Languages of Sri Lanka

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Languages of Sri Lanka
Nuwara Eliya 2013 01.JPG
A sign in Tamil , Sinhala and English
Official Sinhala and Tamil
Semi-official English
Vernacular Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, Sri Lankan English, Sri Lanka Malay
Minority Sri Lankan Portuguese creole, Telugu, Vedda, Arwi
Foreign English
Signed Sri Lankan sign languages
Keyboard layout

The main languages spoken in Sri Lanka are Tamil and Sinhala . Several languages are spoken in Sri Lanka within the Indo-Aryan, Austronesian, and Dravidian families. Sri Lanka accords official status to Sinhala and Tamil, and English as a recognised language. The languages spoken on the island nation are deeply influenced by the various languages in India, Europe and Southeast Asia. Arab settlers and the colonial powers of Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain have also influenced the development of modern languages in Sri Lanka. See below for the most-spoken languages of Sri Lanka. [1]

Contents

Native and indigenous languages

Trilingual sign in Sri Lanka MelsripuraFarm.JPG
Trilingual sign in Sri Lanka

As per 2016, the Sinhala language is mostly spoken by the Sinhalese people, who constitute approximately 74.9% of the national population and total about 16.6 million. However, around 87% of the population are able to speak Sinhala. It uses the Sinhala abugida script, which is derived from the ancient Brahmi script. About 300 of the Veddah people, totaling barely 2,500 in 2002, [2] speak the Veddah language, of which the origin is debated. The Tamil language is spoken by native Sri Lankan Tamils and is also spoken by Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka and by most Sri Lankan Moors. Tamil speakers number around 5 million by making them the second largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka. There are more than 40,000 speakers of the Sri Lankan Malay language.

Languages of foreign origin

English, Sinhala and Tamil languages on a war grave memorial plate in Kandy.
(click to see full view of memorial plate) Kandy War Grave stripe.JPG
English, Sinhala and Tamil languages on a war grave memorial plate in Kandy.
(click to see full view of memorial plate)

English in Sri Lanka is fluently spoken by approximately 23.8% [3] of the population, and widely used for official and commercial purposes. It is the native language of approximately 74,000 people, mainly in urban areas. A handful of the 3,400 people of Portuguese descent speak Sri Lankan Portuguese creole. [4]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Sri Lanka</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vedda</span> Indigenous people in Sri Lanka

The Vedda, or Wanniyalaeto, are a minority indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka who, among other sub-communities such as Coast Veddas, Anuradhapura Veddas and Bintenne Veddas, are accorded indigenous status. The Vedda minority in Sri Lanka may become completely assimilated. Most speak Sinhala instead of their indigenous languages, which are nearing extinction. It has been hypothesized that the Vedda were probably the earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka and have lived on the island since before the arrival of other ethnic groups in India.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinhala language</span> Indo-Aryan language native to Sri Lanka

Sinhala, sometimes called Sinhalese, is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script, which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India.

In addition to its classical and modern literary form, Malay had various regional dialects established after the rise of the Srivijaya empire in Sumatra, Indonesia. Also, Malay spread through interethnic contact and trade across the south East Asia Archipelago as far as the Philippines. That contact resulted in a lingua franca that was called Bazaar Malay or low Malay and in Malay Melayu Pasar. It is generally believed that Bazaar Malay was a pidgin, influenced by contact among Malay, Hokkien, Portuguese, and Dutch traders.

Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese, Ceylonese Portuguese Creole or Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole (SLPC) is a language spoken in Sri Lanka. While the predominant languages of the island are Sinhala and Tamil, the interaction of the Portuguese and the Sri Lankans led to the evolution of a new language, Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole (SLPC), which flourished as a lingua franca on the island for over 350 years (16th to mid-19th centuries). SLPC continues to be spoken by an unknown number of Sri Lankans, estimated to be extremely small.

Sri Lankan English (SLE) is the English language as it is used in Sri Lanka, a term dating from 1972. Sri Lankan English is principally categorised as the Standard Variety and the Nonstandard Variety, which is called as "Not Pot English". The classification of SLE as a separate dialect of English is controversial. English in Sri Lanka is spoken by approximately 23.8% of the population (2012 est.), and widely used for official and commercial purposes. Sri Lankan English being the native language of approximately 5,400 people thus challenges Braj Kachru's placement of it in the Outer Circle. Furthermore, it is taught as a compulsory second language in local schools from grade one to thirteen, and Sri Lankans pay special attention on learning English both as children and adults. It is considered even today that access and exposure to English from one's childhood in Sri Lanka is to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Lankan Tamil dialects</span> Group of dialects of Tamil

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Sri Lankan Malay is a creole language spoken in Sri Lanka, formed as a mixture of Sinhala and Shonam, with Malay being the major lexifier. It is traditionally spoken by the Sri Lankan Malays and among some Sinhalese in Hambantota. Today, the number of speakers of the language have dwindled considerably but it has continued to be spoken notably in the Hambantota District of Southern Sri Lanka, which has traditionally been home to many Sri Lankan Malays.

Vedda is an endangered language that is used by the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. Additionally, communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas who do not strictly identify as Veddas also use words from the Vedda language in part for communication during hunting and/or for religious chants, throughout the island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of South Asia</span>

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References

  1. "Sri Lanka – language" . Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  2. Veddah at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. "Sri Lanka – language" . Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  4. Indo-Portuguese (Sri Lanka) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)