vowels, but in Telugu, there are 16 vowels. But, only 14 are in usage, actually ‘ ’ (‘RU’) also is not in use as it does not contain any words. However, I am giving it in the list for your easy recognition. In English, vowels are not in order i.e. ‘a’ is the first vowel and the first letter, but the next vowel ‘e’ is the fifth letter. There are three letters b, c, and d (the consonants) in between ‘a’ and ‘e’. But there is no such problem in Telugu. All vowels are in sequence from ‘(a) to (au). After that consonants began. So there will be no confusion in identifying and differentiating vowels and consonants.

Transcript of Telugu Writing Lesson: About the Telugu...

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Telugu Writing Lesson: About the Telugu Alphabet Today, you are going to learn about the ‘Varnamala’ or ‘Aksharamala’ in Telugu. That means the alphabet in the Telugu language.

As I told in our previous lesson, Telugu Varnamala is divided into three parts. They are vowels, consonants and ubhayaksharalu.

Ubhayaksharalu in Telugu are full zero (‘౦’) (in Telugu we say, సున్న (sunna), half zero (‘ ’) (in Telugu we say, అరసున్న

[arasunna]) and విసర గ (visarga) (‘ ’).

Like English, Telugu also contains both vowels and consonants. In English there are only five vowels, but in Telugu, there are 16 vowels.

But, only 14 are in usage, actually ‘ౠ’ (‘RU’) also is not in use as it does not contain any words.

However, I am giving it in the list for your easy recognition. In English, vowels are not in order i.e. ‘a’ is the first vowel and the first letter, but the next vowel ‘e’ is the fifth letter. There are three letters b, c, and d (the consonants) in between ‘a’ and ‘e’.

But there is no such problem in Telugu. All vowels are in sequence from ‘అ’ (a) to ‘ఔ’ (au).

After that consonants began. So there will be no confusion in identifying and differentiating vowels and consonants.

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Vowels

Here is the list of vowels which are in usage:

అ (a) - ఆ (aa) - ఇ (i) – ఈ (I or ee) - ఉ (u) - ఊ (U or oo) – ఋ (Ru) – ౠ (RU) - ఎ (e) – ఏ (E) – ఐ (ai) - ఒ (o) – ఓ (Ō) –

ఔ (ou)

The list is followed by `అం’ and `అః’ (but they are not vowels). After that, consonants are followed.

Vowels are termed as ‘Acchulu’ in Telugu. Vowels are also known as ‘Praanamulu’ or ‘Svaramulu’ because they give life to consonants.

Vowels are two types: హ్రస్వా చ్చు లు (Hrasvaacchulu) and దీరా్ఘచ్చు లు (Dheerghacchulu).

హ్రస్వా చ్చు లు (Hrasvacchulu) : The vowels which are pronounciated in the time span of a ‘Matra’ i.e. the time span used

for twinkling of an eye are called Hrasvacchulu. They are: అ - ఇ - ఉ - ఋ - ఎ - ఒ.

దీరా్ఘచ్చు లు (Dheerghacchulu): The vowels which are pronounciated in the time span of two ‘Matras’ are called

Dheerghacchulu. They are: ఆ - ఈ - ఊ - ౠ - ఏ - ఐ - ఓ – ఔ.

Consonants

Consonants are termed as ‘Hallulu’ in Telugu. They are also known as (వ్య ంజన్ములు) ‘Vyanjanamulu’.

As you are aware, that the consonants are not able to be pronounced without the help of vowels, that means they include the sounds of vowels.

Here is the list of consonants:

క (ka) ఖ (kha) గ (ga) ఘ (gha) ఙ (~ga)

చ (cha) ఛ (Cha) జ (ja) ఝ (jha) ఞ (~ja)

ట (Ta) ఠ (Tha) డ (Da) ఢ (Dha) ణ (Ana)

త (ta) థ (tha) ద (dha) ధ (ddha) న్ (na)

ప (pa) ఫ (pha) బ (ba) భ (bha) మ (ma)

య (ya) ర (ra) ల (la) వ్ (va) శ (Sa)

ష (Sha) స (sa) ర (ha) ళ (La) ఱ (rra)

Various types of software are there to write Telugu letters. All the above letters work in Baraha software or Baraha keyboard.

In olden days there was a letter ‘ౘ’ between ‘చ’ and ‘ఛ’, and also ‘ౙ’ between ‘జ’ and ‘ఝ’. But they are no longer used

in these days.

‘క్ష’ (ksha) is not considered as a consonant though it comes after ‘ళ’ (La). It is a bi-consonant letter (samyuktaksharam)

i.e. formed with the sounds of ‘ka’ and ‘Sha’.

Even ‘ఱ’ (rrra) is not much used in recent days, and the letter is replaced by ‘ర’ (ra). Earlier, it was used to write for the

words like ‘గుఱఱం’ (gurrram) but now it is written as ‘గుహ్రం’ (gurram).

Ubhayaaksharalu

Now, let us see the usage of Ubhayaaksharalu.

Ubhayaksharalu are full zero (‘౦’) (in Telugu we say, సున్న [sunna]), half zero (‘ ’) (in Telugu we say, అరసున్న [arasunna])

and విసర గ (visarga) (‘ ’).

These Ubhayaksharalu are used with both the vowels and consonants. Hence, they are termed as Ubhayaksharalu.

Full zero (‘౦’) is used in ‘అం’ (am) and in Guninthalu (you will learn about them in the coming lessons).

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Half zero (‘ ’) was widely used in ancient poetry. Though, it is not much used in day-to-day language, it has its own importance in framing the lines of poems or stanzas according to grammar (Chandassu).

Visarga (‘ ’) is used for ‘అః’ (aha) alphabet and also it is used for words such as అంతఃపురం (Anthahpuram), హ్ాతఃకాలం

(Praathahkkaalam.)

Now, that you have learned all the letters i.e. Varnamala in Telugu.

You will learn about Guninthaalu in the coming lessons.

Lesson prepared by: Valli Sarvani, Updated and edited by: Praveen Ragi

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Telugu Writing Lesson: Guninthamulu – Introduction & ‘క’ (ka) Guninthamu

So far you have learned Varnamala, vowels and consonants in Telugu. Now, in this lesson you will learn Guninthalu. Consonants cannot be pronounced completely without the help of vowels i.e. for instance ‘క’ (ka)’ becomes a complete sound with the help of vowel ‘అ’; otherwise it just remains ‘క్’.

‘క్’ + ‘అ’ = ‘క’ (k + a = ka). In the same way, each consonant is pronounced.

Guninthalu are nothing but the symbols of vowels which are mixed with various consonants to create words in the language.

If you learn the symbols of Guninthalu, you can write Guninthalu for almost all of the consonants.

The following are the symbols of Guninthalu:

Vowel Symbol Name of the symbol The symbol of Gunintham

తలకట్టు (Thalakattu) క్ + = క (ka)

ఆ దీరంా(Dheergham) క్ + = కా (kaa)

ఇ గుడి (Gudi) క్ + = కి (ki)

ఈ గుడిదీరంా (Gudi dheergham) క్ + = కీ (kee)

ఉ కొముు (Kommu) క్ + = కు (ku)

ఊ కొముు దీరంా (Kommu deergham) క్ + = కూ(koo)

ఋ ఋతా ం (Ruthvam) క్ + = కృ (kRu)

ౠ ఋతా దీరంా (Rutva dheergham) క్ + = కౄ (kRoo)

ఎ ఎతా ం (Ethvam) క్+ = కె (ke)

ఏ ఏతా ం (Aethvam) క్ + = కే (kE)

ఐతా ం (Aithvam) క్ + = కై (kai)

ఒ ఒతా ం (Othvam) క్ + = కొ(ko)

ఓ ఓతా ం(Otvam) క్ + = కో(kO)

ఔ ఔతా ం (Authvam) క్ + = కౌ(kau)

అం సున్న (Sunna) (Full zero) క్ + ౦ = కం(kaM)

అః విసర గ (Visarga) క్ + = కః(kaH)

Lesson prepared by: Valli Sarvani, Updated and edited by: Praveen Ragi

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Telugu Writing Lesson: Ottulu

Ottulu are used to emphasize or stress the letter in the language.

Every consonant can be written in the form of ‘ottu’ (ఒత్తు).

Ottulu can be formed in three ways. If we just remove the ‘talakattu’ (తలకట్టు) on the letter, it will become ottu. For instance ‘ga’ (గ) ottu can be written as ‘౧’. The following letters become ottulu when talakattu is removed:

గ (ga)

ఘ (gha)

చ (cha)

ఛ (Cha)

ఝ (jha)

ట (Ta)

ఠ (Tha)

డ (Da)

ఢ (Dha)

థ (tha)

ద (da)

ధ (dha)

ప (pa)

ఫ(pha)

భ(bha)

శ (Sa)

ష(Sha)

స (sa)

ర (ha)

ళ (La)

Some letters remain as such even in the form of ottu also. The following letters do not change:

ఖ (kha) - ఖ ఙ(~ga) – ఙ జ (ja) - ఞ(~ja) – ఞ ణ (Na) – ణ బ (ba)– ఱ (rxa) - ఱ

Some letters are completely transformed to become ottulu. They are as follows:

క (ka) -

త (ta) -

న్ (na) -

మ (ma) -

య (ya) -

ర (ra) -

ల (la) -

వ్ (va) –

Lesson prepared by: Valli Sarvani, Updated and edited by: Praveen Ragi