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Difference Between Kannada and Telugu

June 19, 2011 Posted by kishor

Kannada vs Telugu

Languages in south of India are collectively known as Dravidian languages. Kannada and Telugu are two of the most prominent languages of this group. As far as number of speakers is concerned, Kannada is leaps ahead of Telugu. However, Telugu is no less prominent in south of India. Both the languages arose around the same time and they are believed to have originated from the common Telugu-Kannada script. There are many similarities in these two southern languages because they are spoken in territories that are adjacent, and also because of many similarities in the two cultures, namely Telugu and Kannada. However, there are also differences that will be highlighted in this article.

The state of Andhra Pradesh, as we know today was a homeland of a nomadic tribe called Andhra that finally settled in the area that comprise the modern state. Telugu is the native language of the people of Andhra Pradesh which is one of the Dravidian languages. The most ancient verb words in Telugu such as kottu, nadu, vellu, tittu, ra, etc have resemblance with similar words in ancient Tamil and Kannada languages. The concepts of karta, karma (object of a verb) and the verb itself are in a sequence in Telugu language which is a characteristic of other Dravidian languages. This is however not the case with Sanskrit which is said to be the source of most of the North Indian languages. Prakrut, the royal language of the Satvahana dynasty, is said to be close to Telugu as Telugu contains some of its words. The script of Telugu is Telugu itself that has been derived from ancient Brahmi script. This is the script that is believed to have given rise to the old Telugu-Kannada script from which both Telugu and Kannada separated around 13th century.

Kannada is the language spoken by the people of Karnataka. The alphabets of Kannada script are developed from Chalukya and Kadamba scripts which are believed to have originated from the old Brahmi script. Kannada script bears resemblance to the Telugu script, and the two of them have a common ancestry in the old Telugu-Kannada script. Kannada language is closer to Tamil and Malayalam than Telugu language and script.

In brief:

Difference Between Kannada and Telugu

• Both Telugu and Kannada languages have evolved from the Old Kannada script, also known as Telugu-Kannada script

• Telugu and Kannada evolved their own ways during the 13th century

Related posts:

Difference Between Tamil and Malayalam Difference Between Tamil and Telugu Difference Between India and England Difference Between Indian Languages Sanskrit and Hindi Difference Between Indian states Maharashtra and Gujarat

Filed Under: States Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Brahmi script, Chalukya scripts, Dravidian languages, Indian languages, Kadamba scripts, Kannada, Kannada script, Prakrut, Satvahana dynasty, South Indian Languages, Telugu, Telugu script

About the Author: kishor

Comments

  1. satyatej kommineni says

    August 18, 2012 at 8:03 pm

    WTF!!!! Telugu is 3rd largest dpoken language in India..its 74 million… kannada is just 38 million…

    Reply
    • bhorjan says

      December 5, 2012 at 10:56 am

      kannada is way too advanced compared to telugu.

      Reply
    • Madhu P Jadhav says

      January 28, 2017 at 12:37 pm

      I agree the author is wrong in saying that! But there is no point in measuring the greatness of a language through the number of speakers! Also the wealth & prosperity of people cannot be measured with number of speakers. Of course Telugu film stars make much much more money than their Kannada counterparts which is a direct influence of “number of speakers”, but that doesn’t apply to common man in both regions. Perhaps there were more number of tribal groups of the root language who settled in the occupied regions and hence they gave rise to more generations. That is why today we have more speakers in some languages compared to others.

      Reply
  2. Vinay Shetty says

    April 9, 2013 at 6:08 pm

    Telugu has twice the number of speakers compared to kannada, not to mention a huge and active diaspora. It is the most widely spoken language in India after Hindi. Kannada has much less speakers and if kannada people dont keep on eye on their low numbers, the language will become extinct.

    Reply
    • Sakshar Das says

      June 12, 2019 at 5:28 pm

      The second most spoken language is bengali…..

      Reply
  3. T. Gowda says

    May 29, 2013 at 11:06 am

    Telugu is the 3rd largest spoken language in india, next to hindi and bengali and 15th most spoken language in the world. Kannada is 27th most spoken language in the world. Kannada and Telugu people are similar in culture and looks and also inter marry. Telugu people love kannadigas, but kannadigas love telugu movie stars. Kannadigas and teluguites have to be very careful and work very much more keep these languages alive as we under threat from both Hindi and English.

    Reply
    • Ganesh Raj says

      May 8, 2020 at 1:42 am

      How Telugu and Kannada people are similar in looks. What distinct features make a person Kannada or Telugu. Would you please elaborate on that sir

      Reply
  4. sunil kumar rajanna acchalu says

    May 16, 2019 at 6:01 pm

    kannada is a very old language asper Asoka’s history, kannada has more dynasties, asper history kannada is a mother language of telugu,

    Reply
  5. Bhavan Desai says

    July 18, 2019 at 8:39 am

    I am happy to see how indian brothers are inflicting linguistic rivalry and partition amongst just because of mere Language…. No wonder how come rulers from other countries ruled india for Centuries.
    This is India.

    Reply
  6. Madhi K says

    November 1, 2019 at 2:38 pm

    Kannada and Telugu are essentially same language the Andhra language or Satavahana language or Prakrit as spoken in Satavahana realm. While the high landers mainly on the west, (Karunadu/Karunadu) continued the original flavour as Kannada, the Lowlanders/Plains people/people nearer to water areas or Telunadu /Tulunadu evolved their languages. Esp the eastern Telu/Tenu/Telugu areas have cultured the language so that it sounds smooth. And the two languages of Kannada and Telugu got established.

    Reply
  7. SANA says

    December 1, 2021 at 1:00 pm

    THANKS FOR THE INFO

    Reply

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