Telugu grammar

Telugu grammar is called Vyākaranam (Telugu: వ్యాకరణం).

The first treatise on Telugu grammar, the "Andhra Shabda Chintamani" was written in Sanskrit by Nannayya, who was considered as the first poet and translator of Telugu in the 11th century A.D. There was no grammatical work in Telugu prior to Nannayya's "Andhra shabda chintamani".

After Nannayya, Atharvana and Ahobala composed sutras, vartikas and bhashyam.

In the 19th century, Chinnaya Suri wrote a simplified work on Telugu grammar called Bāla Vyākaranam, borrowing concepts and ideas from Nannayya's Andhra Shabda Chintamani, and wrote his literary work in Telugu.[1]

According to Nannayya, language without 'Niyama' or the language which doesn't adhere to Vyākaranam is called Grāmya or Apabhraṃśa and hence it is unfit for literary usage. All the literary texts in Telugu follows Vyākaranam.[1]

Subject–object–verb

The primary word order of Telugu is SOV (subject–object–verb)

Sentence రాముడు బడికి వెళ్తాడు.
Words రాముడు బడికి వెళ్తాడు.
Transliteration Rāmuḍu baḍiki veḷtāḍu
Gloss Ram to school goes.
Parts Subject Object Verb
Translation Ram goes to school.

This sentence can also be interpreted as 'Ram will go to school' depending on the context. But it does not affect the SOV order. [1]

Inflection

Telugu is more inflected than the other literary Dravidian languages. Telugu nouns are inflected for number (singular, plural), gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and case (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, vocative, instrumental, and locative).[2]

Gender

Telugu has three genders:

In Telugu the suffix - (–Du ) is almost always indicative of masculine gender. For example:

However, there are more masculine nouns that do not end in (-Du). For example:

Some masculine nouns ending in (Du) can be converted to feminine nouns by deleting the (–Du) suffix and adding a suffix (-I).

Masculine Feminine
na-rta-ku-Du (dancer) na-rta-ki (dancer)
vA-cha-ku-Du (narrator) vA-cha-ki (narrator)
pre-mi-ku-Du (lover) pre-ya-si (lover)

Some Masculine names ending in (Du) can be converted to Feminine names by deleting the (Du) and adding the suffix, (rAlu).

Masculine Feminine
na-rta-ku-Du (dancer) na-rta-ku-rA-lu (dancer)
pri-yu-Du (lover) pri-yu-rA-lu (lover)
bha-ktu-Du (male devote) bha-ktu-rA-lu (female devotee)

In Telugu the suffix - (–Mu ) or (-Am) or (-u) is almost always indicative of the neuter gender. For example:

However, Telugu sometimes uses the same forms for singular feminine and neuter genders – the third person pronoun (అది /ad̪ɪ/) is used to refer to animals and objects.[3]

Pronouns

Telugu pronouns include

[4]

Vibhakti or postpositions/prepositions

Telugu language uses postpositions for word in different cases. With the use of postpositions, there are eight possible cases (vibhakti విభక్తి).

Telugu English Significance Usual Suffixes Transliteration of Suffixes
(I) Prathamā Vibhakti (ప్రథమా విభక్తి) Nominative Subject of sentence డు, ము, వు, లు ḍu, mu, vu, lu
(II) Dvitīyā Vibhakti (ద్వితీయా విభక్తి) Accusative Object of action నిన్, నున్, లన్, కూర్చి, గురించి nin, nun, lan, kūrci, guriṃci
(III) Trutīyā Vibhakti (తృతీయా విభక్తి) Instrumental, Social Means by which action is done (Instrumental), Association, or means by which action is done (Social) చేతన్, చేన్, తోడన్, తోన్ cētan, cēn, tōḍan, tōn
(IV) Chaturthi Vibhakti (చతుర్థి విభక్తి) Dative Object to whom action is performed, Object for whom action is performed కొఱకున్, కై korakun, kai
(V) Panchamī Vibhakti (పంచమీ విభక్తి) Ablative of motion from Motion from an animate/inanimate object వలనన్, కంటెన్, పట్టి valanan, kaṃṭen, paṭṭi
(VI) Shashthī Vibhakti (షష్ఠీ విభక్తి) Genitive Possessive కిన్, కున్, యొక్క, లోన్, లోపలన్ kin, kun, yokka, lōn, lōpalan
(VII) Saptamī Vibhakti (సప్తమీ విభక్తి) Locative Place in which, On the person of (animate) in the presence of అందున్, నన్ aṃdun, nan
(VIII) Sambodhanā Prathamā Vibhakti (సంబోధనా ప్రథమా విభక్తి) Vocative Addressing, calling ఓ, ఓయీ, ఓరీ, ఓసీ ō, ōī, ōrī, ōsī

Punctuation

Telugu uses single and double vertical bars to indicate a comma and a full stop. However modern Telugu uses punctuation marks which are borrowed from English.[5]

Sandhi or joining

Sandhi is the fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of sounds due to neighboring sounds or due to the grammatical function of adjacent words.

Telugu uses morphological processes to join words together, forming complex words. These processes are traditionally referred to as sandhi. Example, Shankara + Abharanam gives the word shankarabhranamu.

There are many types of sandhi in Telugu. Some of them are mentioned below:

Samasam or nominal compounds

Samasam or samasa occurs with various structures, but morphologically speaking they are essentially the same: each noun (or adjective) is in its (weak) stem form, with only the final element receiving case inflection.

Some of the Telugu samasams are:

Alankaram or ornamentation

Telugu Alankaram is a figure of speech which means ornaments or embellishments which are used to enhance the beauty of the poems. There are two types of Alankarams, 'Shabdalankaram' which primarily focuses on Sound and 'Arthalamkaram' which focuses on meaning. These two alankarams are further broken down in to different categories.[6] shabdalankaras are 6 types where as there are nearly 30 to 40 types in ardhalankaras.

Chandassu or Telugu prosody

Main article: Chandas (Telugu)

Metrical poetry in Telugu is called 'Chandassu' or 'Chandas'. ya-maa-taa-raa-ja-bhaa-na-sa-la-gam is called the chandassu chakram. Utpalamala, Champakamala, Mattebha vikreeditham, Sardoola Vikreeditham, Kanda, Aata veladi, Theta geethi, Sragdhara, Bhujangaprayata, etc. are some metrics used in Telugu poetry.

Vachanam or grammatical numbers

Any thing in singular form is singular (Ekavacanam): Any things more than one in number are called plural: (bahuvacanam) In Telugu, Singular is Called Eka-Vachanam (Ex: Nuvvu - you) and Plural is called Bahu-Vachanam (Ex: Manam - we).

In Telugu plural is also used address elders with respect. In Telugu language some are always plural and some are always singular for e.g. water, {nILlu} is always plural.

God (Bhagavantudu), sun (suryudu), earth (bhoomi), moon (chandrudu) these are always singular form. However, Devullu is a plural form of gods.

Water - Neeru (singular) and NeeLLu (plural)

Prakruti and Vikruti

Telugu has many Tatsama words. They are called Prakruti, which are equivalent to Sanskrit words. The equivalent colloquial words are called Vikruti, which means distorted. However, Prakruti is only used as a medium of instruction in educational institutions, offices etc.
For example:

Prakruti Vikruti
అగ్ని Agni (fire) అగ్గి Aggi
భొజనం Bhojanam (food) బోనం Bonam
విద్య Vidya (education) విద్దె Vidde, విద్దియ Viddiya
రాక్షసి Raakshasi (evil) రక్కసి Rakkasi
శూన్య Shoonya (zero) సున్న Sunna
దృష్టి Drishti (sight) దిష్టి Dishti
కనిష్టం Kanishtam (minimum) కనీసం Kaneesam
అగరవర్తి Agaravarti (inscent, agara+varthi, scent wounded) అగరవత్తి Agaravatti
విభూథి Vibhoothi (ash) విభూధి Vibhudhi
చనక Chanaka (chick pea, Chanakya is derived from the same root) శనగ śanaga
కవచ Kavacha (protective shell) గవచ Gavacha, గవ్వ Gavva
భిక్షం Bhiksham (alms) బిచ్చం Bichcham
ద్వితీయ Dvitiya (second) విదియ Vidiya
తృతీయ Trutiya (third) తదియ Tadhiya
జాగ్రత Jaagrata (alert) జాగ్రత్త Jaagratta
వామతి Vamati (vomit) వాంతి Vanti
స్వంత Swanta (own) సొంత Sonta
అటవి Atavi (forest) అడవి Adavi
త్వర Twara (fast) తొరగా Toraga

kumbam

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gopavaram, Padmapriya; Subrahmanyam, Korada (2011). "1". A Comparative Study Of Andhrasabdachintamani And Balavyakaranam. Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.
  2. ↑ Charles Philip Brown (1857). A grammar of the Telugu language (2 ed.). Christian Knowledge Society's Press.
  3. ↑ Charles Philip Brown (1857). A grammar of the Telugu language (2 ed.). Christian Knowledge Society's Press. p. 39.
  4. ↑ A progressive Grammar of Telugu Language with copious examples and exercises. Christian Knowledge Society's Press. 1905.
  5. ↑ A Short Outline of Telugu Phonetics.
  6. ↑ Gopavaram, Padmapriya; Subrahmanyam, Korada (2011). A Comparative Study Of Andhrasabdachintamani And Balavyakaranam. Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad.
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