SIMPLIFIED TELUGU GRAMMAR.

I. INTRODUCTION.

1. Telugu is one of the four great Dravidian languages spoken in South India. It is not a mere dialect of the same language as the Tamilians and the other inhabitants of the south formerly spoke; but a distinct and separate language, though of the same family. That the people dwelling in the Telugu country were a civilized, though a simple and pastoral, race, is proved by the fact that every requirement of men gathered together in a well organized society can be expressed in pure Telugu without the assistance of the more stately language of the Áryan invader.. The stock-words, or those used in the intercourse of everyday life, are of old Dravidian origin; but the language has been strengthened and enriched by additions from Sanskrit, as English has been by Latin and Greek. The original words are short and simple. They are seldom more than two syllables in length; and, as the genius of the language demands, every word properly ends in a vowel. The best Telugu consists of such words skilfully mingled with a few Sanskrit derivatives, just as the best and most nervous English is that in which plain Saxon words are used with the least admixture of Latin.

2. Telugu is singularly melodious. It is the sweetest and most musical of all the Dravidian tongues, and it sounds harmonious even on the lips of the most illiterate.

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It has justly been called the Italian of the East; and though Tamil may, perhaps, be a richer language, and more wealthy in classical literature, Telugu confessedly bears the palm for its exquisite melody and grace.

3. Telugu is spoken in the northern part of the Presidency of Madras. As the people speaking it are scattered over a wide territory, which is partly within the British dominions and partly without, it is difficult to ascertain its exact area, but it is estimated at about one hundred thousand square miles. It includes the districts of Vizagapatam, the Godavari, the Kistna, Nellore, Cuddapah, Kurnool, and parts of Ganjam, Bellary, Anantapore, and North Arcot, together with the eastern portions of the dominions of the Nizam and the Maharajah of Mysore. The number of the Telugu-speaking people is estimated at 11,610,000 according to the census of 1881; but it must be borne in mind that there are very many whose native language is Telugu now living in the Tamil and Canarese

countries.

4. The Telugu character is written, as in all the Dravidian languages that have been reduced to writing, from left to right. It is rounded and full of circles. In the common written character the syllables and words are usually linked together, and it should be remembered that, unlike English, the letters should be made to slope a little towards the left. It is generally the custom now to print the words separately, but this is distinctly adopted from the European custom.

5. In reading and speaking, every letter should be pro

nounced. Great care should be taken that, when consonants are doubled, both should be clearly enunciated, and much nicety and discrimination are required in distinguishing between the soft and the hard consonants, and in pronouncing the aspirate, which, as a rule, is always inherent in the aspirated consonants. Those who reside in the country will find it a great help never, at first, to pronounce a word without hearing it correctly pronounced by the lips of a Telugu man. In the initial stages of study, the ear should take the precedence of the eye, the tongue, and the hand. In other words, reading, speaking, and writing should, at first, give way to listening. The correct pronunciation of the different t's and d's at the commencement is simply invaluable. If this is carefully attended to, Telugu will be found, in comparison with many-other Oriental languages, exceedingly easy.

6. Telugu is an agglutinative language, that is, the particles used to form the termination of words are affixed or 'glued on' to the words which they modify.

II. ORTHOGRAPHY.

(1.) VOWELS.

1. The vowels have two forms-the initial and the medial.

2. The initial form is used only at the beginning of a word, and the medial form is employed when it is joined to a consonant.

3. The following are the initial forms of the vowels.

They go in pairs, the long vowels being twice the length of the short in pronunciation.

The vowels i and í are, sometimes in print and almost invariably in writing, represented by ox and ou In the same manner, e and é are preceded by y, the Telugu-speaking people pronouncing even English words beginning with these vowels with an initial y. In ordinary writing u and ú o and ó are written with a v preceding them. Thus: vu and vú, vo and vó; but the v is not pronounced. It must be particularly remembered that these vowels never have the soft sound which they have in English, as in the word 'use.'

4. The short, clipped sounds of a and o, as in the English words 'can' and 'con' are not represented in