J vs C in Telugu

Miscellaneous topics on Carnatic music
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P. S.
Posts: 58
Joined: 01 Aug 2019, 03:03

J vs C in Telugu

Post by P. S. »

I speak a little bit of Telugu, and I was wondering why some sing it as Jutamu or Judu or Jeyi vs Cutamu or Cudu or Ceyi (eg. in muccaTa brahmAdulaku "muditalAra cUtAmu rArE" vs "muditalAra jUtamu rArE"). I understand that some Tamilians will have issues with pronunciation of Telugu and Sanskrit words due to the difference in alphabet ("SaraNAgataM" vs "CaraNAkaDaM"), but I have even seen Telugu people differ from this. I have only heard it with the C sound in everyday speaking, but in Tyagaraja and Syama Sastri krithis I have heard some Telugus sing it with J sound and some with C sound.

Govindaswamy
Posts: 120
Joined: 21 Feb 2010, 06:55

Re: J vs C in Telugu

Post by Govindaswamy »

It may please be noted that Naidus of Coimbatore use jUDu, jeppu (జూడు, జెప్పు) etc. Telugu is the only Indian language having six variants of the consonant ca, viz ca Tca, cha, ja, Dja, jha. (చ,త్చ,ఛ,జ,డ్జ,ఝ)
Let us have a comparison with Tamiz. ca is one of the six hard consonants (வல்லினம்). But ca ச is pronounced as sa, ஸ only. (This letter is part of Tamiz/Pallava Grantham). When I checked Tamiz dictionary (கழகத் தமிழ் அகராதி) I found that most of the words starting with ச are the ones which have come from Sanskrit ( வடமொழி) as தற்பவம், தற்சமம்.
I wonder whether Tamiz originally did not have the letter ச at all as there are very Tamiz words starting with ca.

Govindaswamy
Posts: 120
Joined: 21 Feb 2010, 06:55

Re: J vs C in Telugu

Post by Govindaswamy »

Correction:
as there are very FEW Tamiz words starting with ca.

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