1b. The Sounds of Telugu: Lesson 1

1b. The Sounds of Telugu

1. The Sounds of Simplified Telugu

The best and fastest way to learn the sounds of Telugu  is to seek help of a native Telugu speaker. The next best thing is to find a source of recorded voices such as an audio recording.  (At the end of this chapter, there are some links to YouTube videos to assist you in this regard.) If these two sources are not available to you, follow the method described below.

Simplified Telugu Alphabet

A "simplified" Telugu alphabet is introduced below using simple analogies to English sounds. By "simplified", we mean that only a subset - rather a  large subset - is presented here. You can learn the omitted characters at a later stage.

In Simplified Telugu, there are three pairs (short, long) vowels and two pairs (short, long, longer) vowels. There is one special symbol. In the table below all traditional vowels are arranged in their traditional order. Out of these two are no longer found in modern Telugu writing. The  new student can ignore them with no lasting damage to their learning experience. Two "longer" vowels in the list can be conveniently replaced by pairs of short vowels and many modern writers do use the replacement versions.

1.1 Vowels (అచ్చులు, acculu) in Simplified Telugu 

Telugu Vowels

Vowel List	in RTS (Lekhini)	in IAST scheme	Audio	Description
అ	a	/a/	TBD	Short vowel. Similar to the first de-stressed vowel in subject, or to the vowel in but or son. This is simply an utterance from the expanded throat
ఆ	aa or A	/ɑː/		Long vowel. Similar to the first vowel in father.
ఇ	i	/ɪ/		Short vowel. Like the vowel in sit.
ఈ	ee or I	/iː/		Long vowel. Like the vowel sound in seat, eat or sleep.
ఉ	u	/u/		Short vowel. Like the vowel in put or bull.
ఊ	U or oo	/u:/		Long vowel. Like the two vowels in food or ''oo'' in tool
ఋ	R	/ru/		Short vowel. Like ''ru'' in rude. The primary form of this vowel is becoming obsolete and will not be used in Simplified Telugu; the secondary form - in combination with consonants - is still popular.
ౠ	Ru	/ru:/		Long vowel. This character, both the primary and secondary forms, is becoming obsolete and will not be used in Simplified Telugu.
ఎ	e	/e/		Short vowel. Similar to the vowel sound in they or the sound of ''ay'' in May.
ఏ	E	/e:/		Long vowel. Like the first vowel in angel, or like the vowel ''a'' in ancient.
ఐ	ai	/ai/		Longer vowel. Like ''i'' in fight. This character can be replaced with అయి (ai) as is often done in modern informal use.
ఒ	o	/o/		Short vowel. Like the vowel in go
ఓ	O	/o:/		Like the vowel ''o'' in hole.
ఔ	ou	/au/		Longer vowel. Like ''ou'' in vouch. This character can be replaced with అవు (avu) as is often done in modern informal use.
అం	aM or am	/o:/		Like ''um'' in umbrella or "un" in under. (depending on the consonant preceding it). Many spoken Telugu words end with this sound. While writing, the symbol 'o' is appended to a vowel or consonant.
అః	-	/aha/		Like ''aha!'' used for exclamation purpose in English. This character rarely occurs and will not be used in Simplified Telugu.

1. 2 RTS Transliteration Notation 

RTS is a transliteration scheme developed to facilitate writing Telugu characters using Roman (English) alphabet appearing on a standard keyboard. That is, all Telugu characters can be represented (for typing convenience) using upper and lower case letters  and some of the special characters (&, ^, @). There are software tools (eg.  Lekhini) that can take a text file created using the RTS scheme as input and produce correctly rendered Telugu text file, which can then be copied and pasted for storing as a Word document.

The transliterations for the alphabetical characters shown in Sec. 1. 1 above are shown between quotation marks. (A complete description of the RTS scheme is given in Appendix 1 and 2.)

1. 3 Consonants (హల్లులు ''hallulu'') in Lexicographic Order 

The consonants of Telugu are listed below in the traditional lexicographic order, in small groups, followed by their IAST (The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) characters and by the RTS notation. Not all of these consonants are in widespread use. For example the last consonant in the first row almost never occurs in Telugu. The last consonant in the second row occurs only in combination with  జ to produce the character, జ్ఞ, which is used in two or three words. Many Telugu people cannot even pronounce this character! Similarly the last character (ఱ) in the last row is not being used now-a-days although it does produce a distinct sound;  it is being replaced by ర. Finally, the penultimate character in the last row is not a character of the Telugu alphabet; it has been borrowed, erroneously, from Sanskrit and Hindi alphabets. It's sound can be produced by a combination of క and ష. So in Simplified Telugu these characters will not be used.

• | Consonant list || as  IAST character | |  RTS notation 

• |  క  ఖ  గ  ఘ  ఙ  || '' k  kh  g  gh  ṅ '' || ka, kha, ga, gha, ~m
• |  చ  ఛ  జ  ఝ  ఞ  || '' c  ch  j  jh  ñ '' || ca, cha, ja, jha, ~n
• |  ట  ఠ  డ  ఢ  ణ  || '' ṭ  ṭh  ḍ  ḍh  ṇ '' || Ta, Tha, Da, Dha, Na
• |  త  థ  ద  ధ  న  || '' t  th  d  dh  n '' || ta, tha, da, dha, na
• |  ప  ఫ  బ  భ  మ  || '' p  ph  b  bh  m '' || pa, pha, ba, bha, ma
• |  య  ర  ల  వ  || '' y  r  l  w (v) '' || ya, ra, la, va
• |  శ  ష  స  హ  || '' ś  ṣ  s  h '' || Sa, sha, sa, ha
• |  ళ  ఱ   || '' ḷa   ṛa '' || La, ~r

The characters ఙ ,  ఞ and ఱ  are not used in Simplified Telugu.

1. 4 Sounds of Consonants 

By definition, a consonant cannot be pronounced without the help of a vowel. Therefore, the vowel అ (a) is used as the default vowel that goes with consonants shown on many alphabet charts.

Consonants are now introduced below in phonetic groupings, not in the traditional lexicographic order, from left to right reading order.

(a) క, చ, ట, త, ప  (ka, ca, Ta, ta, pa)

1. | క, ka |   The consonant sound is similar to that of k in skin.
2. | చ, ca |   The consonant sound is similar to that of ch in church. 
3. | ట, Ta |   This retroflexed consonant sound is similar to that of t in steam, stop. The tongue tip is retroflexed so that its underside touches the roof of the mouth, usually further back than in the case of English  t  (in which case the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the teeth). 
4. | త, ta |   The closest English equivalent to this dental consonant is the first syllable of  thirty. Here the tongue tip touches the teeth, not the ridge behind the teeth. It is important that the student master the pronunciation of  dental sounds in Telugu and distinguishes them from the corresponding retroflexes.  
5. | ప, pa |   Similar to the  p in English spin. 

(b) ఖ, ఛ, ఠ, థ, ఫ (kha, cha, Tha, tha, pha)

These aspirated consonants correspond to the five un-aspirated consonants in item (a) above.  Their pronunciation will give no difficulty to most English speakers. However a special precaution should be observed by making a careful distinction between  Tha ( ఠ) and  tha (థ,).

(c) గ, జ, డ, ద, బ  (ga, ja, Da, da, ba)

1. | గ, ga |  Similar to the consonant sound in English  go.
2. | జ, ja |  Similar to the sound of the English ja in Jack .
3. | డ, Da |   Similar in sound to the first syllable of English duck. The tongue tip is retroflexed so that its underside touches the roof of the mouth, usually further back than in the case of English  th  (in which case the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the teeth). 
4. | ద, da |   Similar in sound to the first syllable of English  thus. Here the tongue tip touches the teeth, not the ridge behind the teeth. It is important that the student master the pronunciation of  dental sounds in Telugu and distinguishes them from the corresponding retroflexes.  
5. | బ, ba |   Similar to the sound of the English ba in ball.

(d) ఘ, ఝ, ఢ, ధ, భ (gha, jha, Dha, dha, bha)

These aspirated consonants correspond to the five un-aspirated consonants in item (c) above. These are difficult for non-Indians as well as some native Telugu-speaking people. The difficulty stems from keeping both plosive and aspiration voiced.

(e) The nasals  ణ, న, మ  (Na, na, ma)

1. | ణ, Na |  Retroflex nasal. Many people may experience difficulty pronouncing this, particularly distinguishing the sound from the dental nasal న (na). The closest American pronunciation is like the ‘n’ in the English word, turn.
2. | న, na |  Dental nasal; as the n in English nose.
3. | మ, ma |   Bilabial nasal; as in English mother.

(f) The semi-vowels య (ya), and వ (va)

1. | య, ya |   Similar to the y in English yard.
2. | వ, va |   While articulating this, the upper teeth just touch the lower lip and the lips are not rounded. This is pronounced rather like the English v  in very.

Note. Many Telugu speaking people routinely ignore the distinction between the sounds of English  ‘v’ and ‘w’, as such va sometimes sounds like wa.

(g) Voiced alveolars ర (ra), and  ల (la)

1. | ర, ra |   Similar to the Scottish rolled  r.  The tongue tip merely touches the alveolar ridge once toward the end of the articulation..
2. | ల, la |   Similar to the  l  in lick. 
3. | ళ, La |   There is no equivalent sound in English; the closest sound is like the rl in English girl.

(h) శ (Sa), ష (sha), స (sa)

The first three sounds are very similar, yet distinct. The distinction is best understood by listening to a native speaker.

1. | శ, Sa |   Similar to English sa in Saxons.
2. | ష,  sha  |   Similar to English sh  in  shower.
3. | స, sa |  Similar to English  s  in  surround. 
4. | హ, ha  |   The closest English sound is  h in   hall.

1. 5 Comments

1. ca, ja (చ , జ ) have two types of pronunciations. When these consonants are combined with the vowels ఇ, ఈ, ఎ, ఏ (i, I, e, E) then they are always palatal. When they combine with other vowels, they are always dental. C. P. Brown introduced a diacritical mark to show this difference and it became obsolete in modern writing. 
2. ta  (త) is not a common sound in English. More common  is tha (థ ), as the th  in thud  and thunder.
3. Na (ణ) would be a difficult letter to pronounce as there is no equivalent sound in English; the nearest being the sound of ‘n’ in turn. One way to practice this is to first say the dental nasal na (న) as the first consonant in nose  and then utter the na  sound again by retroflexing the tongue. The result would be fairly close to Na (ణ).  
4. La (ళ)  is also a difficult letter to pronounce as there is no equivalent sound in English; the nearest sound is the sound of ‘l’ in girl  The sound  La  (ళ)  is to  la  (ల) as  Na   (ణ)  is to  na  (న).
5. Under the influence of English, pronunciation of the bilabial plosive ఫ (ph) is going through a transformation. It is normally pronounced with the lips tightly closed at the beginning of the articulation. Nowadays, it is being replaced by the bilabial fricative (in which the lips are very slightly parted and the upper teeth touch the lower lip at the beginning of the articulation, almost producing the 'f' sound.)

1. 6 Vocabulary

Read these words, first with the help of the RTS transliterations shown in brackets and then without the transliterations.

(a) The following mono-syllable words are of V (vowel) format.

ఆ (A) = that, those

ఈ (I) = this, these

ఏ? (E?) = what?, which?

(b) The following two-syllable words are of V-Cv  (vowel, consonant-vowel combination) format.

అల (a-la) = wavelet

ఆట (A-Ta) = game, sport

ఇల (i-la) = world

ఈగ (I-ga) = fly

ఊక  (U-ka) = husk

ఊడ (U-Da) = hanging root

ఓడ (O-Da) = ship

అందం (aM-daM) = beauty

(c) The following two-syllable words are of (Cv, Cv)  (consonant-vowel, consonant-vowel) format.

కల (ka-la) = dream

గడ (ga-Da) = bamboo staff  

జడ (ja-Da) = braided hair 

తల (ta-la) = head

మర (ma-ra) = screw, machine

లత (la-ta) = vine, creeper

లయ (la-ya) = rhythm
వల (va-la) = net

(d) The following three-syllable words are of (V/Cv, Cv, Cv)  format.

అటక  (a-Ta-ka) = attic 

అలక  (a-la-ka) = pouting

ఊయల (U-ya-la) = swing

కలప (ka-la-pa) = lumber

కడవ (ka-Da-va) = a large earthenware pot 
గడప (ga-Da-pa) = doorway

తడక (ta-Da-ka) = a gate made of palm leaves 

నలక  (na-la-ka) = speck

నడక (na-Da-ka) = gait

నడత  (na-Da-ta) = character

పలక  (pa-la-ka) = slate

పడక (pa-Da-ka) = bed 
బరమ (ba-ra-ma) = hand-drill 

మడత  (ma-Da-ta) = fold
భజన (bha-ja-na) = the act of praising (the Lord)

(e) The following four-syllable words (onomatopoeias) imitate the sound of activity they describe and are very popular in Telugu speech.

గలగల (ga-la-ga-la) = sound of waterflow/laughter
చకచక (ca-ka-ca-ka) = to indicate speed of action
గబగబ (ga-ba-ga-ba) = to indicate speed of movement
ధగధగ (dha-ga-dha-ga) = to indicate glitter
జరజర (ja-ra-ja-ra) = movement of snake on dry leaves
గణగణ (ga-Na-ga-Na) = to indicate sound of a bell
టకటక (Ta-ka-Ta-ka) = to indicate sound of boots
గడగడ (ga-Da-Ga-Da) = to indicate fluency

పకపక (pa-ka-pa-ka) = to indicate loud laughter

1.7 Video/Audio Help

Listed below are several YouTube videos that show how to write Telugu alphabetical characters and how to pronounce them. Almost all these sources present the full set of vowels, consonants and their combinations whereas in this blog we treated only a subset of them.  While watching these videos, practice writing the characters and saying them aloud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phA1QveQxlM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhAwTDVqDFo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_13FjxJ-B8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b86KecEygQ4

1. 8 Exercises

1. Go back to the section on vowels and read aloud all the vowels. Repeat this at least 5 times and see if you can memorize them.
2. Without looking at the text, write down the RTS equivalent symbols for all the Telugu characters you learned in this lesson.
3. Visit the Lekhini website and practice using it. In the top window of Lekhini enter your input (say, the words in the Vocabulary list) in Roman script and hit the TAB and you will find equivalent words rendered in Telugu script.
4. Identify and list letters that look very similar to each other.