3. The Shapes of Telugu - Secondary Symbols

3. The Shapes of Telugu - Part 2

1. Secondary Symbols and Consonant-Vowel Combinations (గుణింతములు)

Telugu vowels can be written either in their stand-alone (or primary) form or in a secondary (or intra-syllabic) form. These intra-syllabic forms are essential to master the material in this chapter.

2. Telugu Syllables

In Telugu, any of the consonants can form a syllable with any of the vowels. Using a notation popularized by computer scientists, a syllable can be defined as follows:

Syllable = [Onset +] Nucleus [+Soda]

The notation is interpreted as follows. Anything inside the square brackets is optional and can be repeated optionally many times. So a syllable is (a) the Nucleus occurring in isolation OR (b) one or more Onsets followed by a Nucleus OR (c) a Nucleus followed by one or more Soda OR (d) one or more Onsets followed by a Nucleus followed by one or more Soda. Using this notation, a Telugu syllable san be defined as follows:

Telugu Syllable = [Pure consonant +] Single Vowel [+Pure consonant]

Now, let us study the four categories of Telugu syllables.

Category (a): A single vowel in the place of the nucleus.

Examples:

అ (a); ఈ (I); అం (aM)

Category (b): A single pure consonant followed by a single vowel or several pure consonants followed by a single vowel.

Examples :

క్ + ఈ = కీ (k^ + I = kI)

ప్ + ఓ = పో (p^ + O = pO)

బ్ + అం = బం (b^ + aM = baM)

శ్ + ర్ + ఈ = శ్రీ (S^ + r ^ + I) = SrI

Category (c): A single vowel followed by one or more pure consonants.

Examples:

ఈ + స్ + ట్ = ఈస్ట్ (I + s^ + T^ = IsT) = East

Category (d): One or more pure consonants, followed by a pure vowel followed by one or more pure consonants.

Examples:

స్ + ట్ + ఏం + ప్ = స్టేంప్ (s^ + T^ + EM + p^ = sTEMp^) = stamp

Now we will systematically study specific cases that are of much use in learning Telugu.

3. Patterns in CV Combinations

Indeed, any consonant, in its pure form, can be combined with any of the vowels. These are called consonant-vowel combinations, or simply CV combinations. Assuming that we are interested only in the 32 consonants and the eleven vowels, there are 32 x11 = 352 CV combinations. Almost all these CV combinations occur routinely; it is not difficult to memorize them, once the pattern is mastered.

For example, the combination of vowels with the first consonant క్ (k^) are shown below.

క్ క కా కి కీ కు కె కే కై కొ కో కౌ కం

Note 1.

Notice that కృ and కౄ are not included in the above list; they are rarely used, if ever, in practice.

Note 2.
Notice the intra-syllabic forms of the vowels అ, ఆ, ఇ, ఈ ఎ, ఏ, ఒ, ఓ and ఔ go on the top of the consonant symbol. The intra-syllabic forms of ఉ and ఊ, however, are appended to the right of the CV combination క (ka). The intra-syllabic form of ఐ (ai) also deviates from the pattern; part of it goes above the character and part below the base shape.

With the above pattern in mind, it is not difficult to write the CV combinations of any other consonant. For instance, the sequence of CV combinations of the pure consonant చ (c^) runs as follows:

చ్ చ చా చి చీ చు చూ చె చే చౌ చం

4. Exceptions to the Rules

The letters వ and ప seem to provide an exception to the general rule in writing CV combinations. Careful examination of these letters show that they are very similar in appearance; the difference is in the gap between the so-called "head band" and the base of the letters వ and ప. Due to this, it is instructive to list the pattern of CV combinations for these two letters. First, for వ (va) and then for ప (pa).

వ్ వ వా వి వీ వు వూ వె వే వై వొ వో వౌ వం

ప్ ప పా పి పీ పు పూ పె పే పై పొ పో
పౌ పం

Some more exceptional situations are described below:

(a) While writing the CV combinations for య (ya ), the combination య + ఇ = యి (ya + i = yi). Note how this departed from the general pattern. The pronunciation of this letter is almost identical to that of the vowel ఇ (i).

(b) The CV combination చ్ + ఓ is written as చో ; however, the CV combination మ్ + ఓ is preferentially written as మో. Notice the deviation in pattern.

(d) The correct way of writing the CV pair జ్ + ఉ is జు

(e) The correct way of writing the CV pair ప్ + ఉ is పు

(f) The correct way of writing the CV pair వ్ + ఉ is వు. Compare this with మ (ma).

(g) The correct way of writing the CV pair భ్ + అ is భ

5. Vocabulary Session

(a) The following words are of CA-Ca format. That is, a consonant with the long vowel ఆ (A) followed by a consonant with the short vowel అ (a).

తాత (tA-ta) = grandfather
మామ (mA-ma) = uncle, father-in-law
బావ (bA-va) = brother-in-law
వాన (vA-na) = rain
పాట (pA-Ta) = song
బాట (bA-Ta) = path
కాయ (kA-ya) = unripe fruit

(b) The following words are of CA-Cu format, that is, a consonant with the long vowel ఆ (A) followed by a consonant with the short vowel ఉ (u).

పాలు (pA-lu) = milk

తాడు (tA-Du) = rope

రాజు (rA-ju) = king

చాలు (cA-lu) = enough

(c) The following nouns are of CV-CV format, that is, a consonant with any vowel, followed by a consonant with any vowel.

కాకి = kA-ki = crow

కారు = kA-ru = car

కాలు = kA-lu = leg

కోటి = kO-Ti = ten million

కోతి = kO-ti = monkey

గది = ga-di = room

గాలి = gA-li = wind

గుడి = gu-Di = temple

గోడ = gO-Da = wall

తల = ta-la = head

తారు = tA-ru = tar

పాప = pA-pa = baby (female)

పాలు = pA-lu (milk)

(d) The following nouns are first shown in a spelling that is normally found in a dictionary and in an equivalent - simplified - spelling commonly found in colloquial speech and writing. The first formulation is in the Ca-Ca-mu format and the second one in the Ca-Ca-o format; the “o” simply gives the ‘M’ sound. Read them aloud.

కలము (ka-la-mu) = కలం (ka-laM) = pen

కాలము (kA-la-mu) = కాలం = (kA-laM) = time

పెనము (pe-na-mu) = పెనం (pe-naM) = frying pan

బలము (ba-la-mu) = బలం (ba-laM) = strength

తరము (ta-ra-mu) = తరం (ta-raM) = generation
కాగితము (kA-gi-ta-mu) = కాగితం = paper

(e) The following "question words" will be very useful in daily conversation.

ఎవరు? (e-va-ru)? = who?

ఏమిటి? (E-mi-Ti)? = what?

ఎందుకు (eM-du-ku)? = why?

ఎలా? (e-lA)? = how?

ఏం? (EM)? = short form for 'what' or 'why'
ఎందరు? (eM-da-ru?) = how many (people)?
ఎంత? (eM-ta?) = how much?
ఏమిటి? (E-mi-Ti?) = what?
ఎటు? (e-Tu?) = which way?
ఏ? (E?) = which?
ఏవి? (E-vi?) = which ones?

(f) The following words are of CU-CV format, that is, a consonant with the long vowel ఊ followed by a consonant with a short vowel V, where V is any short vowel.

సూది (sU-di) = needle

దూది (dU-di) = ginned cotton

పూజ (pU-ja) = worship with flowers

మూట (mU-Ta) = bundle

నూరు (nU-ru) = hundred

(g) The following words are of CaM-CV format, that is, a consonant and the vowel aM followed by a consonant with a short vowel. Note, in this case aM is pronounced almost as an.

పండు (paM-Du) = ripe fruit (pronounced, pun-Du)

బండి (baM-Di) = cart, vehicle (pronounced, bun-Di)

బంతి (baM-ti) = ball (pronounced, bun-ti)

(h) The following words are of CE-CV format.

పేరు (pE-ru) = name

మేక (mE-ka) = goat

నేల (nE-la) = ground, floor
నేను (nE-nu) = I
మేము (mE-mu) = we

(i) The following are of CV format.

నా (nA) = my

మా (mA) = our

మీ (mI) = your (respectful singular, plural)

(j) The following words will be very useful in conversations

అది (a-di) = that (object), that girl

అటు (a-Tu) = that way

అవి (a-vi) = those

ఆమె (A-me) = she (remote)

ఇది (i-di) = this (object), this girl

ఇటు (i-Tu) = this way

ఇవి (i-vi) = these

(k) The following possessive words are of CV-CV format.

నాది (nA-di) = mine (possessive singular, singular object)

నావి (nA-vi) = mine (possessive singular, plural object)

మాది (mA-di) = ours (possessive plural, singular object)

మావి (mA-vi) = ours (possessive plural, plural object)

వారు (vA-ru) = they (plural or respectful singular)

వారిది (vA-ridi) = their's (respectful, singular object)

వారివి (vA-rivi) = their's (respectful, plural object)

(l) The following words illustrate the spelling equivalence of the vowel ఔ (au) with the V-CV combination అవు (a-vu) and the vowel ఐ (ai) with the V-CV combination అయి (a-yi).

పౌను (pau-nu) = పవును (pa-vu-nu) = pound
ఔను (au-nu) = అవును (a-vu-nu) = yes
మైలు (mai-lu) = మయిలు (ma-yi-lu) = mile
మెయిల్ (me-yi-l) = మెయిలు (me-yi-lu) = mail

మైనం (mai-naM) = మయినం = wax

(m) The following words contain aspirated consonants

ముఖం (mu-khaM) = face
సుఖం (su-khaM) = comfort
మేఘం (mE-ghaM) = cloud
సంఘం (saM-ghaM) = community; society
కంఠం (kaM-ThaM) = throat, voice
పాఠం (pAThaM) = lesson
ధనం (dha-naM) = wealth
ధర (dha-ra) = price

(n) The following are simple sentences.

వారు రాజు (vA-ru rA-ju) = He (respectful) king = He is (a/the) king

వారు ఒక రాజు (vA-ru o-ka rA-ju) = He (respectful) king = He is a king

వారే రాజు (vA-rE rA-ju) = He (respectful) king = He is the king

పండు తిను (paM-Du ti-nu) = fruit eat = eat (the) fruit

పాట పాడు (pA-Ta pA-Du) = song sing = sing (a) song

ఒక పాట పాడు (o-ka pA-Ta pA-Du) = one song sing = sing a song

ఇది మన పని = (i-di ma-na pa-ni) = this our work= this (is) our work

Exercises

1. Read the following pairs of words and pay attention to their meaning.

పడు (i. verb) (pa-Du) = fall

పాడు (t. verb) (pA-Du) = sing

కలం (n.) (ka-laM) = pen

కాలం (n.) (kA-laM) = time

మనం (pronoun) (ma-naM) = we

మానం (n.) mA-naM = dignity

2. Read the following compound words and pay attention to their meaning.

దూది మూట (dU-di mU-Ta) = cotton bundle

కాలి బాట (kA-li bA-Ta) = foot path

మేక తోక (mE-ka tO-ka) = goat’s tail

ఆవు పాలు (A-vu pA-lu) = cow’s milk

3. Read the following simple sentences and pay attention to their meaning.

నా గది = my room

నా చెవి = my ear

ఆమె సీత = she (is) Sita

4. Read the following.

ఏమిటి కావాలి? = what (do you) want?

ఎవరు వారు? = who they? (who is there?)

ఎలా వెళ్ళాలి? = how (does one) go?

ఎటు వెళ్ళాలి? = which way (to) go?

ఎందరు పిల్లలు? = how many children?
ఇది ఎంత? = this how much? (how much is this?)

5. Read the following interrogative and imperative sentences. If you understand what they mean, answer them.

మీ పేరు?
మీ ఊరు?
ఇవి ఎవరివి?

ఇలా రా!
ఇది చూడు!

6. Read the following sentences and guess their meaning

ఈ కారు నాది!

ఏమిటి కావాలి?
ఎందుకు కావాలి?
ఇవి ఎవరివి?

వాడు దొంగ!

Search This Blog

Learn Telugu as Second Language