Editing Telugu language (section)

== Phonology ==
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Naren speaking Telugu.webm|thumb|A man living in [[Germany]] speaking Telugu.]]
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Manjusha speaking Telugu.webm|thumb|A woman residing in the [[United States]] speaking Telugu.]]

The Roman transliteration used for transcribing the Telugu script is the [[National Library at Kolkata romanisation]].

Telugu words generally end in vowels. In Old Telugu, this was absolute; in the modern language ''m, n, y, w'' may end a word. Sanskrit loans have introduced aspirated and murmured consonants as well.

Telugu does not have [[contrastive stress]], and speakers vary on where they perceive stress. Most place it on the penultimate or final syllable, depending on word and vowel length.<ref>Lisker and Krishnamurti (1991), "Lexical stress in a 'stressless' language: judgments by Telugu- and English-speaking linguists." ''Proceedings of the XII International Congress of Phonetic Sciences'' (Université de Provence), 2:90–93.</ref>

=== Consonants ===
The table below lists the consonant phonemes of Telugu,<ref name=":0">Krishnamurti (1998), "Telugu". In Steever (ed.), ''The Dravidian Languages''. Routledge. pp. 202–240, 260</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Bhaskararao |first1=Peri |last2=Ray |first2=Arpita |date=2017 |title=Illustrations of the IPA – Telugu |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=231–241 |doi=10.1017/S0025100316000207 |s2cid=232346235}}</ref> along with the symbols used in the transliteration of the Telugu script used here (where different from IPA).

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Telugu consonants
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" |[[Denti-alveolar consonant|Denti-<br />alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Retroflex]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Postalveolar consonant|Post-alv.]]/<br />[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>[[sibilant]]</small>
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}} '''m'''
|{{IPA link|n}} '''n'''
|
|{{IPA link|ɳ}} '''ṇ'''
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Plosive]]/<br />[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>[[tenuis consonant|unaspirated]]</small>
|{{IPA link|p}} '''p'''
|{{IPA link|t}} '''t''' 
|{{IPA link|t͡s}} '''ts'''
|{{IPA link|ʈ}} '''ṭ'''
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} '''c'''
|{{IPA link|k}} '''k'''
|
|-
!<small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPA link|b}} '''b'''
|{{IPA link|d}} '''d''' 
|{{IPA link|d͡z}} '''dz'''
|{{IPA link|ɖ}} '''ḍ'''
|{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} '''j'''
|{{IPA link|ɡ}} '''g'''
|
|-
!<small>[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]*</small>
|{{IPA link|pʰ}} '''ph'''
|{{IPA link|tʰ}} '''th'''
|
|{{IPA link|ʈʰ}} '''ṭh'''
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃʰ}} '''ch'''
|{{IPA link|kʰ}} '''kh'''
|
|-
!<small>[[breathy voice]]d*</small>
|{{IPA link|bʱ}} '''bh'''
|{{IPA link|dʱ}} '''dh'''
|
|{{IPA link|ɖʱ}} '''ḍh'''
|{{IPA link|d͡ʒʱ}} '''jh'''
|{{IPA link|ɡʱ}} '''gh'''
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]]*
|{{IPA link|f}} '''f'''
|
|{{IPA link|s}} '''s'''
|{{IPA link|ʂ}} '''ṣ'''
|{{IPA link|ʃ}} '''ś'''
|
|{{IPA link|h}} '''h'''
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|ʋ}} '''v'''
|{{IPA link|l}} '''l'''
|
|{{IPA link|ɭ}} '''ḷ'''
|{{IPA link|j}} '''y'''
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Tap consonant|Tap]]
|
|{{IPA link|ɾ}} '''r'''
|
|
|
|
|
|}

* The aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants occur mostly in Sanskrit and Prakrit loanwords, additionally /tʰ/ is used to substitute /θ/ in English loans, the only aspirate which occurs natively is /dʱ/ which occurs only in a few compound numbers e.g. /pɐddʱenimidi/ "18" likely a result of the proto Dravidian laryngeal */H/<ref name="bhk">{{cite book |title= The Dravidian Languages |last= Krishnamurti |first= Bhadriraju |year= 2003 |publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn= 978-0-521-77111-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=54fV7Lwu3fMC |access-date= 8 December 2021 |archive-date= 13 October 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221013131939/https://books.google.com/books?id=54fV7Lwu3fMC |url-status= live}}</ref> there is also an unaspirated /pɐddenimidi/ version which is used more commonly. All of the fricatives except for native {{IPA|/s/}} also only occurs in loanwords.<ref name=":1"/>
* Perso-Arabic phonemes like /q, x, ɣ, z/ are substituted with /k, kʰ, ɡ, d͡ʒ/ similar to Hindi.<ref name=":1"/>
* /t͡s, d͡z/ occur only in native words and lack aspirated/breathy forms. Native words with /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/ before non front vowels became /t͡s, d͡z/; this change became phonemised after loaning words with /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/ from other languages. Intervocalically /d͡z/ can become [z] e.g. [rɐːzu, d͡zoːli, ɡudd͡zu].<ref name=":1"/>
* /ʋ/ can be rounded to a [β̞ʷ] around rounded vowels.<ref name=":1"/>
* The common Proto Dravidian approximant */ɻ/ merged with /ɖ/ in Telugu while it was preserved as /ɽ/ in the other Southern II branch languages.<ref name="bhk"/>
* Many of the old /ɳ/ and /ɭ/ merged with /n/ and /l/.<ref name="bhk"/>

Most consonants contrast in length in word-medial position, meaning that there are long (geminated) and short phonetic renderings of the sounds. A few examples of words that contrast by length of word-medial consonants:<ref name=":1" />

* /ɡɐ'''d'''i/ ''gadi'' (room) – /ɡɐ'''dː'''i/ ''gaddi'' (grass)
* /ɐ'''ʈ'''u/ ''aṭu'' (that side) – /ɐ'''ʈː'''u/ ''aṭṭu'' (pancake)
* /mo'''ɡ'''ɐ/ ''moga'' (male) – /moɡːɐ/ ''mogga'' (bud) 
* /nɐ'''m'''ɐkɐmu/ ''namakamu'' (a vedic hymn) – /nɐ'''mː'''ɐkɐmu/ ''nammakamu'' (belief)
* /kɐ'''n'''u/ ''kanu'' (to give birth to) – /kɐ'''nː'''u/ ''kannu'' (eye)
* /kɐ'''l'''ɐ/ ''kala'' (dream) – /kɐ'''lː'''ɐ/ ''kalla'' (falsehood) 
* /mɐɾi/ ''ma'''r'''i'' (again) – /mɐ'''ɾː'''i/ ''marri'' (banyan tree)

All [[retroflex consonant]]s occur in intervocalic position and when adjacent to a retroflex consonant, for instance. /ʋɐː'''ɳ'''iː/ ''vāṇī'' 'tippet', /kɐ'''ʈɳ'''ɐm/ ''kaṭṇam'' 'dowry', /pɐ'''ɳɖ'''u/ ''paṇḍu'' 'fruit'; /kɐ'''ɭ'''ɐ/ ''kaḷa'' 'art'. With the exception of /ɳ/ and /ɭ/, all occur word-initial in a few words, such as /'''ʈ'''ɐkːu/ ''ṭakku'' 'pretence', /'''ʈ<sup>h</sup>'''iːʋi/ ''ṭhīvi'' 'grandeur', /'''ɖ'''ipːɐ/ ''ḍippā'' 'half of a spherical object', and /'''ʂ'''oːku/ ''ṣōku'' 'fashionable appearance'.<ref name=":1" />

The approximant /j/ occurs in word-initial position only in borrowed words, such as. /'''j'''ɐnɡu/ ''yangu'', from English 'young', /'''j'''ɐʃɐsːu/ ''yaśassu'' from Sanskrit ''yaśas'' /jɐʃɐs/ 'fame'.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

=== Vowels ===
Vowels in Telugu contrast in length; there are short and long versions of all vowels except for /æ/, which only occurs as long. Long vowels can occur in any position within the word, but native Telugu words do not end in a long vowel. Short vowels occur in all positions of a word, with the exception of /o/, which does not occur word-finally.<ref name=":1" /> The vowels of Telugu are illustrated below, along with the Telugu script and romanisation.

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center

|+Vowels (అచ్చులు ''acchulu'')
|-
!
! colspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" |[[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} ఇ '''i'''||{{IPA link|iː}} ఈ '''ī'''
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" | 
|{{IPA link|u}} ఉ '''u'''||{{IPA link|uː}} ఊ '''ū'''
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} ఎ '''e'''||{{IPA link|eː}} ఏ '''ē'''
|{{IPA link|o}} ఒ '''o'''||{{IPA link|oː}} ఓ '''ō'''
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | 
|{{IPA link|a}} ~ {{IPA link|ɐ}} అ '''a'''||{{IPA link|aː}} ~ {{IPA link|ɐː}} ఆ '''ā'''
| colspan="2" | 
|}

* An emphatic u maybe added to loans ending with a consonant, eg. school > iskūlu.

==== Allophones ====
In most dialects, the vowel {{IPA|/æː/}} only occurs in loan words. In the [[Guntur]] dialect, {{IPA|[æː]}} is a frequent allophone of {{IPA|/aː/}} in certain verbs in the past tense.

Telugu has two diphthongs: {{IPA|/ai/}} ({{Lang|te|ఐ}}) and {{IPA|/au/}} ({{Lang|te|ఔ}}).

Roots alter according to whether the first vowel is tense or lax.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wilkinson|1974|p=251}}</ref>{{fix|text=need illustrations}} Also, if the second vowel is open (i.e., {{IPA|/aː/}} or {{IPA|/a/}}), then the first vowel is more open and centralised (e.g., {{IPA|[m'''ɛː'''ka]}} 'goat', as opposed to {{IPA|[m'''eː'''ku]}} 'nail').{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} Telugu words also have vowels in inflectional suffixes that are harmonised with the vowels of the preceding syllable.<ref>A Grammar of the Telugu Language, p. 295, [[Charles Philip Brown]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=JOgUAAAAYAAJ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013131933/https://books.google.com/books?id=JOgUAAAAYAAJ|date=13 October 2022}}</ref>

===Colloquial speech<ref>a study of telugu regional and social dialects: a prosodic analysis by j. venkateswara sastry</ref>===

* In some colloquial speech ṇ, ḷ might completely merge with n, l except in clusters with retroflex plosives.
*In Standard Telugu and most dialects ś is pronounced as s, while Telanganan dialects merge ś to ṣ. eg. iṣṭam, dēśam > istaw̃, dēsaw̃/dēṣaw̃.
* Non initial and particularly final m tends to be [w̃].
* Initial kṣ tend to be kś before front vowels and kṣ/ṭṣ before other in educated speech, ch for uneducated speech; medially tts(h) for all.
* Cluster simplification, eg. viplavam, amlam, raktam, anyāyam > yipalavaw̃, āw̃alaw̃, rattaw̃, annēyaw̃.
* va, vā becomes (w)o, {ā, ō} initially, eg. vāḍu > āḍu/ōḍu. Before front vowels the v becomes y, eg. vennela > yennela.
* Some aspirates might be debuccalized to a h while previous actual h's might be deleted, eg. mukham, mahā > muhaw̃/mugaw̃, mā.
*Telanganan speech tend to have less aspirated consonants.
* Palatalization, eg. madhyāhnam > majjhānaw̃/majjhēnaw̃.
* ph, ts, dz > f, s, j.
* Differences in suffixing, eg. kannu-lu > Coastal kaḷḷu, Rayalseema kaṇḍḷu/kaṇḷu, Telangana kanlu.
* Sri Lankan Telugu too lacks ṇ, ḷ, merges c with s and has vowel alternations like i instead of final -u, perhaps due to Tamil and Sinhalese influence.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/41175429|title=Sri Lanka Gypsy Telugu: A Dravidian Dialect from Sri Lanka's Sinhalese Heartland|first=Steven C.|last=Bonta|accessdate=23 February 2025|via=www.academia.edu}}</ref>