Telugu Language Day: History and Significance

Telugu Language Day is celebrated on 29 August annually in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Telugu is spoken in mostly spoken Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Dravidian language is one of India’s six classical languages. On this day, funds and awards are provided by the government of Andhra Pradesh to improve the Telugu language. Various programmes are held on the day to promote the language. The date of 29 August was chosen to be the Telugu Language Day to coincide with the birthday of Telugu poet, writer and social visionary Gidugu Venkata Ramamurthy.

History:

Before the early 20th century, the Telugu being taught in educational institutions was the Sanskritised diction used by scholars. This version of Telugu was quite a bit different from the Telugu that the common people were using. As a result, learning how to master written Telugu was not useful for communication and the language suffered as a result.

Ramamurthy wanted the Telugu being taught in schools to reflect the one spoken by native speakers. He had studied a number of languages and was well-versed in linguistic theory. The poet undertook the massive project of reforming and standardising the written Telugu language. This resulted in spoken Telugu being used as the medium of teaching, writing, and testing in schools and educational institutions.

Ramamurthy was born in the town of Parvatalapeta, Srikakulam, on 29 August 1863. At the age of around 12, his father died. The writer somehow managed to finish his schooling despite the hardships and became one of the biggest modern Telugu linguists.

Significance:

India’s fourth most spoken language is Telugu. There are around 8.11 crore native speakers of Telugu, as per the 2011 Census. Telugu is sometimes called “The Italian of the East” because Niccol de Conti, a 16th-century Italian traveller, found that the Telugu language finishes with vowels just like the Italian language. The International Alphabet Association chose the language’s script to be the 2nd best in the world in 2012.

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