formerly Kanarese language
Karnataka .
It is spoken by more than 33 million people in Karnataka; an additional 11 million Indians may speak it as a second language. The earliest inscriptional records in Kannada are from the 6th century. Kannada script is closely akin to {{link=Telugu language">Telugu script in origin. Like other major Dravidian languages, Kannada has a number of regional and social dialects and marked distinctions between formal and informal usage.