The Vowels — అచ్చులు

The Sixteen Vowels

1.The Telugu alphabet — the వర్ణమాల (varṇamāla) — opens with sixteen vowels, called అచ్చులు (acculu) (acchulu). They are followed by thirty-six consonants, making fifty-two letters in all. The vowels are learned first because every consonant is defined by reference to them: a Telugu consonant is not a bare sound but a sound with a vowel already inside it.

అ ఆ ఇ ఈ

a ā i ī

a ā i ī — the first four, in dictionary order

అచ్చులు

acculu

vowels — acchulu

వర్ణమాల

varṇamāla

the alphabet — varṇamāla, 'garland of letters'

• [1] Sources differ on whether ఌ (l̥) and ౡ (l̥̄) or అం (aṁ) and అః (aḥ) complete the sixteen. Both counts are defensible and both give sixteen; this course teaches the traditional list and notes the substitution.

Short and Long

2.The vowels come in pairs: a short vowel and its long counterpart, the long one written with a fuller or doubled shape. Length is not a nicety of accent but distinguishes words, exactly as it does in Latin or Lithuanian. Of the sixteen, ten form five such pairs, and the remaining six stand outside the system.

అ → ఆ

a → ā

a → ā — the long form adds a stroke to the right

ఇ → ఈ

i → ī

i → ī

ఎ → ఏ

e → ē

e → ē

The Dravidian Vowels ఎ and ఒ

3.Sanskrit has no short e or o; Telugu, being a Dravidian language, has both, and needs a letter for each. ఎ / ఏ (e / ē) and ఒ / ఓ (o / ō) are therefore genuine pairs in Telugu where in a Sanskrit alphabet they would be single letters. An Indian script that distinguishes them is a southern one; this is one of the marks by which Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam are set apart from Hindi and Sanskrit.

ఎ vs ఏ

e vs ē

short e vs long ē — distinct letters, not one letter written twice

ఒ vs ఓ

o vs ō

short o vs long ō

The Diphthongs ఐ and ఔ

4.ఐ (ai) and ఔ (au) are diphthongs — two vowel qualities glided together in one syllable. They are counted among the vowels and have no short partner, standing outside the pairs of ¶2. In the traditional order they follow ఏ (ē) and ఓ (ō) respectively, each closing its own group.

ఐ

ai

ai — the i of 'aisle'

ఔ

au

au — the ow of 'how'

ఎ ఏ ఐ / ఒ ఓ ఔ

e ē ai / o ō au

the two groups of three, in order — short, long, diphthong

The Vocalic Letters ఋ ౠ ఌ ౡ

5.Four letters — ఋ, ౠ, ఌ, ౡ (r̥, r̥̄, l̥, l̥̄) — stand for sounds that are consonants doing a vowel's work, and they belong to the alphabet by inheritance from Sanskrit. ఋ (r̥) is common in loanwords and names, and Telugu sounds it ru.

ఋషి

r̥ṣi

a sage — r̥ṣi, sounded 'rushi'

ఋ

r̥

r̥ — sounded 'ru' in Telugu, not as in Sanskrit

• [1] ౠ, ఌ (r̥̄, l̥) and ౡ (l̥̄) are rare outside Sanskrit grammar; they remain letters of the alphabet.

The Headstroke — తలకట్టు

6.Most Telugu letters are topped by a small curved stroke, the తలకట్టు (talakaṭṭu) (talakaṭṭu, 'head-tie'). It carries no meaning of its own and is not a diacritic: it is part of the letter, as the crossbar is part of a written t. Its importance is that it is lost when a consonant is subjoined beneath another, which is what makes the subjoined forms hard to recognise at first.

అ ఆ ఇ

a ā i

each carries a talakaṭṭu

క

ka

ka — the headstroke is the curve at the top left

When the Independent Vowels Are Used

7.The sixteen letters of this section are the independent vowels, and they are written in exactly one situation: where a vowel is not preceded by a consonant — that is, at the start of a word, or standing alone. Everywhere else a vowel is written as a sign attached to the consonant before it. A learner who writes అ (a) inside a word has made the commonest beginner's error in any Indian script.

అమ్మ

amma

mother — amma — the word begins with a vowel, so అ is written in full

ఇల్లు

illu

house — illu — likewise

కా

kā

kā — not క + ఆ; the ā is written as a sign on the క