Last Updated: 2020-06-30
Background
Language Family: Dravidian / South / Tamil-Kannada / Kannada
- Kannada is spoken in southwestern India, specifically in the states of Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Anantapur, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.
Phonology
Consonants
- /f/ and /z/ appear in loanwords (Krishnamurti 2003, 67).
- /r/ seems to exist in free variation with [ɾ] (Sridhar 1990, 294; Schiffman 1983, 15).
- Consonants have contrastive gemination (Sridhar 1990, 299–301; Schiffman 1983, 8).
- Andronov (1969) argues for /ɲ/ and /ŋ/ as phonemic (p. 21), but this view seems to have fallen out of favor.
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Dental
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Alveolar
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Retroflex
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Postalveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Glottal
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Stops (plain)
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p b
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t̪ d̪
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ʈ ɖ
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k ɡ
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Stops (aspirated)
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pʰ bʱ
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t̪ʰ d̪ʱ
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ʈʰ ɖʱ
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kʰ ɡʱ
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Affricates (plain)
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tʃ dʒ
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Affricates (aspirated)
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tʃʰ dʒʱ
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Fricatives
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s
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ʂ
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ʃ
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h
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Nasals
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m
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n
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ɳ
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Trills
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r
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Approximants
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ʋ
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l
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ɭ
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j
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Note: For phonemes that share a cell, those on the left are voiceless and those on the right are voiced.
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Vowels
- /æ/ appears in some loanwords (Krishnamurti 2003, 67), as does /ɔ/ (Schiffman 1983, 3).
- All native vowels can be contrastively lengthened (Krishnamurti 2003, 66).
- /aj/ and /aʋ/ occur in Kannada, but they are sequences of discrete phonemes rather than diphthongs (Sridhar 1990, 296).
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Mid
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e
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o
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- There is no diacritic for /a/ because it is the inherent vowel on consonant characters.
- In loanwords with /æ/ or /ɔ/, those vowels are written with the characters for /eː/ and /oː/ respectively (Schiffman 1983, 4).
- Some Sanskrit loanwords feature syllabic /r/; however, in Kannada the /r/ is not considered syllabic. Rather, it’s followed by either /u/ or /i/ (Krishnamurti 2003, 84). I have opted to prefer to add /u/, since in my experience it is likelier; however, it is not represented in the rule set.
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Consonant Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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ಕ
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/ka/
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ಖ
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/kʰa/
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ಗ
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/ɡa/
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ಘ
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/ɡʱa/
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ಙ
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/na/
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allophonically velar (Schiffman 1983, 9)
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ಚ
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/tʃa/
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ಛ
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/tʃʰa/
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ಜ
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/dʒa/
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ಝ
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/dʒʱa/
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ಞ
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/na/
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allophonically palatal (Schiffman 1983, 10)
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ಟ
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/ʈa/
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ಠ
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/ʈʰa/
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ಡ
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/ɖa/
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ಢ
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/ɖʱa/
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ಣ
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/ɳa/
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ತ
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/t̪a/
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ಥ
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/t̪ʰa/
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ದ
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/d̪a/
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ಧ
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/d̪ʱa/
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ನ
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/na/
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ಪ
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/pa/
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ಫ
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/pʰa/
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ಬ
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/ba/
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ಭ
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/bʱa/
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ಮ
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/ma/
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ಯ
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/ja/
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ರ
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/ra/
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ಲ
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/la/
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ವ
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/ʋa/
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ಶ
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/ʃa/
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ಷ
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/ʂa/
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ಸ
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/sa/
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ಹ
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/ha/
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ಳ
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/ɭa/
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Vowel Grapheme
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ಅ
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/a/
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ಆ
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/aː/
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ಇ
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/i/
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ಈ
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/iː/
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ಉ
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/u/
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ಊ
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/uː/
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ಋ
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/ru/
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occurs only in loanwords
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ೠ
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/ruː/
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obsolete; occurs only in loanwords
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ಎ
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/e/
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ಏ
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/eː/
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ಐ
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/aj/
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ಒ
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/o/
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ಓ
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/oː/
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ಔ
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/aʋ/
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Vowel Diacritic
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್
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marks consonant-final syllables
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ಾ
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/aː/
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ಿ
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/i/
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ೀ
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/iː/
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ು
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/u/
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ೂ
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/uː/
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ೃ
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/ru/
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occurs only in loanwords
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ೄ
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/ruː/
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occurs only in loanwords
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ೆ
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/e/
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ೇ
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/eː/
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ೈ
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/aj/
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ೊ
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/o/
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ೋ
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/oː/
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ೌ
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/aʋ/
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Diacritic Variations
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ಂ
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anusvara - represents a nasal with the same place as the following consonant (Krishnamurti 2003, 84)
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ಃ
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/h/; /hV/
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visarga - /h/: after long vowels; /hV/: after short vowels
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Syllable Structure
- Kannada syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C) (Sridhar 1990, 298).
Lenition Rules
- Consonants degeminate when followed by an unlike consonant (Sridhar 1990, 308).
- Preconsonantal stops delete after a nasal with the same place of articulation (ibid.).
- Intervocalically or post-nasally, /d̪/ spirantizes to [ð] (Schiffman 1983, 12).
Misc. Rules
- Epenthesis of [u] typically occurs after word-final consonants (although if the consonant is /j/, then [i] will be inserted instead) (Sridhar 1990, 296).
- Word-final short vowels often delete (Sridhar 1990, 307).
- Word-medial short vowels sometimes delete, especially in casual speech; this happens most often in a penultimate syllable, and never in the first or last syllable of a word (ibid.).
- The final consonants of monosyllabic words undergo gemination (Sridhar 1990, 310).
References
Andronov, M. S. 1969. The Kannada Language. Translated by V. Korotky. Nauka Publishing House.
Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju. 2003. The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge University Press.
Schiffman, Harold F. 1983. A Reference Grammar of Spoken Kannada. University of Washington Press.
Sridhar, S. N. 1990. Kannada. Routledge.