Telugu Tutorial

Structure of the Inscript Keyboard

Telugu Characters Overview

Typing On The Inscript Keyboard


Telugu | Structure of the Inscript Keyboard
Structure of the Inscript Keyboard

The Inscript overlay is same for all the Indian scripts, and contains the basic characters required for all of them. The Inscript keyboard overlay shown above is for the Telugu script. The characters which are not used in Telugu are not shown in the overlay.

When the Scroll Lock is Off (indicated by an LED), the normal English overlay is active. Scroll Lock has to be put On for selecting Inscript overlay. Characters available in this overlay are shown in the right half of the key tops.

In the Inscript overlay the following English overlay characters are available in their usual places:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ( ) - , .

Inscript Keyboard overlay has been optimized both for touch-typing as well as sight-typing.

Touch typing is done primarily through characters in the first three rows. The second row is the Home row in which the fingers of both hands rest. This makes the characters in the Home row easiest to type, followed by those in the 3rd row and then in the 1st row.

The characters in the 4th row are primarily meant for sight typing.


Telugu | Telugu Characters Overview
Telugu Characters Overview

The Inscript Keyboard overlay allows the following basic characters in Telugu to be typed in.

 	@	A	B	C	D	E	ÊÁVV	ÊÁVW	Fs	G	H	I	J	K

%S	%TÁ	%UÁ	%ÁV	%ÁW	%ÁX	%ÁY	Z%Á	Z%Á[	\Z%Á	L]	%][	%_

%i·	Half Anuswar

 	%iLi	Anuswar

 	%iM	Visarg

 	NRP	ÅÁ	gRi	xmnsV	ÃÁ

 	¿RÁ	¿³RÁ	ÇÁ	LRi&V	ÄÁ

 	ÈÁ	hRi	²R¶	²³R¶	ßá

 	»R½	´R¶	µR¶	µ³R¶	©«s

 	xms	xmns	ÊÁ	Ë³ÏÁ	ª«sV

 	¸R¶V	LRi	àá	ÌÁ	ÎÏÁ

 	ª«s	aRP	xtsQ	xqs	x¤¦¦¦

 	%`Á	Halant

.	Viram

The Vowel/Nasal Pad

Left half of the keyboard contains the Vowels, Nasal signs and Nasal consonants. In touch typing these characters have to be typed by the left hand.

The Vowels

The vowels consist of four pairs and two triplets.

 	@ A,	B C,	D E,	ÊÁVV ÊÁVW

 	Fs G H,	I J K

The Home row contains Vowels given in Home row column according to the order of frequency.

 	 	A  J	S  G	D  @	F  B	G  D	Shift

 Home Row	   %][	   Z%Á[	    %`Á	    %TÁ	   %ÁV	Unshift

Notice that a Matra is given in the Unshift position, while the corresponding Vowel is given in the Shift position. This is convenient since the Matras are used more often than the Vowels.

@ Vowel has got no corresponding Matra as its sound is inherently present in each consonant. A Halant %`Á has to be used to remove the inherent %`Á sound from a consonant. Halant sign is used quite often for combining consonants, and is thus given in the Unshift position.

 4th Row	~   I	+ ÊÁVV

 	`   %]	=  %ÁX

 	Q  K	W  H	E  A	R  C	T  E

 3rd Row	   %_	    \Z%Á	    %S	    %UÁ	  %ÁW

A  J	S  G	D  @	F  B	G  D

 Home Row	    %][	   Z%Á[	    %`Á	    %TÁ	   %ÁV

 	Z   Fs

 1st Row	    Z%Á

The Vowel Fs is placed in the bottom 1st row below the G and H keys. Another Vowel I is placed in the top 4th row above the J and K keys. Now the 2 triplets can be identified as two vertical parallel lines on the left side in the Vowel Pad.

There are two more Vowels in Telugu, which are not often used: ÊÁVV and ÊÁVW. The ÊÁVV Vowel and its corresponding Matra %ÁX are given on a different key in the top 4th row. ÊÁVW and its corresponding Matra %ÁY can be derived by typing a Nukta (refer below) immediately after ÊÁVV and %ÁX.

Nasal Signs and Nasal Consonants

 	 	X   %i·	C  ßá	V   	Shift

 1st Row	  %iLi	   ª«sV	    ©«s	Unshift

Anuswar %iLi is given in the Unshift position. Half Anuswar is given in the Shift position.

Telugu has 5 Nasal consonants ÃÁ, ÄÁ, ßá, ©«s and ª«sV. The Nasal consonants ª«sV ©«s and ßá are provided in the left half of the first row. The Nasal consonants ÃÁ and ÄÁ, used infrequently in Telugu, are provided in the Shift positions of two keys in the right pad.

 	 	U  ÃÁ	}  ÄÁ	  Shift

 3rd Row

Consonant Pad

The Consonant Pad is in the right half of the keyboard. The characters in this pad are to be typed by the right hand during touch-typing.

Consonant Vargs

Telugu has 5 Consonant Vargs, each having 5 consonants. These consonants are accommodated in the right pad of the keyboard.

Primary	Secondary	Nasal

 Varg 1:	NRP	ÅÁ	gRi	xmnsV	ÃÁ

 Varg 2:	¿RÁ	¿³RÁ	ÇÁ	LRi&V	ÄÁ

 Varg 3:	ÈÁ	hRi	²R¶	²³R¶	ßá

 Varg 4:	»R½	´R¶	µR¶	µ³R¶	©«s

 Varg 5:	xms	xmns	ÊÁ	Ë³ÏÁ	ª«sV

Each Varg contains a pair of Primary consonants, a pair of Secondary consonants and a Nasal consonant. The two pairs of each Varg are kept in two vertical keys as shown below.

  varg	  varg	 varg	 varg	 varg

 	      5	 	      1	     4	    2	    3

 	Y   Ë³ÏÁ	U    	I   xmnsV	O  µ³R¶	P LRi&V	{   ²³R¶	Shift

 3rd Row	    ÊÁ	    gRi	    µR¶	    ÇÁ	[   ²R¶	Unshift

 	H   xmns	J    	K   ÅÁ	L   ´R¶	:   ¿³RÁ	"   hRi	Shift

 Home Row	    xms	  	    NRP	    »R½	;   ¿RÁ	'   ÈÁ	Unshift

This arrangement is not only easy to remember but also places the Primary consonants, which are more used, in the Home row.

The salient feature of this arrangement is that the consonant in the Shift position of a key is the "Aspirated" counterpart of the consonant in the Unhift position. This is possible since the second consonant of each of the Primary or Secondary pair is an Aspirated consonant. An Aspirated consonant has an extra "h" sound in it.

An aspirated consonant is used less frequently than its unaspirated counterpart. So the Unshift position of the keys is quite suitable for them.

Primary	Secondary

 Varg 1:	NRP+x¤¦¦¦  = ÅÁ	gRi+x¤¦¦¦ = xmnsV

 Varg 2:	¿RÁ+x¤¦¦¦ = ¿³RÁ	ÇÁ+x¤¦¦¦ = LRi&V

 Varg 3:	ÈÁ+x¤¦¦¦ = hRi	²R¶+x¤¦¦¦ = ²³R¶

 Varg 4:	»R½+x¤¦¦¦ = ´R¶	µR¶+x¤¦¦¦ = µ³R¶

 Varg 5:	xms+x¤¦¦¦ = xmns	ÊÁ+x¤¦¦¦ = Ë³ÏÁ

Note: The above table is just for illustrating the phonetic equivalence, you can't  derive an aspirated consonant by typing an unaspirated consonant followed by a  x¤¦¦¦.

Keeping all the aspirated consonants in the Shift position of their unaspirated counterparts, halves the efforts to remember them. This is just like the positioning of upper-case letters in the Shift positions of the lower-case letters in English.

To start with one has to remember the position of the 5 primary unaspirated consonants in the Home row, the positions of the rest of them can be easily learnt in relation to these.

The Non-Varg consonants

After the first 5 Vargs of Telugu, come the Non-Varg consonants. These are also accommodated in the consonant pad on the right half of the overlay.

 	¸R¶V	LRi	àá	ÌÁ	ÎÏÁ	ª«s	aRP	xtsQ	xqs	x¤¦¦¦

LRi is the most often used consonant amongst these, and is thus provided in the Home row, for ease of typing.

 	 	U

 3rd Row	    x¤¦¦¦	Unshift

 	J   àá	Shift

 Home Row	    LRi	Unshift

 	B    	N   ÎÏÁ	M   aRP	<   xtsQ	>     	?     	Shift

 1st Row	    ª«s	    ÌÁ	    xqs	 ,      	 .     	/  ¸R¶V	Unshift

aRP which is similar to xqs, though less frequent, is provided on its Shift position. xtsQ which has the same pronunciation as aRP is provided on the Shift position of the adjacent key.

The ÎÏÁ which is similar to ÌÁ, though less frequent, is provided on its Shift position. àá is in the Shift position of LRi.

Nukta

Nukta character is used for deriving Vowel ÊÁVW and its corresponding Matra %ÁY.

 	ÊÁVW = ÊÁVV  NUK

 	%ÁY = %ÁX  NUK

 	}

 3rd Row	] NUK	 	Unshift

Viram

Viram which is used in place of the full stop is provided on the Shift position of the full stop. Modern Telugu uses full stop instead of Viram.

>    e	Shift

1st Row	 .      	Unshift

Visarg

Visarg %iM which is an aspiration sign, is used infrequently in Telugu. It is provided in the Shift position of a key in the 4th row.

_  %iM	Shift

4th Row	-      	Unshift

Conjunct Keys

For convenience of typing, some Conjunct characters are provided in the Shift positions of some keys in the 4th row. The action of these keys is equivalent to typing the two or three characters comprising each of the corresponding conjuncts.

#   ú%Á	$     	%  ÇìÁ	^  Qú»R½	&  ORPQ	*   QúaRP	Shift

4th Row	3      	4     	5     	6     	7     	8     	Unshift

These keys are primarily meant for the occasional users. For touch-typing it would be more convenient to use the basic keys provided in the first 3 rows.


Telugu | Typing on the Inscript Keyboard
Typing On The Inscript Keyboard

Everyone can have their own style of writing, but there has to be only one style for typing. Typing is done using limited number of keys on the keyboard. For typing a word we need to know how to break it up into a sequence of separate keystrokes.

For example:

CNRP will be typed with 2 keys: C NRP

 	xqsLRiÎÏÁ will be typed with 3 keys: xqs LRi ÎÏÁ

Consonants

Following consonants are present in Telugu. Each can be typed through a single keystroke.

 	NRP	ÅÁ	gRi	xmnsV	ÃÁ

¿RÁ	¿³RÁ	ÇÁ	LRi&V	ÄÁ

 	ÈÁ	hRi	²R¶	²³R¶	ßá

 	»R½	´R¶	µR¶	µ³R¶	©«s

 	xms	xmns	ÊÁ	Ë³ÏÁ	ª«sV

 	¸R¶V	LRi	àá	ÌÁ	ÎÏÁ

 	ª«s	aRP	xtsQ	xqs	x¤¦¦¦

Vowels

Telugu has the following vowels:

 	@	A	B	C	D	E	ÊÁVV	ÊÁVW	Fs	G	H	I	J	K

Each of them, except @,  has an associated Matra:

 	%S	%TÁ	%UÁ	%ÁV	%ÁW	%ÁX	%ÁY	Z%Á	Z%Á[	\Z%Á	%]	%][	%_

The dotted circle shows the position for a consonant, to which the Matra is attached.

Matras

A Matra can attach to the top, bottom, left or right side of a consonant:

 	NRP	NS	NTP	NUP	NRPV	NRPW	NRPX	NRPY	ZNP	ZNP[	\ZNP	N]	N][	N_

 	xms	Fy	zms	{ms	xmso	xmsp	xmsX	xmsY	|ms	}ms	\|ms	F~	F¡	F¢

It has to be typed immediately after a Consonant. It cannot be typed after a Vowel.

 	ÊÁVV»R½V	= ÊÁVV »R½ %ÁV

 	NS¬s	= NRP %S ©«s %TÁ

NSNTP	= NRP %S NRP %TÁ

 	¥¦¦¦ÖÁNRPV²R¶V	= x¤¦¦¦ %S ÌÁ %TÁ NRP %ÁV ²R¶ %ÁV

 	¸R¶W­sV¬s	= ¸R¶V %S ª«sV %TÁ ©«s %TÁ

In Telugu, the same matra will attach to different consonants in different ways. The computer logic is responsible for selecting the correct Matra shape and attaching it correctly to the consonant.

Note that the same %TÁ Matra is  used  in  the  following  words:

 	NTPä	= NRP %S NRP %TÁ

 	ry*¼½	= xqs %`Á ª«s %S »R½ %TÁ

 	¸R¶W­sV¬s	= ¸R¶V %S ª«sV %TÁ ©«s %TÁ

Examples with %ÁV %ÁW Matras

 	NRPW»R½VLRiV	= NRP %ÁW »R½ %ÁV LRi %ÁV

 	xmspÇÁÙùÌÁV	= xms %ÁW ÇÁ %`Á ¸R¶V %ÁV ÌÁ %ÁV

 	LSx¤¦¦¦§ª«so	= LRi %S x¤¦¦¦ %ÁV ª«s %ÁV

Examples with Z%Á and Z%Á[ Matras.

 	|msLRi²R¶V	= xms Z%Á LRi ²R¶ %ÁV

 	ÛËÁLRi²R¶V	= ÊÁ Z%Á LRi ²R¶ %ÁV

 	}msÈÁ	= xms Z%Á[ ÈÁ

 	®ªs[ª«sV©«s	= ª«s Z%Á[ ª«sV ©«s

 	®ªs[V©«sNRP	= ª«sV Z%Á[ ©«s NRP

Other examples:

 	NRPX¼½	= NRP %ÁX »R½ %TÁ

 	\|msLRiV	= xms \Z%Á LRi %ÁV

 	\®ªsaSÖÁ	= ª«s \Z%Á aRP %S ÌÁ %TÁ

 	»]©«s	= »R½ %] ©«s

 	®ªsVV©«s	= ª«sV %] ©«s

 	N][®ªsÌÁ	= NRP %][ ª«s Z%Á ÌÁ

 	r¡µR¶Lji	= xqs %][ µR¶ LRi %TÁ

 	g_©«sV	= gRi %_ ©«s %ÁV

 	r¢µ³R¶ª«sVV	= xqs %_ µ³R¶ ª«sV %ÁV

Half Anuswar

Half Anuswar %i·   is used to indicate nasalization of a vowel.

@ª«sWø· 	= @ ª«sV %`Á ª«sV %S %i·

Anuswar

An Anuswar %iLi is used to denote a nasal sound.

 	gRiLixms	= gRi %iLi xms

 	ª«sLibdP	= ª«s %iLi aRP %UÁ

 	@LigRi	= @ %iLi gRi

 	z¤¦¦¦Liµk¶	= x¤¦¦¦ %TÁ %iLi µR¶ %UÁ

 	NSLi¼½	= NRP %S %iLi »R½ %TÁ

 	aRPaSLiNRP	= aRP aRP %S %iLi NRP

Note that an Anuswar has got to be placed after a Matra, Otherwise the Matra will not attach:

 	x¤¦¦¦Li%TÁµk¶	= x¤¦¦¦ %iLi %TÁ µR¶ %UÁ

 	ÊÁLi%TÁµR¶V	= ÊÁ %iLi %TÁ µR¶ %ÁV

Note that if a Matra is present, the Anuswar will always follow it according to the pronunciation order.

 	NSLi»R½	= NRP %S %iLi »R½

 	FyLi¿yÖÁ	= xms %S %iLi ¿RÁ %S ÌÁ %TÁ

 	µ]Li»R½LRi	= µ] %iLi »R½ LRi

 	¿yLigRiVlLi[	= ¿RÁ %S %iLi gRi %ÁV LRi Z%Á[

Visarg

A Visarg %iM can be used to indicate an aspiration sound:

 	@»R½M	= @ »R½ %iM

 	µR¶VMÅÁ	= µR¶ %ÁV %iM ÅÁ    and not 	µR¶M%ÁVÅÁ = µR¶ %iM %ÁV ÅÁ

The Visarg %iM is many times confused with an English colon sign ":". The common mistake is to type a colon instead of a Visarg.

Note that only one of Anuswar or Visarg can attach on a character.

Halant

Halant %`Á is typed to indicate a half character. A Halant %`Á sign is used to remove the inherent @ sound from a consonant.

 	LSÛÇÁ[£tsQ	= LRi %S ÇÁ Z%Á[ xtsQ %`Á

 	ZaP[ÅÁL`i	= aRP ##Z%Á[ ÅÁ LRi %`Á

 	ª«sVx¤¦¦¦»`½	= ª«sV x¤¦¦¦ »R½ %`Á

Note that a Halant can be attached only on a consonant, and not on a vowel. It will be shown separately if placed in the wrong position:

 	NRPV%`Á	NTP%`Á	  	NRPLi%`Á	NRPM%`Á

Furthermore only a consonant can come after a Halant, otherwise there would be no combination:

 	N`P@ 	N`P%TÁ	N`P%iLi

Half Consonants (Ottu I»R½Vò )

A Halant between two consonants disappears when the first consonant joins with  the second one. In Telugu, the first consonant is shown in the full form and the  second consonant is attached to the first consonant at the bottom or right side. The  only exception is  LRi Ottu, which is written on both right and left sides.

 	HNRPù»R½	= H NRP %`Á ¸R¶V »R½

x¤¦¦¦zqsò	= x¤¦¦¦ xqs %`Á »R½ %TÁ

 	ÑÁx¤¦¦¦*	= ÇÁ %TÁ x¤¦¦¦ %`Á ª«s

 	B¿RÁèé	= B ¿RÁ %`Á ¿³RÁ

 	xmsÉíÓÁNRP	= xms ÈÁ %`Á ÈÁ %TÁ NRP

 	@ª«sVø	= @ ª«sV %`Á ª«sV

 	ÊÁVµôðR¶	= ÊÁ %ÁV µR¶ %`Á µ³R¶

 	@µR¶V÷é»R½	= @ µR¶ %`Á Ë³ÏÁ %ÁV »R½

The half LRi consonant is written in two ways.

 	úxmsÇÁ	= xms %`Á LRi ÇÁ

 	\|ms#ûª«sVLki	= xms %`Á LRi \Z%Á ª«sV LRi %UÁ

 	LSxtísQû	= LRi %S xtsQ %`Á ÈÁ %`Á LRi

 	ª«sxqsòQûª«sVV	= ª«s xqs %`Á »R½ %`Á LRi ª«sV %ÁV

 	ALôRiQû»R½	= A LRi %`Á µR¶ %`Á LRi »R½

 	ÌÁOSQQøQù	= ÌÁ NRP %`Á xtsQ %`Á ª«sV %`Á ¸R¶V %S

Note that four consonants join in the above example to form a conjunct.  This is the maximum for Telugu.

 	@xmsöV	= @ xms %`Á xms %ÁV

 	xqsVöéLRißá	= xqs %`Á xmns %ÁV LRi ßá

 	@¿RÁVè	= @ ¿RÁ %`Á ¿RÁ %ÁV

Note that %ÁV Matra is joined to the Half consonant %Áö. This is the only single case of joining the Matra to half consonant in Telugu script.

Conjunct Keys

Some of the conjuncts can be typed in a single keystroke. These keystrokes are equivalent to typing the constituent consonants with the Halant in between:

 	ORPQ	= NRP %`Á xtsQ	LRiORPQ	= 	LRi ORPQ	= LRi NRP %`Á xtsQ

 	ú»R½	= »R½ %`Á LRi	­sVú»R½	= 	ª«sV %TÁ ú»R½	= ª«sV %TÁ »R½ %`Á LRi

 	úaRP	= aRP %`Á LRi	$	= 	úaRP %UÁ	= aRP %`Á LRi %UÁ

 	ÇìÁ	= ÇÁ %`Á ÄÁ	ÇìØ©«s	= 	ÇìÁ %S ©«s	= ÇÁ %`Á ÄÁ %S ©«s

A macro key has been provided for  ú%Á

 	ú²R¶ª±sV	= ²R¶ ú%Á ª«sV %`Á	= ²R¶ %`Á LRi ª«sV %`Á

 	úNRPª«sV	= NRP ú%Á ª«sV	= NRP %`Á LRi ª«sV

Note that these Conjunct keys are given only for convenience of an occasional user. For touch typing it may be easier to type Reph without the conjunct key, as two separate keystrokes.

Alternative Composition of Words

Some special ways of typing are provided to achieve variations in display of a word. These special ways should be used only in exceptional cases, as they change the basic spelling of a word.

Invisible Consonant INV

Sometimes it becomes necessary to show characters like

 ú%Á	\Z%ÁLi

These can be formed only by attaching them to a consonant. If we type these directly we will get for the previous examples:

 %`Á LRi	 \Z%Á %iLi

An Invisible Consonant called INV is provided for forming these. This INV Consonant is located in the Shift position of the ESCAPE key, and is available only when the Inscript overlay has been selected.

  	 	INV	Shift

 	ESC	Unshift

The INV Consonant can be used in the following ways:

 	ú%Á = INV %`Á LRi

 	\Z%ÁLi = INV \Z%Á %iLi

Explicit Halant (Or Double Halant)

Sometimes it may be desirable to show an explicit Halant, rather than the Half form of a consonant. This can be achieved by just typing the Halant twice:

 	µR¶XNRPö´R¶Li	= µR¶ %ÁX NRP %`Á xms ´R¶ %iLi	µR¶XN`Pxms´R¶Li	= µR¶ %ÁX NRP %`Á %`Á xms ´R¶ %iLi

 	NRP­s»R½*Li	= NRP ª«s %TÁ »R½ %`Á ª«s %iLi	NRP­s»`½ª«sLi	= NRP ª«s %TÁ »R½ %`Á %`Á ª«s %iLi

 	xqsª«sV»R½*Li	= xqs ª«sV »R½ %`Á ª«s %iLi	xqsª«sV»`½ª«sLi	= xqs ª«sV »R½ %`Á %`Á ª«s %iLi