Telugu language

Telugu
తెలుగు
The word "Telugu" in Telugu script
Pronunciation[ˈteluɡu]
Native toIndia
Region
EthnicityTelugu
SpeakersL1: 83 million (2011 census)[1][2]
L2: 13 million (2011 census)[1]
Early forms
Old Telugu
  • Middle Telugu
Dialects
Signed Telugu
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority
language in
South Africa (protected language)[5]
Language codes
ISO 639-1te
ISO 639-2tel
ISO 639-3tel – inclusive code
Individual code:
wbq – Waddar (Vadari)
tel
Glottologtelu1262  Telugu
oldt1249  Old Telugu
Linguasphere49-DBA-aa
Dark blue - Telugu is spoken by a majority.
Light blue - Telugu is spoken by a significant minority.
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Telugu (/ˈtɛlʊɡuː/;[6] తెలుగు, Telugu pronunciation: [ˈt̪eluɡu]) is a classical Dravidian language native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. Spoken by about 96 million people (2022),[7] Telugu is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language family, and one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India.[8] It is one of the few languages that has primary official status in more than one Indian state, alongside Hindi and Bengali.[9] Telugu is one of the languages designated as a classical language by the Government of India. It is the 14th most spoken native language in the world.[10] Modern Standard Telugu is based on the dialect of erstwhile Krishna, Guntur, East Godavari and West Godavari districts of Coastal Andhra.[14]

Telugu is also spoken in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and the union territories of Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also spoken by members of the Telugu diaspora spread across countries like United States, Australia, Malaysia, Mauritius, UAE, Saudi Arabia and others.[15][16] Telugu is the fastest-growing language in the United States.[17] It is also a protected language in South Africa and is offered as an optional third language in schools in KwaZulu-Natal province.[18]

According to Mikhail S. Andronov, Telugu split from the Proto-Dravidian language around 1000 BCE.[19][20] The earliest Telugu words appear in Prakrit inscriptions dating to c. 4th century BCE, found in Bhattiprolu, Andhra Pradesh.[21][22] Telugu label inscriptions and Prakrit inscriptions containing Telugu words have been dated to the era of Emperor Ashoka (257 BCE), as well as to the Satavahana and Vishnukundina periods.[23][24] Inscriptions in Old Telugu script were found as far away as Indonesia and Myanmar.[25] Telugu has been in use as an official language for over 1,400 years[26] and has served as the court language for numerous dynasties in Southern and Eastern India, including the Eastern Chalukyas, Eastern Gangas, Kakatiyas, Vijayanagara Empire, Qutb Shahis, Madurai Nayaks, and Thanjavur Nayaks.[31] It was also used as an official language outside its homeland, even by non-Telugu dynasties such as the Thanjavur Marathas in Tamil Nadu.[32]

Telugu has an unbroken, prolific, and diverse literary tradition of over a thousand years.[33][34] Pavuluri Mallana's Sāra Sangraha Ganitamu (c. 11th century) is the first scientific treatise on mathematics in any Dravidian language.[35][36] Avadhānaṃ, a literary performance that requires immense memory power and an in-depth knowledge of literature and prosody, originated and was specially cultivated among Telugu poets for over five centuries.[37][38] Roughly 10,000 pre-colonial inscriptions exist in Telugu.[39]

In the precolonial era, Telugu became the language of high culture throughout South India.[43] Vijaya Ramaswamy compared it to the overwhelming dominance of French as the cultural language of Europe during roughly the same era.[42] Telugu also predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music, one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music and is widely taught in music colleges focusing on Carnatic tradition.[46] Over the centuries, many non-Telugu speakers have praised the natural musicality of Telugu speech, referring to it as a mellifluous and euphonious language.[47][48]

PersonTelugu
PeopleTeluguvāru
LanguageTelugu
CountryTelugu Nāḍu, India
  1. ^ a b Telugu language at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2011". censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  3. ^ Zvelebil (1990), p. 57.
  4. ^ "West Bengal shows 'Mamata' to Telugus". The Hans India. 24 December 2020. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 – Chapter 1: Founding Provisions". gov.za. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  6. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
  7. ^ Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. (26th ed., 2023)
  8. ^ "Dravidian languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  9. ^ "Making Telugu compulsory: Mother tongues, the last stronghold against Hindi imposition". The News Minute. 12 December 2017. Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022. Again, Telugu is one of the two non-Hindi languages (the other being Bengali) that is the primary state official language of more than one state.
  10. ^ Statistics, in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2023). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (26th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  11. ^ Dalby, Andrew (28 October 2015). Dictionary of Languages: The definitive reference to more than 400 languages. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 301. ISBN 978-1-4081-0214-5.
  12. ^ Frawley, William (May 2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: 4-Volume Set. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-19-513977-8.
  13. ^ Garry, Jane; Rubino, Carl R. Galvez (2001). Facts about the World's Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World's Major Languages, Past and Present. H.W. Wilson. p. 728. ISBN 978-0-8242-0970-4.
  14. ^ [11][12][13]
  15. ^ Oonk, Gijsbert (2007). Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory. Amsterdam University Press. pp. 92–116. ISBN 978-90-5356-035-8. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  16. ^ Rajan, S. Irudaya; Saxena, Prem (10 October 2019). India's Low-Skilled Migration to the Middle East: Policies, Politics and Challenges. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-981-13-9224-5. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Do you speak Telugu? Welcome to America". BBC News. 20 October 2018. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  18. ^ "Telugu to be an official subject in South African schools". The Hans India. 21 March 2014. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  19. ^ Andronov, Mikhail Sergeevich (2003). A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages. Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 22, 23. ISBN 978-3-447-04455-4.
  20. ^ "Indian Encyclopaedia – Volume 1", p. 2067, by Subodh Kapoor, Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd, 2002
  21. ^ Agrawal, D. P.; Chakrabarti, Dilip K. (1979), Essays in Indian protohistory, The Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies/B.R. Pub. Corp., p. 326, ISBN 978-0-391-01866-2, archived from the original on 13 October 2022, retrieved 15 November 2015
  22. ^ The Hindu News: Telugu is 2,400 years old, says ASI Archived 3 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine "The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has joined the Andhra Pradesh Official Languages Commission to say that early forms of the Telugu language and its script indeed existed 2,400 years ago"
  23. ^ "How Telugu won legal battle for 'classical' tag". The Times of India. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  24. ^ Sinopoli 2001, p. 163.
  25. ^ Miśra, Bhāskaranātha; Rao, Manjushri; Pande, Susmita, eds. (1996). India's Cultural Relations with South-east Asia. Sharada Publishing House. pp. 70, 71. ISBN 978-81-85616-39-1.
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC_Feb2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Pollock, Sheldon (19 May 2003). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. University of California Press. pp. 378, 385. ISBN 978-0-520-22821-4.
  28. ^ Kersenboom, Saskia (1987). Nityasumangali: Devadasi Tradition in South India. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 32, 39. ISBN 978-81-208-0330-5.
  29. ^ Eaton, Richard M. (17 November 2005). A Social History of the Deccan, 1300-1761: Eight Indian Lives. Cambridge University Press. pp. 142, 143. ISBN 978-0-521-25484-7.
  30. ^ Sharma, R. S. (1957). A Comprehensive History Of India Vol. 4 Part 1. p. 263.
  31. ^ [27][28][29][30]
  32. ^ "The Dance Traditions of Thanjavur". Oberlin College Libraries. Retrieved 16 March 2023. As Marathi-speaking people running a kingdom administered in the Telugu language, and ruling over a Tamil-speaking population, the Maratha kings developed a uniquely hybrid and innovative courtly culture.
  33. ^ Greene, Roland; Cushman, Stephen (22 November 2016). The Princeton Handbook of World Poetries. Princeton University Press. p. 541. ISBN 978-1-4008-8063-8.
  34. ^ Harder, Hans (3 August 2017). Literature and Nationalist Ideology: Writing Histories of Modern Indian Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-38435-3.
  35. ^ Radhakrishna Murthy, Kothapalli (1987). The Economic Conditions of Mediaeval Āndhradēsa: A.D. 1000-A.D. 1500. Sri Venkateswara Publications. p. 10.
  36. ^ Yadav, B. S.; Mohan, Man (20 January 2011). Ancient Indian Leaps into Mathematics. Springer Science+Business Media. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-8176-4695-0.
  37. ^ Datta, Amaresh (1987). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. Vol. 1. Sahitya Akademi. pp. 292, 293. ISBN 978-81-260-1803-1.
  38. ^ Mukherjee, Sujit (1998). A Dictionary of Indian Literature. Orient Blackswan. p. 31. ISBN 978-81-250-1453-9.
  39. ^ Morrison, Kathleen D.; Lycett, Mark T. (1997). "Inscriptions as Artifacts: Precolonial South India and the Analysis of Texts" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 4 (3/4). Springer: 218. doi:10.1007/BF02428062. S2CID 143958738. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2017.
  40. ^ Winterbottom, Anna (29 April 2016). Hybrid Knowledge in the Early East India Company World. Springer. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-137-38020-3. Telugu had become the language of high culture in southern India during the medieval period, and by the seventeenth century its status rivalled that of Sanskrit.
  41. ^ Miller, Barbara Stoler (1992). The Powers of Art: Patronage in Indian Culture. Oxford University Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-19-562842-5. In Tyagaraja's time, Telugu was the language of high culture even in Tanjore, the heartland of the Tamil linguistic area.
  42. ^ a b c Ramaswamy, Vijaya (25 August 2017). Historical Dictionary of the Tamils. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-5381-0686-0. In precolonial or early-modern South India, Telugu became the cultural language of the south, including the Tamil country, somewhat similar to the overwhelming dominance of French as the cultural language of modern Europe during roughly the same era. Therefore, Telugu predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music, and it is the practice to teach Telugu language in music colleges to those aspiring to become singers.
  43. ^ [40][41][42]
  44. ^ Randel, Don Michael (28 November 2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music: Fourth Edition. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-41799-1.
  45. ^ Shulman, David (1 August 2009). Spring, Heat, Rains: A South Indian Diary. University of Chicago Press. pp. xiii, xiv. ISBN 978-0-226-75578-6.
  46. ^ [42][44][45]
  47. ^ Fox-Strangways, Arthur Henry (1914). The Music of Hindostan. Mittal Publications. p. 84.
  48. ^ Pletcher, Kenneth, ed. (1 April 2010). The Geography of India: Sacred and Historic Places. Britannica Educational Publishing. p. 296. ISBN 978-1-61530-202-4.