Muting, Joining, and the Digits

The Pollu — ్

28.A consonant carries the vowel అ (a) (¶8), and a vowel sign may replace it (¶22). To give a consonant no vowel at all, the పొల్లు (pollu) is written under it — the device other Indian scripts call the virāma or halant.

క

ka

ka — with its inherent vowel

క్

k

k — with the pollu, no vowel

త్

t

t

• [1] The pollu is the only way to write a bare consonant letter.
• [2] In running text the pollu is written chiefly at the end of a word or in a foreign name. Within a word, two consonants coming together are joined instead, as the next rule shows.

Joining Two Consonants — ఒత్తు

29.Where two consonants meet inside a word with no vowel between them, Telugu does not write a pollu on the first. Instead the second consonant is written in a reduced form beneath the first. That subjoined form is called an ఒత్తు (ottu), and the two together make a conjunct — one written unit standing for two consonants and one vowel.

పుస్తకం

pustakaṁ

book — pustakaṃ — స with త subjoined

అమ్మ

amma

mother — amma — మ with మ subjoined

The Ottu Loses its Headstroke

30.A consonant written as an ottu is reduced: it is smaller, it sits below the line of the letter above it, and it loses its తలకట్టు (talakaṭṭu) (¶6). This is what makes conjuncts hard to read at first — the subjoined letter no longer looks like the letter on the chart. Learning to recognise the thirty-six ottu shapes is a second labour after learning the thirty-six letters, and there is no way round it.

త against ్త

ta against ta

the full letter against its subjoined form

మ against ్మ

ma against ma

likewise

క్క

kka

kka — the same letter twice, once full and once reduced

Doubled Consonants

31.Telugu is full of doubled consonants, and the doubling is heard as well as written: the consonant is held longer, as the t is held in English "hot topic" but not in "hotel". A doubled consonant is written as a conjunct of a letter with itself. Doubling distinguishes words and is not an ornament of spelling.

అమ్మ

amma

mother — amma — the m is held

ఇల్లు

illu

house — illu

నీళ్ళు

nīḷḷu

water — nīḷḷu — a doubled retroflex ళ

పిల్ల

pilla

child, girl — pilla

The Digits

32.Telugu has its own ten digits, ౦ (0) ౧ (1) ౨ (2) ౩ (3) ౪ (4) ౫ (5) ౬ (6) ౭ (7) ౮ (8) ౯ (9). They are decimal and positional, as the European digits are — the European digits being themselves Indian by descent. Modern Telugu writes numbers with the European figures almost everywhere; the Telugu ones survive in older printing and in ornament, and a reader should know them without needing to use them.

౧౨౩

123

123

౨౦౨౬

2026

2026

౦

0

zero — sunna — the Telugu word for zero, and for the anusvāra's little circle too

Reading a Whole Word

33.Everything needed to read Telugu is now in hand. Take each written unit in turn; find its main consonant; look above, below and to the right for a vowel sign; look below for an ottu, which adds a consonant before the vowel; and sound the result. A word has as many syllables as it has such units — a conjunct being one unit, not two.

పుస్తకం

pustakaṁ

book — pu-sta-kaṃ — three units, three syllables, though four consonants

ఇల్లు

illu

house — i-llu — two units

తెలుగు

telugu

Telugu — te-lu-gu — three units, each with its own sign