Kannada

Kannada is one of the many Dravidian languages of India, and spoken primarily in the state of Karnataka. There are at least four major regional dialects:

• Mangalore/Udupi Kannada
• Mysore/Bangalore Kannada
• Kota/Kundapur Kannada
• Hubli/Dharvad Kannada

These are the names of the major cities or towns in which the dialects are spoken, which is why there are multiple names for each. There are also a number of smaller dialects, such as Havikr Kannada. Furthermore, the upper castes tend to speak the language slightly differently, making the odds of one Kannadiga understanding another perfectly slightly lower than 50-50.

Kannada is most closely related, both in script and in vocabulary, to Malayalam, another Dravidian language. The Kannada script is also used to write another, related language, Tulu, as the script for that language has been lost and is only slowly being recovered.

How to count to ten in Kannada:

1. ondhu
2. eradu
3. mooru
4. naal'ku
5. aydhu
6. aaru
7. eyLu
8. eNtu
9. ombaTHu
10. haTHu

I apologise for the shitty transliteration, but it's the best I could do.

The Kannada script is a South Indian script used to write the Kannada (or Kanarese) language of the Karnataka state, as well as minority languages such as Tulu. It is very closely related to the Telugu script both with regard to the shapes of the letters and in the way that conjunct consonants behave.

U+0CD5  ೕ  Kannada length mark is provided as an encoding for the right side of the two-part vowel U+0CC7  ೇ  Kannada vowel sign ee. Similarly, U+0CD6  ೖ  Kannada ai length mark is provided as an encoding for the right side of the two-part vowel U+0CC8  ೈ  Kannada vowel sign ai. The Kannada two-part vowels actually consist of a nonspacing element above the consonant and one or more spacing letters to the right of the consonant.

U+0CDE  ೞ  Kannada letter fa is actually an obsolete Kannada letter that is transliterated in Dravidian scholarship as an r marked with the diacritic U+0324  ̤  combining diaeresis below. This form ought to have been given the letter name LLLA rather than FA, so the Unicode name is simply a mistake. The letter in question has not been actively used in Kannada since the end of the tenth century. Collations should treat U+CDE as following U+0CB3  ಳ  Kannada letter lla.

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Unicode's Kannada code block reserves the 128 code points from U+0C80 to U+0CFF, of which 86 are currently assigned.

Telugu <-- Kannada --> Malayalam

Number of characters added in each version of the Unicode standard :
Unicode 1.1 : 80
Unicode 4.0 : 2
Unicode 5.0 : 4

Number of characters in each General Category :

Letter, Other            Lo : 53
Mark, Non-Spacing        Mn :  7
Mark, Spacing Combining  Mc : 14
Number, Decimal Digit    Nd : 10
Symbol, Other            So :  2

Number of characters in each Bidirectional Category :

Left To Right       L : 79
Non Spacing Mark  NSM :  5
Other Neutral      ON :  2

The columns below should be interpreted as :

1. The Unicode code for the character
2. The character in question
3. The Unicode name for the character
4. The Unicode General Category for the character
5. The Unicode Bidirectional Category for the character
6. The Unicode version when this character was added

If the characters below show up poorly, or not at all, see Unicode Support for possible solutions.

 

Kannada

     Based on ISCII 1988

U+0C82   ಂ   Kannada sign anusvara Mc L 1.1

U+0C83   ಃ   Kannada sign visarga Mc L 1.1

     Independent vowels

U+0C85   ಅ   Kannada letter A Lo L 1.1

U+0C86   ಆ   Kannada letter aa Lo L 1.1

U+0C87   ಇ   Kannada letter I Lo L 1.1

U+0C88   ಈ   Kannada letter ii Lo L 1.1

U+0C89   ಉ   Kannada letter U Lo L 1.1

U+0C8A   ಊ   Kannada letter uu Lo L 1.1

U+0C8B   ಋ   Kannada letter vocalic r Lo L 1.1

U+0C8C   ಌ   Kannada letter vocalic l Lo L 1.1

U+0C8E   ಎ   Kannada letter E Lo L 1.1

U+0C8F   ಏ   Kannada letter ee Lo L 1.1

U+0C90   ಐ   Kannada letter ai Lo L 1.1

U+0C92   ಒ   Kannada letter O Lo L 1.1

U+0C93   ಓ   Kannada letter oo Lo L 1.1

U+0C94   ಔ   Kannada letter au Lo L 1.1

     Consonants

U+0C95   ಕ   Kannada letter ka Lo L 1.1

U+0C96   ಖ   Kannada letter kha Lo L 1.1

U+0C97   ಗ   Kannada letter ga Lo L 1.1

U+0C98   ಘ   Kannada letter gha Lo L 1.1

U+0C99   ಙ   Kannada letter nga Lo L 1.1

U+0C9A   ಚ   Kannada letter ca Lo L 1.1

U+0C9B   ಛ   Kannada letter cha Lo L 1.1

U+0C9C   ಜ   Kannada letter ja Lo L 1.1

U+0C9D   ಝ   Kannada letter jha Lo L 1.1

U+0C9E   ಞ   Kannada letter nya Lo L 1.1

U+0C9F   ಟ   Kannada letter tta Lo L 1.1

U+0CA0   ಠ   Kannada letter ttha Lo L 1.1

U+0CA1   ಡ   Kannada letter dda Lo L 1.1

U+0CA2   ಢ   Kannada letter ddha Lo L 1.1

U+0CA3   ಣ   Kannada letter nna Lo L 1.1

U+0CA4   ತ   Kannada letter ta Lo L 1.1

U+0CA5   ಥ   Kannada letter tha Lo L 1.1

U+0CA6   ದ   Kannada letter da Lo L 1.1

U+0CA7   ಧ   Kannada letter dha Lo L 1.1

U+0CA8   ನ   Kannada letter na Lo L 1.1

U+0CAA   ಪ   Kannada letter pa Lo L 1.1

U+0CAB   ಫ   Kannada letter pha Lo L 1.1

U+0CAC   ಬ   Kannada letter ba Lo L 1.1

U+0CAD   ಭ   Kannada letter bha Lo L 1.1

U+0CAE   ಮ   Kannada letter ma Lo L 1.1

U+0CAF   ಯ   Kannada letter ya Lo L 1.1

U+0CB0   ರ   Kannada letter ra Lo L 1.1

U+0CB1   ಱ   Kannada letter rra Lo L 1.1

U+0CB2   ಲ   Kannada letter la Lo L 1.1

U+0CB3   ಳ   Kannada letter lla Lo L 1.1

U+0CB5   ವ   Kannada letter va Lo L 1.1

U+0CB6   ಶ   Kannada letter sha Lo L 1.1

U+0CB7   ಷ   Kannada letter ssa Lo L 1.1

U+0CB8   ಸ   Kannada letter sa Lo L 1.1

U+0CB9   ಹ   Kannada letter ha Lo L 1.1

     Various signs

U+0CBC   ಼   Kannada sign nukta Mn NSM 4.0

U+0CBD   ಽ   Kannada sign avagraha Lo L 4.0

     Dependent vowel signs

U+0CBE   ಾ   Kannada vowel sign aa Mc L 1.1

U+0CBF   ಿ   Kannada vowel sign i Mn L 1.1

U+0CC0   ೀ   Kannada vowel sign ii Mc L 1.1

U+0CC1   ು   Kannada vowel sign u Mc L 1.1

U+0CC2   ೂ   Kannada vowel sign uu Mc L 1.1

U+0CC3   ೃ   Kannada vowel sign vocalic r Mc L 1.1

U+0CC4   ೄ   Kannada vowel sign vocalic rr Mc L 1.1

U+0CC6   ೆ   Kannada vowel sign e Mn L 1.1

U+0CC7   ೇ   Kannada vowel sign ee Mc L 1.1

U+0CC8   ೈ   Kannada vowel sign ai Mc L 1.1

U+0CCA   ೊ   Kannada vowel sign o Mc L 1.1

U+0CCB   ೋ   Kannada vowel sign oo Mc L 1.1

U+0CCC   ೌ   Kannada vowel sign au Mn NSM 1.1

     Sign

U+0CCD   ್   Kannada sign virama Mn NSM 1.1

* preferred name is halant

     Various signs

U+0CD5   ೕ   Kannada length mark Mc L 1.1

U+0CD6   ೖ   Kannada ai length mark Mc L 1.1

     Additional consonants

U+0CDE   ೞ   Kannada letter fa Lo L 1.1

* obsolete historic letter

* name is a mistake for LLLA

     Additional vowels for Sanskrit

U+0CE0   ೠ   Kannada letter vocalic rr Lo L 1.1

U+0CE1   ೡ   Kannada letter vocalic ll Lo L 1.1

     Dependent vowels

U+0CE2   ೢ   Kannada vowel sign vocalic l Mn NSM 5.0

U+0CE3   ೣ   Kannada vowel sign vocalic ll Mn NSM 5.0

     Digits

U+0CE6   ೦   Kannada digit zero Nd L 1.1

U+0CE7   ೧   Kannada digit one Nd L 1.1

U+0CE8   ೨   Kannada digit two Nd L 1.1

U+0CE9   ೩   Kannada digit three Nd L 1.1

U+0CEA   ೪   Kannada digit four Nd L 1.1

U+0CEB   ೫   Kannada digit five Nd L 1.1

U+0CEC   ೬   Kannada digit six Nd L 1.1

U+0CED   ೭   Kannada digit seven Nd L 1.1

U+0CEE   ೮   Kannada digit eight Nd L 1.1

U+0CEF   ೯   Kannada digit nine Nd L 1.1

     Vedic signs
The Vedic signs for jihvamuliya and upadhmaniya were encoded in the Kannada block, but are intended for general Vedic use with all scripts.

U+0CF1   ೱ   Kannada sign jihvamuliya So ON 5.0

* marks a velar fricative occurring only before unvoiced velar stops

U+0CF2   ೲ   Kannada sign upadhmaniya So ON 5.0

* marks a bilabial fricative occurring only before unvoiced labial stops

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