/h/ e.g. OlKn. pattu, MdKn. hattu "ten". Kannada lacks the palatalization of k's before front vowels which was done by Tamil-Malayalam languages and independently by Telugu, e.g. Kn. kivi, Ta. cevi, Te. cevi "ear". Vowels and are phonetically central . may be as open as () or higher . The vowels /i iː e eː/ may be preceded by /j/ and the vowels /u uː o oː/ may be preceded by /ʋ/ when they are in an initial position. The short vowels /a i u e o/, when in an initial or a medial position tend to be pronounced as [ɐ ɪ ʊ ɛ ɔ]. In a final position, this phenomenon occurs less frequently. /æː/ occurs in English loans but can be switched with /aː/ or /ja:/. At around the 8th century, Kannada raised the vowels e, o to i, u when next to high vowels, before written literature emerged in the language, e.g. Kn. kivi, Ta. cevi, Te. cevi "ear". Grammar The canonical word order of Kannada is SOV (subject–object–verb), typical of Indian languages. Kannada is a highly inflected language with three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter or common) and two numbers (singular and plural). It is inflected for gender, number and tense, among other things. The most authoritative known book on old Kannada grammar is Shabdhamanidarpana by Keshiraja. The first available Kannada book, a treatise on poetics, rhetoric and basic grammar is the Kavirajamarga from 850 AD. The most influential account of Kannada grammar is Keshiraja's Shabdamanidarpana (c. 1260 AD). The earlier grammatical works include portions of Kavirajamarga (a treatise on alańkāra) of the 9th century, and Kavyavalokana and Karnatakabhashabhushana (both authored by Nagavarma II in the first half of the 12th century). Compound bases Compound bases, called samāsa in Kannada, are a set of two or more words compounded together. There are several types of compound bases, based on the rules followed for compounding. The types of compound bases or samāsas: tatpurusha, karmadhāraya, dvigu, bahuvreehi, anshi, dvandva, kriya and gamaka samāsa. Examples: taṅgāḷi, hemmara, kannusanne. Pronouns In many ways the third-person pronouns are more like demonstratives than like the other pronouns. They are pluralised like nouns and the first- and second-person pronouns have different ways to distinguish number. Sample text The given sample text is Article 1 from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. See also Bangalore Kannada Gokak agitation Hermann Mögling Kannada cinema Kannada