Kannada Script Part 1
ಕನ್ನಡ ಲಿಪಿ - Kannaḍa Lipi - Kannada Script - Consonants Hello everyone! Here’s a lesson on how to read and write in Kannada. Kannada, like most Indian languages, is an abugida, which means that each letter has an inherent vowel, which happens to be a ([ə]) in Kannada. So that means the base form of all letters in Kannada has this vowel. Furthermore, Kannada’s consonants are traditionally organized into 6 sets of five plus 1 set of six, and each set is related in some way. Each letter (or ಅಕ್ಷರ - akṣara) is given with its IAST romanization and IPA transcription.
* The actual pronunciation of this conjunct consonant is contested, since theoretically, it should be pronounced jña [d͡ʒɲə] but in practice is widely pronounced gya [gjə] in colloquial speech, but according to Sanskrit phonological tradition, it should be pronounced as ngnya~gnya [ŋɲə~gɲə] (this consonant only appears in Sanskrit loanwords.)
The two conjuncts in the bottom row are the two most common conjunct ligatures in Kannada and are therefore treated as letters unto themselves.
The pronunciation of each letter is as follows:
ಕ - k as in the ck in lack
ಖ - kh as in the k in kit
ಗ - g as in the g in bag
ಘ - gh is like g but releasing air as you say it
ಙ - nga as the ng in the word bang
ಚ - c as in the tch in the word batch
ಛ - ch is like the ch in the word chat
ಜ - j as in the dge in the word badge
ಝ - jh is like j but with a release of air
ಞ - ñ as in the Spanish ñ
ಟ - ṭ as in the t in the word bat
ಠ - ṭh as in the t in the word tap
ಡ - ḍ as in the d in the word damp
ಢ - ḍh is like ḍ with a release of air
ಣ - ṇ is similar to the English n but you need to position the tip of your tongue on the back roof of your mouth instead of the front
ತ - t is like the English t but pronounced by putting your tongue to your teeth
ಥ - th is like t but with a release of air
ದ - d is like the English d but with your tongue on your teeth instead
ಧ - dh is like d but with a release of air
ನ - n is like the English n
ಪ - p is like the p in the word cap
ಫ - ph is like the p in the word pen
ಬ - b is like the English b
ಭ - bh is like b but with a release of air
ಮ - m is like the English m
ಯ - y is like the English y
ರ - r is like the Spanish r but not rolled (not all the time anyway)
ಲ - l is not like the English l, and you put your tongue to the soft part just behind your upper teeth, called the soft palate
ವ - v is similar to the English v but occasionally sounds like w
ಶ - ś is like the English sh
ಷ - ṣ is like the English sh (mostly a spelling convention)
ಸ - s is like the English s
ಹ - h is like the English h
ಳ - ḷ is like l except you place the tip of your tongue to the back roof of your mouth the same way you did for ṇ
ಕ್ಷ - kṣa is difficult, but pronounce this nonsense word and notice the ksh: shockshave
ಜ್ಞ - jña is pronounced most often as gya That’s it for today. Hope you had fun! See you all at the next lesson
