Kannada is one of the four most widely spoken languages of the Southern Dravidian Group of languages. It is spoken in and around the southern state of Karnataka in India and is its state language. Worldwide, it is spoken by over 45 million people in its various dialectal forms.

In terms of phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax, spoken Kannada is quite different from the literary variety which is used in personal and official correspondence, journalism, text books and mass communication media as well. This is the language in which all learning happens. In effect, this is the language of the elite, and mastery over it is a measure of one's social class.

Kannada displays a marked variation even from region to region. Some of the prominent dialects from among its 20 odd dialects, are Kodava (spoken in Coorg), Kunda (spoken in Kundapura), Havyaka (spoken mainly by Havyaka Brahmanas of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Sagara, and Udupi districts). Then there is Hubli Kannada, Soliga Kannada, Gulbarga Kannada, Badaga Kannada, and others.

Being a language of great antiquity (over 2000 years old), Kannada is the third oldest language, after Sanskrit and Tamil. It has recently been given the status of a Classical language by the Government of India, albeit after a bitter struggle for this recognition.

The history of Kannada language is divided into four eras – Purva Halegannada (Pre-Old), Halegannada (Old), Nadugannada(Middle), and Hosagannada (Modern).

The old Kannada script, from which modern Kannada Tamil and Telugu scripts evolved, has been in use for almost 1900 years. Later Kannada and Telugu followed a somewhat different growth pattern during which time it borrowed heavily from Sanskrit vocabulary. Kannada is written in the Abugida script of the Brahmic family. Many of the other Dravidian languages are using the Kannada script with some modifications. In fact Kannada script is only next to Devnagri in its wide spread usage by other languages. Indeed, Vinoba Bhave has described the Kannada script as the "Queen of World Scripts"!

Kannada has 36 consonants and 14 vowels. The form of the writing system, like all Indian languages, is syllabic, which means all consonants have an inherent vowel. Vowels are written in their full form when they appear at the beginning of a sentence. When they are used for inflecting the consonants, they are written in form of diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonant. When two consonants appear together without intervening vowels, the second consonant is written usually below the first. The very first Indian encyclopedia was written in Kannada, which was later translated into Sanskrit as "Shivatatvaratnakara".

Yet another First! - It boasts of one of the first Indian language dictionary which was compiled by a Missionary Rev. Ferdinand Kittel to teach Kannada to foreigners. Interestingly, one of the oldest references to Kannada is found in a Greek comedy, on a papyrus found in Egypt dating back to the 1st or 2nd Century. The manuscript contains a Farce, where some of the characters have been shown to have travelled to some place in present day Coastal Karnataka, and speak some Kannada phrases they had picked up. But the oldest records of the language are found on some of the inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka's time.

The oldest known Kannada literary work is King Nripatunga's literary critique Kavirajamarga in the 7th century CE. Then came the 'Three Gems' of Kannada literature, Pampa, Ponna and Ranna in the 10th century. A new era began with the "Vachanas" of 11th-century cobbler-saint Madara Chennaiah, and later the tradition continued with Basavanna Harihara, Raghavanka and Kereya Padmarasa, in the 12th-13th centuries. In the 15th and 16th centuries there dawned the era of Bhakti (Devotional) Poetry that voiced rebellion against orthodox rituals. The most illustrious among these was poetess Akkamahadevi. Devotional songs of dasas - the singing mendicants, proved to be an important part of popular literature with a social message. The Yakshagana, musical dramatization of was something unique to Kannada literature during late 18th century.

However the dawn of modern Kannada literature did not appear till the 19th century. With modern education, the first Kannada novelists Kerur and Galaganatha set the pace which was taken forward by the likes of Shivarama Karanta, K. V. Puttapa, G P Rajaratnam, Basavaraja Kattimani, Nanjanagudu Tirumalamba and others. The short story came into its own at the hands of Panje Mangesha Rao and Masti Venkatesha Ayyangar. And B. M. Shrikanthayya with his mastery of blank verse took Kannada poetry to glorious heights. The proof of the eminence of Kannada litterateurs is that lt is the recipient of eight Jnanpith Awards, and 51 Sahitya Academy Awards - the highest received by any Indian language.