ABSTRACT
The Telugu script derives from Brahml via a transitional Grantha character, which was, until the fourteenth century, also used for writing Kannada (q.v.)- Even after separating, the Telugu and Kannada syllabaries remain very close to each other. The table shows the full Telugu inventory of thirty-four consonants, as set out in the traditional Devanagari (q.v.) order. However, in modern Telugu the ten aspirated consonants are found in only a few Sanskrit loan-words, while nga and nya are also rare. The great majority of Telugu words can be written in terms of the remaining twenty-two consonants, plus O the polyvalent sign for nasalization (anusvara).
