Telugu belongs to the family of Dravidian languages and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is also one among the 22 official national languages of India. In India, Telugu is the most spoken mother tongue after Hindi. 19th century Englishmen called it the "Italian of the East" as all words in Telugu end with a vowel sound and are often quite melodic to the ear.
History
Telugu was initially called Andhra bhasha (the language of Andhra). Andhra was the name of the area consisting of the present coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. In 1956, 10 Nizam districts and 4 districts of Rayalaseema were merged to Andhra and the collection was called Andhra Pradesh. Prakrut had significant effect on Telugu in earlier ages. But from Nannayya, Sanskrit had major influence on Telugu for the next 500-600 years.
Classification
Telugu is a member of the Telugu languages , along with Chenchu language , Savara language , and Waddar language . The Telugu languages are part of the South-central branch of the Dravidian languages.
Geographic distribution
Telugu is mainly spoken in Andhra Pradesh in India and in neighboring states in India, but it is also spoken in Bahrain, Fiji, Malaysia, Mauritius, United States, Singapore, United Kingdon , and United Arab Emirates. Telugu people live in almost all parts of the World.
Official status
Telugu is one of the official languages of India. It is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh
Dialects
The dialects of Telugu identified by Ethnologue are Berad, Dasari, Dommara, Golari, Kamathi, Komtao, Konda-Reddi, Salewari, Telangana, Telugu, Vadaga, Vadari, Srikakula, Vishakapatnam, East Godavari, Rayalseema, Nellore and Guntur. In Tamil Nadu the Telugu dialect is classified into Salem, Coimbatore, Chennai Telugu dialects. It is also widely spoken in Virudhunagar, Tuticorin, maduar districts
Derived languages
Creoles and other languages that are derived from this language.
Sounds
Vowels
Consonants
Phonology
Historical sound changes
Grammar
In Telugu, Karta(కర్త) (nominative case or the doer), Karma(కర్మ)(object of the verb) and Kriya(క్రియ) (action or the verb) follow a sequence. Linguists classify Telugu as a Dravidian Language as this pattern is found in other Dravidian languages but not in Sanskrit. Telugu also has the Vibhakthi(విభక్తి) (or preposition) tradition.
Telugu - |
Ramudu bantini kottadu రాముడు బంతిని కొట్టాడు |
literally - |
రాముడు (Rama) బంతి (ball) కొట్టు(hit) |
Reformatting it - |
Ramudu(Rama) hit the ball |
Telugu is often considered an agglutinative language, where certain syllables are added to the end of a noun in order to denote its case:
For example, the declension of Ramudu:
Nominative: Ramudu రాముడు - (-) रामः