The Kannada script (IAST: Kannaḍa lipi; obsolete: Kanarese or Canarese script in English) is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write Kannada, one of the Dravidian languages of South India especially in the state of Karnataka. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. Kannada script is also widely used for writing Sanskrit texts in Karnataka. Several minor languages, such as Tulu, Konkani, Kodava, Sanketi and Beary, also use alphabets based on the Kannada script. The Kannada and Telugu scripts share very high mutual intellegibility with each other, and are often considered to be regional variants of single script. Other scripts similar to Kannada script are Sinhala script (which included some elements from the Kadamba script), and Old Peguan script (used in Burma).
The Kannada script ( akṣaramāle or varṇamāle) is a phonemic abugida of forty-nine letters. The character set is almost identical to that of other Brahmic scripts. Consonantal letters imply an inherent vowel. Letters representing consonants are combined to form digraphs ( ottakṣara) when there is no intervening vowel. Otherwise, each letter corresponds to a syllable.
The letters are classified into three categories: svara (vowels), vyañjana (consonants), and yōgavāhaka (semiconsonants).
The Kannada words for a letter of the script are akshara, akkara, and varṇa. Each letter has its own form ( ākāra) and sound ( śabda), providing the visible and audible representations, respectively. Kannada is written from left to right.
History
The Brahmi script evolved into the Kadamba script by the 5th century, which in turn developed into the Kannada-Telugu script (or 'Old Kannada script') in the 7th century. The Kannada and Telugu scripts then separated by around 1300 C.E.
Over the centuries some changes have been made to the Kannada script. These changes consist of: Modification of existing glyphs: In the early Kannada script, no orthographic distinction was made between the short mid , and long mid , . However, distinct signs were employed to denote the special consonants viz. the trill the retroflex lateral and the retroflex rhotic , by the 5th century. Introduction of new characters: Kannada script includes characters like , , , , , , , , , , and mahāprāṇa characters like , , , , , , , , , . The introduction was done so that Sanskrit (and loanwords into the Kannada language from the donor language Sanskrit) could be written using the Kannada script. These changes have facilitated the use of the Kannada script for writing many of the literary Indic languages, including Sanskrit.
Vowel letters
There are thirteen (sixteen if the obsolete vowels are included) vowel letters ( svara).
When a vowel follows a consonant, it is written with a diacritic rather than as a separate letter.
Yōgavāha
The Yōgavāha (part-vowel, part consonant) include two letters: The anusvara: (aṁ) The visarga: (aḥ)
Another two Yōgavāha used in Sanskrit, but present in Kannada script, are known as Ardhavisarga: The Jihvamuliya: The Upadhmaniya:
Consonant letters
Two categories of consonant letters ( vyan̄jana) are defined in Kannada: the structured consonants and the unstructured consonants.
Structured consonants
The structured consonants are classified according to where the tongue touches the palate of the mouth and are classified accordingly into five structured groups. These consonants are shown here with their ISO transcriptions.
Unstructured consonants
The unstructured consonants are consonants that do not fall into any of the above structures:
(ya), (ra), (ṟa; obsolete), (la), (va), (śa), (ṣa), (sa), (ha), (), (ḻa; obsolete).
Consonant conjuncts
The Kannada script is rich in conjunct consonant clusters, with most consonants having a standard subjoined form and few true ligature clusters. A table of consonant conjuncts follows although the forms of individual conjuncts may differ according to the font.
Consonant conjuncts with ರ (ra)
Of special note is the sequence concerning the letter (ra). Unlike other letters, the conjunct form is written second even if it is pronounced first in the sequence.
For example, the /rnaː/ in the word Karnāṭaka (ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ) is written ರ್ನಾ rather than ರ್ನಾ.
Consonant conjuncts with nasal consonants
The nasal consonants
(ṅa), (ña), (ṇa), (na), and (ma) are usually written as an anusvara when preceding another consonant rather than a consonant conjunct.
For example, the /ŋg/ in the word Beṅgaḷūru (ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು) is usually written rather than (ಬೆಙ್ಗಳೂರು).