Telugu language

Telugu (English pronunciation: /ˈtɛlᵿɡuː/;తెలుగు telugu, IPA: [t̪el̪uɡu]) is a Dravidian language native to India. It stands alongside Hindi, English and Bengali as one of the only languages which predominate in more than one Indian state; it is the primary language in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as well as in the town of Yanam where it is also an official language. It is also spoken by significant minorities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, and by the Sri Lankan Gypsy people. It is one of six languages designated a classical language of India by the Government of India. Telugu ranks second by the number of native speakers in India (74 million, 2001 census), fifteenth in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide and is the most widely-spoken Dravidian language. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India.

In loans from Sanskrit, Telugu retains some of the features that have subsequently been lost in some of Sanskrit's daughter languages such as Hindi and Bengali, especially in the pronunciation of some vowels and consonants.