Kannada
Kannada (/ˈkɑːnədə, ˈkæn-/; ಕನ್ನಡ, IPA: [ˈkɐnːɐɖa]), previously also known as Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a second or third language for around 15 million non-native speakers in Karnataka.
| Kannada | |
|---|---|
| ಕನ್ನಡ | |
The word "Kannada" in Kannada script | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈkɐnːɐɖa] |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Karnataka |
| Ethnicity | Kannadigas |
Native speakers | L1: 44 million (2011) L2: 15 million (2011) |
Dravidian
| |
Early form | Old Kannada
|
Writing system | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | |
| Regulated by | Government of Karnataka |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | kn |
| ISO 639-2 | kan |
| ISO 639-3 | kan |
| Glottolog | nucl1305 |
| Linguasphere | 49-EBA-a |
Distribution of Kannada native speakers, majority regions in dark blue and minority regions in light blue. | |
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Karnataka |
|---|
| Person | Kannaḍiga |
|---|---|
| People | Kannaḍigaru |
| Language | Kannaḍa |
Kannada was the court language of a number of dynasties and empires of South, Central India and Deccan Plateau, namely the Kadamba dynasty, Western Ganga dynasty, Chalukya dynasty, Rashtrakuta Empire, Western Chalukya Empire Yadava Dynasty or Seunas, Kingdom of Mysore, Nayakas of Keladi, Hoysala dynasty and the Vijayanagara Empire. The official and administrative language of the state of Karnataka, it also has scheduled status in India and has been included among the country's designated classical languages.
The Kannada language is written using the Kannada script, which evolved from the 5th-century Kadamba script. Kannada is attested epigraphically for about one and a half millennia and literary Old Kannada flourished in the 6th-century Ganga dynasty and during the 9th-century Rashtrakuta Empire. Kannada has an unbroken literary history of over a thousand years. Kannada literature has been presented with 8 Jnanapith awards, the most for any Dravidian language and the second highest for any Indian language. In July 2011, a center for the study of classical Kannada was established as part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysore to facilitate research related to the language.