l0 Jourt,NAL, li.A.s. (cEYr,oN) [vor,. xxxlV' Nti. 90- 1937 | r,rseursl'rc crrAll.'\c'l'ltrr olr srNr{Ar'EStl L7

on thc similarit.y of sounds, r,vitlior-rt corrsider:r,tion of crhrono-

logical or historical clifiicultie.q' Wherever, for insta'rrcc,

he finds the consonant I (or l) in anv word ol tr'ny ianguagc

rvhich has the meanirrg ' shining, liglrt' or something lihe

tha,t he connects it v'ith Cen-Tarnil el' lt is obvious that

with such a practice the most abstrusc theory, even t'hat' of

a primeval coltnexion with the frrdo-Gerrnanic langua'ge,

"rrn b" ilemr>nstrated. I could quote dozens of examples

from Prakasar's paper bv r'vhich his abscilute incornpetency

in liriguistic questions are macle ma,nifest, hut such sort of

polernics is not to mv taste :rrtd I hope thtrt I shall not be

compelled to make use of lt. Tltis ll'ould be unpleasu'nt

to me, antl fmitless too. For I cannot expect that he rvill

learn from my objections. We do not understantl each other,

since 'll'e are speahing, as it lvere, clift'erent langtlages'

What has been published on Sirihalese philology during

the last fifty years, except of cortrse by his friend W' tr''

Gunawar<lhana, is wholly ltnknou'n to Prahasar or he .chooses

to ignore it. He boldly sa1's (p. 234) 'That tho grammar

and constntction of Sinhalese have alt'ays rema'ined l)ra-vidian in the main, is admitted by all serious stndents of the

present <1ay.' -fie does not knorv thut SI, Gto*"t G*tu*to\ '

ttt ttt" t,t"gl,tttluif""*""oution thil Sinltol"t" b"loogs t9* the Modelr Indo-

ffi v"t"aculars. He ignores that R. L' 'Tunxnn' has

,Gi,"lffi;"* tnTilCo-p*totirr" a'ncl Etyrnological Dictionary

of the Nepali Language, S. I(. []narrltlirr in his Bengali

Gr:ammar ancl Jur,ns Brocn in his book '" La fonna'tion de la'

langue Marathe." I shoultl recornntend Prakasar to read

u,hat Br,ocn has saicl on p. 20-21 of his x'ork. Do Grierson

Turner, Chatterji and Bloch not rank among the ' serious

students' in the Rev. Father's judgment ?

Prakasar's practice is rather incompiex. Starting from the

axiom that Sinhalese is a Dravidian language he lays dolvn

his personal opinion as an inf'allible dogma, neglecting thepossibility of any objection. He shuts his eyes in the direc-

tion of the Aryan langua'ges and does not see, therefore,

the rnost, pa'lpable things. Even evident comparisons rvit'h

!iili,rf

TTTE, LINGUISTIC CTIARACTER OF

SINHALESE.

Bv PnolnssoR, WILHELM (+ErGEn'

In tr'r.o clifferent, journals (Ant'hropos XXXII, 1937'

p.155 sq. ancl Journal lioyal Asiatic Society, Ceylon Bra'nch'

i9fo, Xo.89, p.233 sq.) Rev. Tather GNeN'r Pnax'ts'tn has

publisheil a, paper on l)rtr,vidia'n lllements in Sinhalese' The

paper hacl bee,n re,acl in Colombo a't a General Meeting o{'bhe

Asiatic SocietY ou .l)eceruber 1'tth, 1934'

AccorclingtoPr:rkasa,rSinhaleseisessentiallval)ravidianIu,nguage. 'I'he first Aryan inimigrants rvho arrived in Ceylon

uaoptJ the languap4e of the originu,l inhabitants of the Islancl,

who *"." of Dravitli:-rn race, filling its vocabular.v rvith

Ar.van lr'ords they haii brought to Ceylon from their fbrmer

hor,r". Moreovcr, Prak:r,sar aclvances the hypothesis that the

Aryan and Dnrvidian languages ate rrtclically reltr'tetl, and

that rnany u'ortils, once supposed to be derived from Sanskrit'

or Pali, tr're b:rsecl on pure l)raviclian roots'

I shall riot eriter into <lettrils hele, but content rnl'self r'r-ith

cxamining the niethorls applierl by Prakasar, continuing :rnd

alnplifying r'r,ha,t Dr.WroKnt,llrAsjlNcrtE tlncl J' nn LaNnncllr'p

have said at the rneeting itself. Rev' tr'ather Gnana Praka'sar

ilay be an excellent cottrtoisseur of the T)rrividian langua'ges,

but I anr sorry to stato 1,h:r'1, he entirely lacks the necessarv

linguistic tnrining fbr the riif'ficrrlt tasli Jre lins attempbed

ir, "hi*

pup".. He h:r's no knou'ledge of 1,he modern methods

used norv in lr,hnt \vo lllay ctr,ll comparative science of language,

but, has fallen back upon a practice given up in Europe more

than a century ago' The etymologies he ventures to ad-

vanco are not, ba'secl on certairl phonological mles, but merelv

.\I

,e

:l

,1I:l

j1

I

,s:

in.h,:r.F:

+*i.,s*'EL-1

:tr*s

IE .,()uti,Nat,. lt,.A.s. (ltt\ar,()N) fVol,. X,\Xl\r

Aryan dia,lects are ignored or distlained by him a'rxl displaccd

by :r l)ra,viditr,rr cxpla,na,tion a't anv cost, though it may ofton

be very tr,rtificitrl or irnprobable, nay absurd' Il is the chiet

crror of Praka'sa,r and his friends that thel' confouncl the

genelal influence of l)ra,vitlian on a]l rnodcrn ArYan langua'ges

uith the parlicrrla,r influence of Taniii on Sinhalese' Tho

{irrmer is gleat and has rtever beerl denjed bv scientist's, though

ruobod.y lras saicl, ott :tcrtrotrrrt of it, thu't ]]engall or Marat]ri

are essetltially Dravidia,n. Of tho tu'clvc itenls on which

\\r. l'. Gur.r;lwa'rclhtrtrtl's opiriion of t'lre Dravidian character

ol sinhalcse is btr,sec.l (quoted JIiAS. C. Ii. No' 89' p'235-6)

not less than nine :\re common to Sinhalese and all MIAVs

or at least have a,nalogies itr some of then. They do not

cone into considera,tion for corroborating his theory. Thtl

foreign, mostly l)ravidian, influence on the Aryan language

bega,rr no cloubt immecliately afterr t'he advent into India'

of'the first Aryan tribes ancl continued with varying intensity

up to the present times. Numerorts Ibreign lon'nw-ords rvere

tr,doptecl alreadf in the \redic periorl antl hencefrirth from

centurv to century ; they becarne ArYtr'n property and deve-

loped trccoriling to the phonological rules of the Aryan

language. Moreover, the general direction of the evolutiotr

of the Arya,n clialects u'as delineated by that lbreign in-

fluence tr,ncl the result is manif'est in their particula,r stmcture.

Sinhalese shares u'ith them this linguistic evolution'

The peculiar inflrtence of Ta,uril on Sinha-lese, on t'he other

hancl, appears to be comparativel.y insignificant, thrlrgh not

entirely lvanting. Tf a juclicious Dravidian scholar u'ould

shorv us this influence, l'e all should be th:inkful to him,

but u'e slrrink from rnere imaginntions'

SINHALESE AS AN ARYAN LANGUAGE.

Jn my vier.v the Sinhalese language belongs to tlie Aryan

group of lndian dialects a,nc1 has clescended through PaJi-

Prakrit frorn Okl-Inclian (Sanskrit). Its evolution proceeds on

the sanre line us that of the Modern [rrdo-Arvan Vcrnacrtlilr's

(MtA\:s). srrchas Sindlri, Grr jar5,ti, 1\{ar6!'hi'Hindi' Beng[li &c'

IIo. 90-lfll}TI r,rNculslrc clrAll,\c'l'rR or STNITALESE l!)

Ii, is a groa,t atlva,nta,go tltirl rt'tr rtro a,ltle lo t'r'tltrc t'htr tlevelop-

ment <il'.the lnnguage trom the 2nd ct'nttn'y B'C. 'Ihe docu-

ments on r,vhich our knou-leclge is based are inscriptions :rrlcl

literary u'orks. They are not' equally a,bundant in the differ-ent periocls and a gap between the 5th and8thcc.is ptrrticnlarlyregrettable becatrse just, at that time Sinhalese seems to ha'\'e

passed through its greatest changes as \\re see l-rom the results

observable in the 8th century.

We may distingnish five periods :

Period l: Sinhalese Prakrit, 2rrcl c. R.Cl. to 4thc. A.C. Brirhml inst's.

Periocl 2: Proto-Sinh tr lese, 5bh c. to 8th c. Verl'f'e'iv inscs.

Period 3: Mediaeva'l Sinhtrlese, Stlr c. to l3th c.

inscs. ard fi"om tho lltli or lOth c. l,iterar:v rvorks.

Period 4: Olassic:r, lSinhalese, l3thc. tolTtJrtr.Chieflv lilerirn' uorks.

Periocl 5: ilIodern Sinhalese, I7th c. up to thepresent time. Literary urorks, newspapors and nroclertr

colloquial language.

The 'essential ' parts of a langu:lge are altogether three.

First an<l forernost stands thc vocabultr,ry: the brilk c-tf

nouns, verbs, pronouns, nunlcrals, particles. Then conies thcGrarnmar, i. e. the formation of the words a's they are used

in a sentence; and last u.her,t we may call the rn o tl e o fcxpression: sylltax, tliction, st-1'le. Thisis the rnostvariable portion of a langu:r,ge, varia,ble according to thecultural level of the people, to the difference in professionand social position of those who speak it, often also to theirindividual taste or ability.

I hope to be able to sho*. that in this tlrreefolcl respectFiinlralese is in gertertll accorcla,nce u'ith the l\{IA\rs. As art

introcluction to the linguistic nrguments a, ferv rerna,rks tnavl.rc offcr*rd concerning the a,ncient historl, of C-levlon a'ttil thofirst Arv:rn colonisation of tlre Island.

20

If we a.clmit, that there is a' liistorical kernel in the Sinh-

alese traclition as it existed in Ceylon, already 1500 years

a,go, in the ancient chronicles Dipavamsa and Mahd'vamsa'

o* u"" perliaps allowed to state : 1) The first Aryan immi:

grarrts who anived in Ceylon perhaps four centuries B'C'

"u-" froot Northern India,, either from Gujarat, a's I believe,

or liom Bengal, as others think. - 2) They must have

brought to Ceyion an archaic Prakritic dialect, similar to

Pali or to the language of the Asoka inscriptions' - 3) Ceylon

was at that time inhabited by a population of a different tace,

called Yakkhn by the Arya,n irnmisrants' - 4) Inter-

marriage'with the aborigines and also with Dravidian wonen

fetchecl frorn Southern Inclia rnav have influenced t'he Aryans

ph;'sically and perhaps also linguistically to some degree'-S; V"ty soon after the first colonisat'ion a lively intercourse

began betv,een Ceylon and the North East'ern provinces of

Incliu, Biha", Bengal:r,ntl Orissa. - 6) Numerous immigrants of

Aryanclescent, came to Oeylon and brought to the Island their

clialects and the Budclhist creed. - 7)This was a strong support

for the Aryan character of the Sinhalese and makes it com-

prehensible that theil language became something like amixturc of various Aryan dialects. - 8) As this intercourse was

npparently never interrupted we understand that the Sinhalese

turiguoge, in spite ofits geographical isolation, developed in the

same way as the Aryan dialects of continental India, passing

through an Apabhramsa stage (Proto-sinhalese) to its modern

form lvhich it had attained, in the main, at the beginning

of the Sth century.-9) Dravidian influence nevei ceased

in the course of the Sinhalese history, but' we also learn from

this history that the Sinhalese generally regarded the Dravi'das, chiefly the Colas, as their racial foes ancl t'hat' they

lr.ere always earnestly striving for the preservation of their

own nationality.

It must, be admitted that the historical arguments have

but the 'weight of hypotheses. They are not based on facts

but merely on the interpretation of chronicles rvhich cont'a'in

No. 90*1937'l r-rneursrrc cHARAcTER' ox' srNrrAr'ESE 2t

vn'lua'blc and lierhtr,ps trustrvor:thv trtx-litions, lUixed withmyths and legen<ls, antl wlricli tr're corrposetl not by judicious

historians but, by priestly poets. Wc must even keep in

mind that immigrants sometintes give up their olrn language

and adopt that' of the people who inha,bited the countrv

occupied by them. This is the eventuality rT'e have to assume'

if Sinhalese would be proved to be a Dravidian langua'ge'

Therefore, the linguistic arguments are decisive, and it gives

me great satisfaction tha,t I am in a position to sho'r'v tha't

in our case they are in {ull accordance 'n'ith what rve

might conclude from. the historical tradition.

B. LINGUISTIC ARGUMENTS.I

I. Phonology. Sinhalese possesses on the whole t'hrr

game sounds as Pnli-Prakrit and the ltIAVs. The peculiar

Tamil sorinds r r t n a,re lacking antl the most import'ant

Tl,mil lalv, the hardening o{ soft, initial consonants, has no

vir,lue ; prnbable exceptions a,-e kwrulu bird : Sk. garuQa,lnb

Sinh. gurulu as llame of the mythical bird ; and perhaps

kurhburu padcly fielcl ? -- Sk. gambhr,ra, bttt Sinh. girhburu

deep ($ 39.2). With P., Pli., ancl the MIAVs Sinhalese

shares the loss of {, f, ai, alr, the reduction of the three sibi'lants i, p, s to one, the clropping of final c<insonants, anrl the

shortening of long final t'owels arirl the tlropping of short final

vowels. New sotrnds that camcup in the periods 2 an<l 3 are

tlre rrnilarrt vorvel a ancl the half nasals fr, (befole g rI cl) tt'nd tVr'

(lrcfolc L).

Peculiar phonological changes which came up in the

per:iotls l-3 are l) the de-aspiration of the aspirates, illreratly

in periotl l, probably due to Tanril itrflrtence. The MIAVspossess the olcl i,spirates, but in KaSrniri the aspiration of

the vcriced mutae has tlroppctl (LSIVIII.2,p.2lt9).-2) Alllong vowels are shortened in per. 2. In per. I the short'ening

is only graphical ($ 8-ll). Analogies occtrr prosodically in

l. 'fhe numbers itr ( ) refer i,o paras irr my Gtanrmat' lhualrbreviaLions are Lhe s&me'&s irr tlLe

-sinhalese Dic'uionary. A lcwsl iglrt rl i{felerrces al e casil-y rr lrrlelsl,,r'd.

,rouB,NAL, n.a.s. (cnvr,oN) [vor'' XXXI\ '

A. HISTORICAL REMARKS.

t,

i

22 ,rouRN-\L, R.A.s. ((',liYl.oN) fvot.. XXXII.

[he -i\pab]rra,ntiar (J.lcrorl, Abh ' l',lv. Ak. tl . W. XX X I. 2, p. 3)

and are not infrequent in the MIA\rs ($ tl' p.15; (iruonsoN,

ZDMG XLIX, p.4I3 st1.). Wherever a long vou'el nccurs inSinhalese it is t,he lesiilta,nt of the contraction of two or thlee

vowels. --3) By eipcnthesis and by thc infiucnce of the accent

in per. 2 Sinhalese vocalisrn has becorne manifold :

a, e, i umlauL ol a, o,zr in heavy, assimilation of vowels in light,syllables, reduction (n >i, z) and elision of vowels before anrl

after tlre accentuated syllable &.. ($S 12'21 , 22-30). By this

Sinhalese is given one of its peculiar stamps amorlg the

lITAVs, though nlore or less sporadioally the same changes

can beobserved even in them. Epenthesis with umlaut occut:

in Kasmiri and Lahncla. Cf. k. gaguru rat: fem. ga,gilril, antll.ad,huy young bnll:'ucihiy heifer (LSIVIII.2, p.269, VI[' l,p. 250) with Sinh. kukulu cock : I$'ki,li' hen. Cf. also bg. leh'il'

blood : Sinli. le, lehe and pj. bg. rdhil, a kind of fish -' Sinh. rd,

rehe, Sk. lohita, rdhi,tcr, (ZDlfG XLIX, p. 409), &c. Recluotion

o{ a to ri or z and elision of the vowel under the infltrence of

the accent is also rtot.it-Lflequerrt in thc MIA\rs. Cf . pj' pahira watch - Sk. pnihara, l.tg. rnxlgur : Sl<' mudgora, Sinh,

rnugurrr, hi. bijll (others bijuh') lighbriing &c. (ZDMG' XLIX,p. 402, 403, 396).-4) Single velar ancl dental rnuta,e

drop betrveen vowels ($ 41). This is a process which begins

in Middle-Indian. In the Prakrits gerrcrally k,g,c,i,td,

clrop in such a position (Pischel, $ 186). The hiatus is re-

moved in Sinh. either by contraction or by inst-'r'ting y or o

or /a ($ 42). But Gunawar<lhana is wlting in assuning Dra,-

vidian influence in this case (JIi,AS. C.R. Nr. 89, p.236.10).

Sinhalese is the continuattir: of the Apabhrarnfa where thostr

auxiliary consonatrts arc frequently used in or<ler to remove

the hiatus (AIiAW XXIX. 4,p.25*, XXXI. 2,p.5). Irr thcMIAVs they occur sporadically. Cf. Sk. Sygala jackal, P.

sigd,la, Pk. si'alo, ot. si&la, but h. bg. si'ydl, g. sf37al, Sinh.

,si,ual. Where k, g,t, d are met with bet'ween vowels in Sinh-

alese they are remnants of a conjunct consonant. - 5) Con-junct consonants are simplified since 1ier.2. frr per.I thc sim-

plification is mcrely graphical ($ 37, 40 sq.). There are nranY

analogics in the Apabhramsa (ABAW XXIX. it, p. 29*, S l6)anrl in tlre MIAVs. Sk. P. ku,klcu'ra, dogis ku,hu,r in bg. ass. as in

No. t|0--l937 ] r,rlluurs'rr(l cuAltACltult olr srN HALnsr 2:J

Sirrh. arrd kulcar in g. rn. Where conjurtct ctlnsonants ticcur

in Sinhalese, a vowcl ha,s bec,rr clidod bel,lveen them, oftetr

rvith ensuing assimila,tion. An exceptional ca,se is mentioned

in 15. - 6) NTitklle-Indian pal. c (c/z) becomes ,s; j ( jft,) becomes

d ($43-47). An:r,logies of the former change occur irr lla'rafhiand Assamcse : Sk. nml;ya fish, P. Pk. ,ntafthfl is h. l,g.

rndch, bvL a,ss. ,irlls, rn. rtrlsd,, SinJi. zl,ns. ln Ori"ya, r, ch

alc often pronorrncerl ts, lsh,, antl itr sulr-dia,lects of (lujalAt,ithe prnnrrnciation c, r:/a srxnetimes illtcrna,tes rvith s (LSI\r. 2, p. 379, IX 2, p. 326, 330). lllrc cliangc j )d may be tlrro

t'o 'Iamil influence. Tn per. 3 the pronunrritr,tion of d arrd jrnrrst have been nearly the same, perh:r,ps sonlething like cly.

We rneet here even wit]n bu j - budrlha. Difficult to cxpla'inis the change in some l,ords of c, ch t< d ($ 45).-7) Sirrglecerebrals l, (lh), Cl (dh) becornc I liet'rveen vowels (S 18-50).In P. Pk. the cerebrals also display more rcsistance thanother mutae. The process f: d: I which is consistently carriedout in Sinhalese, begins in P. rvith the change of rl to l. Inthe MlAl's, t, th are generally represented by d (r), ,lh (fh)and rl, ,lh lry f,:r/2. Sk. spho[a tumor, P. photct,, Pk. phodais pj. h. phorct,, oy y.thoyi,, m. pho|, but Sinh. pola ; Sk. Pk.bitlala, cat is P. bi,laro,, bg. bi,yal, but Sinh. ttalal. -- 8) Oerebra-lisation, as in P. Pk. and in the MIAVs, of a dental bv anadjoining r-sound occuls in somc words ($ 52). Sinh. tnttla'dead' corresponds to Sk. rngta, Asoka inscs. Kd,lsi riznfn,

but Girnar tnu,tct., si. mayltu, g. m,at!tr,, m. madd, oI. bg. ma4 d,. - 9)

Single Mutae of the labial class a,re rvell preservecl betweenvorvels, p being softenecl to '"' already in per. I and 6 (bh) notdropping as in Pk. ($ 55). Sinha,lese, therefole, stands on thePrakritic sta,ge concerning p, but is niore archaic concerningb. Cf. Sk. ky,po,na poor, P. lra,pa2ta,'Pk. kiuaq,a, lriu'iry,a, M.kiaa4,, Sinh. kauu,lta; Sk. P. alabu, labu,, Pk. a,lau, lau, oy.bg. ass. lau, brtt Sinh.labu,. - 10) The nasals n and r3,, as alsoI (ql) and (,(<-{, tl) ale accurately distinguished in perr. 3 and rt

($ 56-59). Sinhalesc is l.cry consisterrt and has a decidetllya'r'chaic chala,cter'. (.'onfusion of n,, I rvith .r-r., I begins not befoletlro c,Irrl of tlxr l6th c.Cf.Sli. sta,no tttntle lirea"qt =. T'. than.a.,

Sinlr. larzn (h. tha,n,), bui Pl<. tha,4,a,, si. tha;ttlu,, pj. 1. tlt,u,i3,.

2,1 JouriNAL, t,.r\.s. (crrYLoN) fVor'' XXXIV'

Sk. rn, n!1,'r.L!J,.jfr' ttta representcd bv z a's in }Tarafhi(Bt'ocrr,

LM S f35) tr'ntl othcr MIAVs. Sk. ka'rr1a erar, Pk' 'P' lcar'u'a,

ir'ss. lrg. lcal1, but Sinh. ftara, a's si' lru'nu', g' n' lcan &c' Sk'

haltalilind,in one eyeis in Sinh. ka'4'ct'.- 11) I sornetin"res alter-

natos with z ($ 60). Colioquiallv I is frecluently subst'itrrted

for n and vice versa in Oriya (LSI V.2,p. 3811)' Thc s:r'mc

occurs in Benglli atrcl Eastern Hinrli' Cf. GnronsoN, ZI)MG

L. p. J.5, HonnNr,i'l, Gau{ian L., p. 34. The alternation of r:I neecls no notice. It is comrnon to all Indo-Aryan languages,

old a,s lvell as nrodern. - 12) .Internal na sometimes becomes

(throrrgh zr) 'u antl vice versa. The change of m t'o tr is fre-

cluent, in the Apabhra'rnSa (ABAW XXIX 4, p' 57*) and in

the NIlAVs, cf . GnrlnsoN, ZI)MG. L, p. 16 arxl Br'ocrr, L\'I,

$ 152.3. * 13) fn some words iqJ, hd, nb:r'rc substituted for

'):L,n,t)1,(S 63). Thesamesubstittition of a nasalised soft mut'a

for a simple rrasal has already taken place in Midclle Indian

languages (WacxonN,lcul, Altind. Gramm. $ 157) and occuts

in the M IAVs. Cf . Sk. ud,nara nlonkeY': rn. ud'ilar, bg' h' nep' p j'

bd,dnr, Si:nh. aailtluru.- 14) At the end of a word som etimes -zrn

starrcls lor -un (S 62.4) as in pciil'um eastern:P. Tncr'na' Here

inflrrence of Tamil can be assumed. Cf. LSI IV' p' 289'-15) Nasals drop before an unvoiced consonant ($$ 64'1, 65)'

In }fard,thi loss of the nasal before a consonant (de-nasalisation,

Blocn, LM $ 7l) is fretluent. Cf' Sinh' dn'f tooth : Sk'

d,anta, m. dd't ; but rzas flesh : mar!'Ls&, m. md"s (popular form of

m,fi's). A phonologic:r,l peculiarity of Sinhalese is the change

of the nasal before a voicecl muta to a, half-nasal and the r:ule

that fi,gg, itrJrl , ildd, ri,6Zr become rig (spelt ry'g), r.t(, nd'nt'b

with frrll nasal ($$ 61.2, 65,66).-16) Sk. sibilant -f- nasal

becomes nasal f /a in P., Pk. Cf . gf itnha heat < Sk' grlsnta'

In Sinh. the ntr,sal alone remains ($70) : girn. An analogy is

perhaps nt. rnc6ar' cenleter;r, g. rnasit'tl.---' Sk. ltn'alana'- 17)

Sinhalese bears an archaic character by the prescrvation of

initial y which has been changcci to j in all the ITTAVs' Inter:nal

P. y, yy is also better prescn'-<'d in Sinhalesc than in the

l{IAVs (S 77) With thc Western ancl Southern langr-rages

Sinhalese shares the preselvation of initial ir ($ 78) which

has become b in thc ltrastern group.- lu). 'I'ht' sibil:r'nt s

(erither < Sk. sibila,nt, or ! c, clt,) ca'rl be changccl to h: /a itself

No. 90-1937] r,rxcutstrc orrARAcrrlR olr srNrrALESn 25

(i{ < s cir li, brrt rrot' if < t:, tih) can drop ($ 80-85) lllhus u'c

irave the sequonoe s[ : he: Z briclge - ' Sk' sehr" und snitda:

tiuhdn, moott:. Sk. umd'ro" In some IIIAVg' as si' pj'

lZnlfC+. L, p. l7), the cliange of s to /i is frequent' but' not so

consistent u* ir. Si"itulese; it also occurs in sub-dialects of

n"ogafi (hon(i gold, LSI I. 2, p' 79) a'ntl Gujard'ti (hontt' ib')

We cali see from the foregoing th:r't therc are analogies

inalloratleastinsonteMlAVsforrrear.lyallthephono.logical mles thrlt are valid in Sinhalese' The irrflrtence of

TJmil is urimportant,(No. I, 14)' By some rrles (No' 2' 3' 5'

6) the rlialeclal pei,uiiarity of Sinhalese among the Tndo-

Aryan languages is macle manifest' In some points it has

an archaie character (No. 10,1 7); in other instances (I{o'

7, 18) it shows mor:e consistencY t'ltart tliost' l'iIAVs'

II. Voeabulary.-Tha't t'he bulk of Sinhalese words

is Aryan, seems to be d'eniecl by nobody' not' even bv th<isc

g,ho attribute to it an essentiallY Draviilian cha'r'acter' trVe

must tlistinguish five groulis of words : 1) the gemline Sin-

halese worcls, 2) the fu"*n"tl* from Sansklit and Pali' 3)

the Dravidian loanwortls, 4) Itruropean loanrn'ords from Pol:-

tuguese, Dutch and English, 5) r-orcls of unknown origin

arr"d derivatiorr, the etvmological explanation of whic'h hil's not

been successful till nolr''

G r o u p 1: The genuine Sinhalese 'worLs (tatlbhat'a)

alone must be taken intJ consitlerat'ion if wc tvant to dcscribc

the linguistic chat:at'tor of Sinhalese' The subject rvill lltr

cliscussecl belorv.

Group 2: Sanskrit ancl Pali loanword's (tatsam'a')

,r" ,torn""o.rs in t'he niediaeval inscriptions and in the ancicnt

and classical litc:ratur:e, rvhere T:r'mil loanwords arc ver-v

rare. This fact shows clearly enough that the educatetl

Sinhalese themselves <licl their ut'most to keep their language

free from Non-Aryan elements ancl t'o maintain its connexion

with the or'.i"nt Aryan ltlnguage' The lws' taken fronr

Snnsklit are ttrnch i'ot" ''tu"'ttt''orts

than those taken {ronr

26 JotrR,NAi,, R.A.s. (cnyr,oN) fVor,. XXXI\i.

Pa,li. hr dilfcnlrl, inscliptions a,rrrl boolis tlro rrrrnrberof such lws. virries cor'-uidera,bl.y. 'llha,t depends ullorr fashionand upon the tastc anrl erudition of thc author and of thecharacter of his composition. Sometimes the lws. are moreor less adapted to the form the language liad attained attlre rvriter's time (semi,-tatsama). Sk. hvs. are not wan.tingin the cr-'lloquial language too.

Group3: 'Ihe Dravidian loanwords, chiefly takenfrom Tamil, are numerous in colloquial Sinhalese. In A. l'L()u4as6kara's Grammar approximately 400 lws. of thatkind are enurnerated. They are ea,sily recognised as aforeign elernent and are by no means so characteristic of theSinhalese languagc a,s Roman r.r,-ords of Engtish.

Group4: 'Ihis group too is a foreign element inSinhalese, exclusivc.ly belonging to the collcquia,l language.llhe rtunrber of Portuguese loanw.ords enumer.atetl by Guna-sekara is 231, of Dutch u,ords ll2, of English lvords 76.

G r o u p 5 : There are, in this group, probably alsoAryan words which are not recognised as such at the presenttime, but will be explained, we hope, in the future. Tamilloanwords rvhich have changed their form in the course oftime by accommodation to the Sinhalese language (Tamilse,mi-tcttsa,mas) may also trelong to the group. It would be arcaily much more comnendabie work if a Tamil scholar wouldc.xamine the 'unexplained' words in thc Sinhalese vocabu-laryancl find out such hiclden tr.easures than the fruitlessand never provabJe fancies of a primeval connexion ofDravirlian with the fndo-Germanic language. tr'inally, group5 may contain words which l'ere borrowed by the Aryanirnmigrants from the aboriginal inhabitants of Ceylon. Itis, for instance, quite intelligitrle that for trees or animals notexisting in their former horne and first seen bv them inthe Islarrd they adopted the wortls used by the aborigines.Nobody can sa,y, of course, whether we ever shall be able toetymologise such words.

No. 90-1937.] r,ntcursuc cHAriAC'rEli oF srNrrar'nsn 27

I reveft to the g e n u i n e part of the Sinhalerie vocabulary'

'I'he nurnber of lvords belonging to t'his group is very great''

but more important than the munber is the fact that we are

able to trace their evolution through thc various period,s of

bhe language with the help of certain phonetic rules which are

basccl on a consiclerablc number of indubitable exarnples.

It is true, there arc somet'imes gaps in the sequencc, but we

generally can fill therp up rvith the aid of the same phonctic

,ol"s. I sltall quote an example following Dr' Paner'qYrrANA

in IlpZ III, p. 183. He has shown that Sinh' l1ala call'loacl derives from sk. lctkata catt. Thi: most ancient form

we know o{ the worcl is halca'da (4th c'), next comes yahacla'

occurring in an insc' o{ the 5th or 6th c' (periocl 2)' We

nrrrst suppose that this is a met:r'thesis (S 88'2) of *hu'yaila'

This is an interesting form. We learn from it chronologicall;r

that the rules Nos. 4 and 18 rvere alrearly valid' at that time'

but the change of , to I (No. 7) had not yet come to an encl'

d being the intermecliate stage betrveen I and l' The form

yokrlo o""urs in atr insc' of the l0th c' trnd is fin:r'Ily contractocl

to'ydla.

It is not nelcessar)r to qlrote u,rlc gctrrtine rvrirtls from th'e

lna,ss of substantives, adjectives anrl r'erbs' 'Ihere ato

exarnples enough in my Sinhalese Etymology' Here I shall

"onfirr1 myself to plonolrns anrl numerals which

are always ascribecl to themost ilncient portion of a langua'ge''

In Sinhalese they are of purely Aryan origin'

t) The sterns fol the Tr e r s o rl a' I 1) r'o rl r) u 11 fiillg'

a,rc in all Indo-Germanic larrgua'gcs ??'r'- for thc first' lr'r'' {or the

secontl person, lviiile t'hey *re t'he sa'me in the Indo-Aryan

lorrgo*g"s antl in Sinhalesc ($ 128; cf ' J' Br'ocu, Indo-Aryan'

p. iSO"*q.;. For the noln. sg. of the Ist pe:' Indo-Ger:manic

iras the peculiar lotm * eghom (Sk' aham', Greeli egorz &c')'

This is girr"n .tp in Sinhalese as also in trost of the MIAVs

antl r:eplaced by a forln of the ttza- stem' hr g' a tlerivate of

aha'* i, preserved and optionally in si' (ufr', ft' or ntrt' mfi')

and pj. (ft,4,7, obsolete,ol, lnq'i"

2rJ JonriNAL, ri,.a.s. (cErrLoN) [Vor,. XXXIV.

In the ntIAVs, as in Sinh., there is a nom. and an obl.case in both numbers. The forms in sg. are as follows:

hi. C. bg. Sinh.

1. nom. ma,l, h'ii tnui, tn(r?tln,

c. obl. mo mz (a"g.) rnd ntd2. nom. tuz ttl tui to

c. obl. to td to tdSinh. m'ama is cleally - Sh. P. Pk. gen. naonaa which mustrernain unaltered in accordancc r,vitli the rules of accentuation(mdma). ihe pl. apti, we ( c. obl. apa) and topti, yott (c.obl.topa) arc new formations in Sinhalese but of_Aryan descent.They seem to correspond to aphe, tuphA (:apphe, tupph\)&c. in the Dhau and Jau inscriptions of Asoka.

The pron. interrog. is formed, as in all Aryan dialects.from the oldest period up to the urodern times, from the stemslm-, ki- ($ 132). Similarly the demonstrative pronouns areformed in Sinhalese ($ 130), as in the MIAYs, from the stemsi and" u (Sk. i in ay-a1n, i,cl-am .: z in ved. au-ris) : Sinh. e (/ie):

d, : si. ht (hA): hu (lto),1. e, o, bg. e: o, Eastern h. (av.) i: tt.In Sinh. these stems may be combined with the demonstr. st.frz- (Sk. im-am &c.): mE: ,inz ($ f3l). As all these prono-minal stems are of Aryan origin rve can assume the samefor the new st. drcr, (:lat. ille). I clerive it from Sk. ara.in arat (: P. rtra) are far off.

Relative sentences, as il Sk. antl P., tlo not, occur in Sin-halese. This can perhaps be ascribed to Tarnil influence(JIf,AS. No. 89, p. 235, 7). But the r\ryan character of thelanguage is by no means alfected by that loss, for the telativesentence is displaced by a compound constmcti<m ($ 133)r.vhich is also in commLln use in Sk. anri P. We can say inP. Ao\n kathes'int uaca,no,r.n'the word I spoke' or more fre-cluently moya Inthita-u&canar[L 'the u'ord spoken by me'.This is also the Sinhalese constmction nta uisin k:i, aacanaEa

or md, lci. u".

2) As to the numerals f have shown (S 123) that theyare allpurely Aryan. Cf. LSI I,2,p.3 sq. Even the ancienb

No. gO-t gg7 ] r,rNt;urs'uo cHAliAoit'ltli' oI' srN rrAl'ESIr .)(]

word. for 'thousand ' Sk. sahasra is preserved in Sinlnalese

dahas, iLas. The initial d is, for the sake of dissimilation'

taken from ilas len. In the IIIAVs this numeral is generally

replaced by the Perc. hazar.

Itisnoticeablethatfor each of thc numerals ll' 12' 13' 15

and 18 Sinhalese has two forms: The older lotnts erl" bara'

tera, pa4'ara at.d. atora, which are now obsolcte' correspond

to it-op" used in the MIAVs. Cf', e'g', Sinh' lera 13 : si'

terd'hd', h. terah, m. terd,,pi. terd', ass' bg' ol' g' tenc' Tl"other forms ekolos lI, dilis tZ &c' are derivates of Sk'

ekiid,aia, il,aad'aio &c., P. ekdclasa, d'aodasa' Dialectal mixture

in Sinhalese is made manifest by this fact'

III.Grammaticalinflexion.A)Nouns,substantivesand acljectives. General remarks: As to the

gend"" oi th" s u b s t a n t i v e s Sinhalese distinguishes anima-be

f,eings and inanimate objects; the first :utt.bo

male or female'

fl"'t*ngouge has thei'efore preserved the three genders'

It shares- this with Gujard'ti and Maralhi and forms in this

respect, as J. BLocH, LM, S 180 says' a^connected' Sout'h-

WJ*t""n gronp among the MIAVs' In Orrya .and.fenealianimate ir"ing* antl inanimate objects are distinguished as

in Sinhalese; but the masculine ancl feminine gend'ers have

Ji*upp"u""d, in Hindi t'he neuter' In the Sinhalese inflexion'

forms of masc. and fem. nouns are similar one to the other and

are clearly tlistinguished from thc neutral declension ($ 93)'

One has compared' the Sinhalese rvith the Dravidian

system. But there is a remarkable d'ifference' "Dravidian

,roorr* *r" divided into two classes, which Tamil grammarians

J"*"* by the terms high-caste ancl casteless' The former

includes such nouns as clenote beings endowed with reason'

tft" f.it"" all other nouns" (LSI IV, p' 289)' In Dravidian

languages animals siuch as tlogs, cats, mice can be included

in the second class.. In Sinhalese norrns of thab kind

never have the neuter gcnder.

The adject,ives, both att'ributive and predicative'

are uninflected irr sinhalese. The flexibility of the adjectives

3t) rouR,NAL, R,.A.s. (cEYLoN) [Vor,. XXXIV.

gradually disappears also in the lIIAVs. In Hind6staniand Mard,thi only those in -r7 are inflected ; in Oriy5, and

Bengali the formation of a feminine form has gone out' of

rrse (LSI IX. l, p.57; VII, P.25; V'2, p.380;V. l, p' 34).'We must, how-ever, notice that in Sinhalese each ailj. can be

rn:r,de a substantive by affixing the terminations of the three

geuclers (S 120). The comparison of the adjective is the same

as in all MIAVs ($ l2l). It may be sufficient to compare

tlre Hind6steni (Delhi) sentence us-lm bltd't, us'kt, ba,hi,n'

se zi,yada larnbrl hai' his brother is taller than his sister (LS1

IX.l, p. 602) wittr Sinhalese ohu'gE sohoyura ohu-gd soho-

11urt,-ta unSa usa-yi'.

'I'he irrf lexion of the substantives is

in the nrain features homogeneous in Sinhalese and in the

ItlAVs, though in dctails the formations may be of theirown kind in the single dialects. 1) Sinhalese and the MIAVspossess a direct ca,se (nom.) a,nd an oblique cascin Sing. and Plur.-2) Other oltl cases a,re prcserved

as more or less sporadic remnants in some of those dialccts'-3) New cases are formed by affixing postpositionsto tlie obl. case in all those dialects.

Art 1 : The S in g. tlir. c. has in Sinhalese the tcrmi-n:-ltion -r? in the masc., -7 in the fem' and -a in the neutl.dsslgn.sion. Among the IITA\rs l. rn. h. pj . have also -ar,vhich is derived from Pk. -ayo (J' Blocu' LII $ fgl .1).

But the Sinh. -a seems to be a trarrsfer of the obl. c. to the

nom. c., for we have in pet. L pute (cf' Mg' Pk. -e), later

puti, lhen ytut in per. 2 and pel. 3, often also in books,

and. gt'uta from the 10th c. onwards ($ 95'l).-The fem. -z

(.--ika) crorresporicls to -? in r.g.m'h. pj. (S 101.1).-Therrcrutr. -n. is a, remnant of Sk. -um',P' Pk. -am. In Sinh' -acould be preserved in a certain glonp of w-ords ($ 91.2 pdla<pholar.n) and was extended to all neutral nouns. The fornr-

ation is the same as in the IIIAVs: l.m.h' 91ha'r,ot. g1hcrta,

The S i n g. o b l. c. ends in -a in t'he masc.' in -iyu

in the fem. decl. The folmer is a contraction of 'aha (1

l{o. 90-1937] r-rNcursric cfiArilcrririi oh srNTrAr,DSE 31

Nl.iig. Irk. -d,h,r,r,,P. -r.r,.ssc,) illtl flcrpentl.y ocL,uls iu inscs. ofpc,r. I arid per. 2. lllAVs havc also -r7 (g.r.m.h.), butthis terrnination corresponds to that of the okl dat'. -d,ya

(J. Br,ocrr, a.a.O).-ilhe fen't. -iua. (< -yoi) contlacted -i,is - g.r.rn.h. -?.

The Plur. d ir. c. ends in -a.h,u, ( with elision of a :'hu)or in -o in the masc. and -iyo inthefem. decl. The masc. -o

is contracted frotn -ah,u ($ 98). I believe lbaL -ahu is : Sk.-asas, AMg Pk. -ao. The tclnination -o also occurs in g.:.bd,po of. bap father, balako ol bal,alc child. - The fem. ter:mina-tion -iyo (ct. ki,ki,li,yo) corresponds trt g. -io : cholc"ri6 oIchok'ri girl.

The Plur'. obl. c. has theternrinatictn -on, -uninthenrasc. and -iuaninthefen. decl. ($ 100). This -an is remna,nt,ofSk. -anam,P. -ancr,r7t,,Pk. -apa(m), and -dya,n of Ph. -iyarya(qn).Corrcsponding forms are 'r,videspread in the l\,ITAYs. Cf.r. nr. pj. l. -r7, anil fenr. r. m. -yfi,,1. -id,,pj. iri, -"x, anrl h.-'iya,n, -i,n (Br,ocn, IA, p. 176).

Aat 2. What I have said in arl I rnostly refers to theinflexion of nouns denoting animatc treings. In the neutraldeclension Sinhalese has preser.i'ed trvo old case-forms anrlbears a clecidedly archaic character. The Sing. instr.errcls in -en, -in: Sk. P. -Ena, Pk. -e1.xct, (5 107.2). Tracesof the same case exist in ancient Gujarati and ancient l,Iard,thi.Again the three languages form a, peculiar South-West-group.In g. thc termination.was -2, id in m. -Z (,f. Br,ocn, llf, $ tOSl.'Ihe instr. c. in Sinh. has taken up at the same time the func-tion of the abl. c., as aiceaersct,irt Latin the abl. c. that of theinstr. c.*The Sing. loc. entls either in -rr, more ancient-rii, or irr -eh,i contt'actetl to -d ($ I0T.B). The formel termina_tion cronespnds, f think, to Sk. p. pk. -e a,ncl J. Br,ocn ($ lg4)compares with it old m. -i. The termination -ehi, I take asa' renrnant of Sk. P. Pk. -asz which first became _ahi anrlthen by umlaut -ehi. It, coulcl remain unaltered" owing tothe 1tecLrliar character cif /a. It is tempting to compare thelocatives old maithili -ohi, -nhim 1 Clnrnr:,soN, fntrocl. to

32 JorrR,NAL, ll.^.s. (crYr,oN) [Vor. XXXIV No. 90-l937.1 r,rneursrrc orrAlr,acrnn, or sTNEALESE rf .1

able 1o l,r';lco tho ovol.ution of th.is rla,tivo casc in in.scs. ancl

literat,irle up to the rnodcln f<n'm sagafui (5112). In pl. thephrasc *the.rd.naqn a,tthd,ya (-am), *th€ra,n' attho has in the same

-5,11 1 rcli cleveloped to teru,n' ata, terun- ta,.

.As postposition for the instr. aisi,n (P. uosma) is optionallyrrsrxl in the m:ugc. and fem. declensions.

B. Verbs. General remarks: There are threercrnjugations in Sinhalese with the stem vowels a, i, e (inf.-anlt, -inlt, -pnu, SS 141-3). They are all derived from theold verbal stem in n. The conj. 2 has branchecl o{1 from conj.I for phonological reasons. The a- vowel has originallyrlropped and at a later time (in or shortly before per. 3) antr,rrxiliary vowel i was inserted. The sequel is Sk. rakparyn-" Pk" ralckhana > Old Sinh. ra,lcnu ) ralci,nu. One is

l,empted to trace the two conjugations back to the types't'litbanu : Sk. labhana and *rtilmTta - raksana (SS 24, 29),but in this case we must assume an early confusion of thetwo formations. The old causatives in -aya- (Sk.), -e-- (P"Pk.) are inserted in conj . I. Cf . ,rnoranrz to kill : Sk. miirayati,P. md,rdti, in the MIAVs. si. md,ra,rpu, tn. marrlZ, pj. mrirnd.Conj. 3 -enu (infuans. and pass.) is a derivation from verbstems in iya and d,ya. Cf . rilenuto adhere -P. alliyati, niuenutti be extingrrished : P. ni,bbayati. The scope of this conj.litr's immensely expanderl since lieriod 3. The verb ilenu togive: P. deil an<I aenu, to become :P. hrjti are inserteclirr t,his class.

Tlhe verbal systcrn o{ Sin}ialese is, in the main,t'he same as that of the NIIAVs. trt, is the resultani of aplocess of simplification which has begun in the Old-Indianef& and contimred in the Middle-Indian period. In somerv:spects it has srrrpassed the MIAVs in simplification. Newfrl|mations are not numerous and are all built up on an Aryanhrtsis. 1) Sinhalese has, in accordance with the MIAVs, as'ladical tense ' preserve<l the present, lvith the imperative.-ll) lt'he other tenses are formed with the help of participlescithcr preserrt or preteritc.-B) Thc nominal forms, derived

l,he rrraibh. dial. S 7tl, cprtited by P;LocH, p' f93) arxl bg'

-E itt grTr:ht, &c'' a'lso g.- C (-uE, -tE)'

Tn Sinh. the stem form is usecl as Plur" dir' c' of the

neutral declensiotr, apparently with a collect'ive meaning : alo

the hanrl, al the hands. Rut if the st' f is identical with the

Sing. dir. c., the $-ord -uo, is affixed to it in Pltr,: nuuara

the,- town (nlso st. f .), nuuarcl-unl thc towns' Obviously

t:his aal has the tneaning 'multit'ucle' or l'he like, antl since

its olcler form is l)ar,we Ina,y deriYe it frorn Sl<' aara (S 111)'

Similar paraphrastic fonnations occnr in Bengali ancl in

O1iya. In b. 'sakal (Sk. salcala all) is used in the same man-

rler as -ual ir Sinh. Cf. ga'ch Lhe fuee, guch-saftal the trees;

it or. -salcal'a or 'sabu (Pk. sa,bba, Sk' soroa) "

gha'ra the house'

ghara-sakakt, (or gh"-sabu') the housers' In o1' evcn t'o nouns

clenotinganimatebeingssrrchanourrofmultitrrcleisaffrxetlin plur:. prrrurr* the man, purusa-nldnl' thc men (LSI' V' I'p. 34, V2, p. 380). Theplirr. instr.,abl , dat' andloc' cases a're

parilphrasocl in Sinh. in the tleclension of a'll neut'ral noirt'ls:

irt-uiti,n, nuacr'ra-ua,li'n froin the ha'rxls (towns), at'aala[a''

nuaara-ottl(Lta to tho ht-r,r-r.cls (1,o'r'r'r'ts), n't'uctla', n'ut:ara'aalrt' in

the hrr,nds (towns).

^Ad 3: The use of postpositions is comlnon

to all lIIAVs. It begins alrea<ly in the ApabrarnSa' We

nrust, however, notice that, though the tendency is the same

in all clialects, )ret tlie r'r'orr.l.s used for the purpose are di#erent

(Ar,snonu, ZDM(i XCI, p. 442). In Sinh. the postpositions

-gE, -,c1en, -kereh'i are usecl for the gcn., abl', loc' cases lespect-

ively in the cleclerlsion of nouns rlenoting anirnato beings'

ancl -la, (-ata) fot the clat. c' in all cleclensions ($ 112)'

It is most probable t}tat -gE, -gen are derived from gehi',

gehenu in (from) the house of. The postp' Jcerehi' is more

limcult to explain. But it is quite inconceivable horv one

can doubt that -la, -ata correspond to MInd' 'at'Iham,

a,tthaya. A.lready in the Brahmi inscs. v'e rneet with sagahala'

ya, scrgaha-atayo, sagahaftr, (Ed. Ulur,r'nn, AIC' p' 73, No' 54;

EpZ I21156, III l78rG) :xsahghassatthd'ya' *sahghcr'ssa

ol,[lrugyt'. * suriglhassat[lta,m' as clcar tlative forms, a'ncl rve a're

34 JouR,NAr,, R.A.s. (caYLoN) fVot-. XXXIV.

from the verbal stern : participles, gerund, infinitive, are

generally corresponding to those of the MIAVs. -4) The

formation of the ca,usative stem is in accordance with thatof the modern Aryan dialects, the old 7a' passive is dis'placed, as in most of them, by a paraphrastic formation.

Atl 1: The Sinh. present has still its old. meaning,

while the correspontling forms in the MIAVs are generally

used as subjunctives. The personal suffrxes ($ 144) are

decidedly archaic and closely connected with the old auxiliaryvetb ahmi,, ahi &c,

It may be sufficient to compare the Sinh. present in'flexion (S 145) with that of Gujardti, Mar6lhi, Bengdli and

Hindi r

sg. ISinh. Maram(i)

g. md,rfi'

m. 'InQ,rL

bg. md,ri'

h. tnq'ru

sg. 2

Marahi(-yi)

mdtemartsmq,ra' \-rts)rtd,t'E

sg. 3

Mara(-ayi)

mdlEmd,ri,

mdrdmnrd

Pl.3Marat(i)

marErnaritmd,ren

mdl6,

Pl. I Pl.z

Sinh. Maramu(-mha) Maravu(-hu)

g. mfrliE mdro

m. mdrfi' mdrd'

bg. mdri mnrah. mar| mdro

i!

i

I

l

r

I

In conj. 2 we have Snh. bad,i'm(i) : bad,i,hi(-yi) : bad'c('i,yi')

&c. (v. bad,inu to fry) and in conj. 3 tilem(i) : cilehi,(-yi') :

cile@yi,) &c. (v. d,Ienu to adhere).

As a second 'radical tense ' a group of the MIAVs has

preserved the o1d s- future (L ma'rdsd, g'r' mdti{ I shall beat

: P. mi,ressdmi). It has disappeared" in Sinhalese as well

as in most Aryan dialects of India' In some of the latter anew fornr.ation, made with a b'suffix, is used as future tense.

Nr. 90-tg37l r,rNcurslrc cHARAcrErl, ox' srNrrAr,ESD 35

The formation of the imperative ($f50) inSinh'is also the same as in the MIAVs. The 2nd p. Sg. is the

pure verbal stem. Cf. Sinh. marakiJJ, pl' maraa with pj. g.

md,r: md,r6, m. md,r: md,rd,, h, md,r: vnd'ra'u' In conj. 2, 3bad,u: badiu, ciliya: riliyau ($ 150). To the Znd p. Sg. 'aa,

older -ga, can be affixed inthe three conjugations. I cannotexplain this syllable (? particle)"

Ail 2: A participial tenso is formecl a) lvith thepresent participle. There is a difference betlveen

'Sinh. and the MIAVs. The pprs. of the former ends in-antr, -ina,, -ena, inflected -annd, <-anuud, &c. ($ 137), anct

derives from the Sk. pprs. in -d,na(lca). It occurs alreadyjn per. 1 of Sinh. aasanaka (spelt for uasanalm) 'dwelling 'in a Brahmi insc. of the 4th c. A.C., EpZ III, p. 1773. Cf.

H. Slrrrrr in Btocu, IA, p"260. Among the modern AryanIanguages in fndia the Dardic dialects alone possess a pprs.in -an, -iin. The other 1\,IIAVs have forms derived fromthe P. Pk. pprs. tn -anto (Br,ocn, LM, S 255). In Sinh., tothe inflected pprs. the same terminations as in the presentare affixed i mardnnem(i), bad,i,nnem(i), rilennem(d) (S 149).The tense was primarily a habitual present, exactly corres-ponding to Eng. I am beati,ng. But afterwards it is used. as

f u t u r e. fn the 3rd persons the participle stands aloneas an adjective ; the copula must be supplied : Sg. -nnE,

Pl. onno.

Analogous forms, pprs. f v. aux., are frequent in theItIAVs. They are called 'present definite ' in the LSI.Nearest to Sinh. are those forms where bv contraction theY. aux. has coalesced with the participle. I shall comparehere Lahndd (Multdn dial.), and MarS,thi (Poona dial.) withSinhalese :

sg.r sg.2 sg. 3

Sinh. Marannem Marannehi MarannE

l. (rn.) marenn6,

m. (p.) mdldtdma,rennE

maratosm,arenne

m,a,ratd

36 Joun,NAL, R,.A.s. (cnrrr,oN) [Vor,, XXXIV.

P].ISinh. Marannemu1.(-.) mardnned,m.(p.) mdrat6

Pt.2Marannihumardnnedmd,ratd,

Pt.3MaranndmarEnnenmdtatd,t

"Bg. m,aritam, -t€, -ta ; -td,m, -t€,, -ten which has the mean-

ing 'f used to beat' seems to belong to the same formation.Irr other dialccts the v. aux. is separated from the par.ticiple,as in h. mriratd, hA 'I am beating,' pl. md,rate hai, or ibsforms are put behind those of the present, as in g. mdrtr, ohtt,,nzdrd che &c.

b) Preterite tenses are {ormed with the help of thepreterite participle. In Sintr. the pprt. ends in-ru (conj. I) or -i (conj. 2) ; both forms are derived from thepprt. in P. -,ita, Pk. -i,a, -ida ($ 138). Derivatives of the samepprt. occur in several MIAVs. Cf. mriru beaten, inflectedmciruad., with si. r. g. md,ryo or -16,1. mareii,.h. mard,. Ass. b.bg.of . m. have a different formation with a l- suffix (Br,ocrr,IA., p.270). In conj. 3 of Sinh. the pprt. ends in -er2zz.

This form is of comparatively late origin. It did not comeinto use before per. 3 and often alternates with that in -iin the archaic literature. By the comparison of P. alltyati :

all'tna wil,h rilenzt : ciluq,u one is tempted to derive -r1,'u fromthe Sk. sufr. -na, but tbis is made improbable by the historicalspelling with r.t,.

In order to form the preterite tense the sameberminations as in the 'future' tense can be added either a)to the inflected form of the pprt. or b) to its stem form(S$ l4ti-8). There is no difterentiation between transitiveand intransitive verbs. In conj. 2 Lhe i, is elided, if thepreceding consonant can be doubled by assimilation witli theensuing y. ln the 3rd person sg. and pl. the copula mustagain be supplied.

Conj. l. Sg. f a) mriruuem6 marltae, -,ua

Pl. 3 mciruad, (-uaha)

b) mririmminmd,rd,ha

No. g0--i1)il7] r,rNGursrrc Or{ARACTDTi oF srN}rAl,trlslt 37

Corrj. 1. Sg. I a') rciklcem'(<rcikiyem) h) rrilctm

Withcut assimilation hiti,yem I stood hitr'nt,

Corrj. B. Sg. f a) cilur.tem b) tiltm

'llbe Sinh. preterite has a decidedly archaic character.

li is tlie direct continuation of a construction which occur$

in Pnii. Here the pprt. in -la is by no means exclusively

lrtr,ssive, bnt can also be used in active meaning: pul{ha

rxea,ns 'one who has been asked ' or 'one who has asked '

(V" Hrixnv, Pr6cis de Grammaire PA,lie, p. t09). Examples :

1;altd 'si n'ibbdnam thou hast attained the Nirvana (Dhp

i34o sec also D I.374) and in a text which is composed inCeyion : satygahaqn tatiyary' kt't6 he held (the copula must' be

sripplied) the third council, Dip 7. 40. In the oldest periodoi the Sinh. language, in the Prakrit of the Brahmi inscs., we

rneet with n'iyate, d'ine, d,ini, in active meaning ' he has grantedor given' (AIC No. 1, Guenn, Testschrift' fiir Wintelnitz,1r. 320 ; EpZ. I, p. 62a, 148 b, 692, III, p. 1166'7, 155, 1654,

1664, 2504). These forms are the bridge which leads fromthe Pre-Prakritic period through the Proto-Sinhalese tirnel,o the classical form of the language.

ln the MIAVs the formation of the pret. of I n t r a n-,i i l, i v e verbs is on principle identical with that in Sinha-lr:se: pprt.fpersonal suffixes or v. aux. (the pron. pers. f,littxl &c. is preceiling) ; the third persons are the pprt. inndjoctive form sg. and pl., the copula being supplied. Thus,ftrr instance, 1. ged, ' I have gone ' is in accordance withu\furh. giyern, P. gato'nthi and. aeti I have come with Sinh.i,oern,(i), P. agato 'mhi, LSI V[I. l, p. 267).

Ljf. nlsr-r m. Sg. L. gcl6Pl. I. gel6

bg. Sg. l. geldmPl. 7. gelam

(LSI VII, p. 407, V. 1, p. 384) and in the Tinauli sub.dia]ectof Lahnda (LSI VIII, l, p. 583) :

2. geld,s 3. g\lLr

2. sdld, 3. gala

2. geli 3. gela

2. gele 3. gela

3S Joulr,NAL, R.A.s. (cEYLoN) [Vot. XXXIV.

l. (t.) Sg. l. grti 2. gi(i 3. gi'a

Pl. l. ged' 2. geo 3. gai

Silrh. Sg. L. gi'yem 2. giyehi 3. giYa

Pl. I. giyemu 2. giyahu 3. giyo

In some Indian C.ialects the copula must bc srrppliedin the lst antl Znd persons also, antl rnerely the sg. and pl.forms crf the pprt. a,re distinguished. Thus g. htt' gayo Irvent, pl. arne gayu (LSI IX. 2, p. 474) and in pi, nm'\' g'ia,

asl, gad, (ih. IX. l, p. 820). There are also prt. forms in some

dialects in which thc v. aux. is separately added to the pprt',tlrus in g.hil, gayo chtt', arn; gaya chid.lit. 'I gone am, we gono

are.' (ib. IX. 2, p. 342).

But the preterite of Transitive verbs is

differently formed in tho Western group of the MIAVs.Here thc constr:uctiou is passive. Instead of ' I killed hirn 'one says 'he has been Jrilled by nte,' or even impersonally'by mc with referencc to him it 'rvas killed' (LSI IX. l,p. 51). In the Eastern group, howevcr, the construction is

now active as in Sinhalese. The Bengali setrtence dmi (sg.

nonr. : I) tahd-lta (sg. acc : him) mdri,Id'm' (prb. sg. 1, cf . abovegelarn) 'I was lieating him' (LSI V. l, p. 9) exactly cor-

responds to the Sinh. sentertce mama ohu tnciruuert,

Art 3: The formation of the pprs. and pprt. has been

cliscussed above. I mav only add that the 'historical'forms of thc pprt. mentioned in $ f 38d have their countor-

parts in the lIIAVs. Cf. Sinh. dutu, seen (Sk. dgpfo) withsi. rJilho, g. drthtl; nata ruined (Sk. nasta) wiLh m. natha,,

h. nd,th; sun broken (Sk. chi'nna) rvith si. chino, m. Sina;giya gone (Sk. gafo) with h. ga,Aa, pi. l. gea', g. gtltJtr. The

part. fut. pass. (Sk. -tauya) has disappeared in Sinhalese,

but the g e r u n d (or absolutive) is in frequent use. There

are two gerunds: L pr cs ent gerund, II. preteriteger und. The forrner is peculia,r to the Sinh. language,

but its Aryan origin is indubitable. It errds in -mi'n (conj.I : ntaram'in, 2 : rakimin, 3 : cilemi,n) and is obviously the

sg. instr. of a verbal noun in -nzo ($ f56). The form in 'iz

l{o. 90*-1937] r,rNcrirsrrc cHARAc'I'rR oF srNHAr,ESr, 39

is ;llott(r prtsolv<rl irr t,ftc rlccJt,rrsiotr of tJrir,t, v(rrb. ttoun,bub tlre rrourrs ending fur -irrt.u,, -u,m,u wh.i<:h a,r'e mr doubtrelated to it are flexible. - The pleterite gerund ends in -d

in conj. 1, in -n, in conj. 2, and in -i in i'qrrj . 3 : inarai, rdka,(older rtikci), dh (S 157). The -d of conj. I can easily bederived t'hrough the older -ay (in per.2 antl per.3) a,nd -aya(irr per. l) from Middle-trnd. -aya (P. ud,ctya, but also gahd,yaalterntr,ting wiL}r gayha). The form in -a (older -ri) of conj. 2becomes perhaps intelligible, if we comp are i,pttido, havingLreen boln (v. upad,inu,) with P. uprytajja, Sk. utpad,ya. Ina similar manner we can also derive rcika from *-ralclcha:Sk. -rnlcpya; m,ci(,a having trampled from x-maclcla:Sk.-m,yilga" 'Ihe ger. of conj.3 is again a later form; the olrlerytci,m,i,ry,a, 'ha,virig arrived': conj. 2 (v. primiqtenu) for primiqtnocclrrs still in the l2th century.

The gerund forms in Sk. -lr.'a, p. -tud,, -tuna, pk. -td,pa,,^i,ttu ltave no derivates in Sinh. cxcept perhaps ko{a havingrnade. It is also difficult to conrpare the Sinlralese gemnclrvith thci various forms of the lIIAVs., most in -Z (si. l. g.)trr -ri 1p1.;, si. also in -d,, -yo, -yii,inbg.in -iga. They must,I tlrink" be connected r,vith the pk. forms in -iyuna, Apa-hlrra nrsr, iu -iui,, -a,ui, -eui,. But note of tlrem can be so clearlytracetl l.raek to the Old-Indian prototype as the Sinh. geruncLsin -ri,

?he formation o{ the inf initive requires only a,siroli, notice (S lbg). All forms occurring in Sinhalese arctlr',r'irr.ri.l trom the verbal noun Sk. in -anal The same is thecasr, irl d.}le bIIAVs. Cf. Br,ocu, IA p. 2g3, LM S 26b.

Art4: tr'inally, afewwords on p a s s ive and. C au s -

:t*' j.u-l a) The sign of Passive is ya in Sk., ya, iyo,

i31ri in-P., y)cl in Pk., blt yya in paiS6cr. It is preserved in;L',f.ri-MfAVs : si. ry, .i,".rj. In Sinh. this formation has been

:-:lnrjnated and replaced by a paraphrastic one : inf.fv.tttoofltt to get ($ l5b). One savs gasanl:lubam,l get.beating..

,(^r!,r,u ,lcibuaem

, f got beating , instead of ,i um 1*os;Itt':r.1t'n.' That worrlcl be in p. ghalnsanaqn tabh(imi (adtlhA

i

I

ir

l

I

I

i

1

itI

I

I

i

I

t!rIi

ll

i,

,10 .IoultNAL, n.A.s. (cEYr,oN) [Vor,. XXXIV.

'rnh,i). 'flic r,onstntct'itxr is Alyilrt. [f tvc a,rlmit :l foleigrlinfluence, it woulcl merely conceln tllc tendency. Thc same

tendency is met with in the lIIAVs. In g. bg. h. pj. thepassive voice is paraphrasecl by the pprt.fv. yii t'o go. Cf.h.. mai mdrd, jata hil, I am beaten, mtti, marci gaya I $'as beaten.

-b) The sign of Ca u s ative is aa, aua in Sinh. This isno doubt the paya, d,paya, d,pe of. P., ud, d'ue of Pk. Cf.

Sinh. morauona I cause to kill : P. marapetnf ($ 153). The

sanre formation is that of the IIIAVs: g. du, m. au, d'u, h.

aa, pj. aii,u (si. l. op bg. a). Cf . m. basr.t'Z to sit '. bas"ai2td toca,use to sit" Cf . Sin}'. uasinu, Dasucrnu. Double causativeswhich are frequent in Sinh. ($ 153 D) also occur in the MIAVs.Cf. Braj Bhake dial., LSI IX. 1, p. 81 : cal"na'[i to go, caus.

cald,aana{t', d.c. cal" uaa"rwtr'.

The comparison of the Sinhalese nominal and verbalsystem with that of the IIIAVs makes its Aryan characterrnanifest. This character is not altered by some discrepancies

in details nor by the fact that a few formations in Sinhalese

have not, yet satisfactorily been explained. I mention theconditional mood ($ 152) and in the colloquial language the

forms in -ana'ud,, -inaad,, -enauii for all persons in the present

tense and the future forms sg. I and pl. I in -it'fi'd', -ilfi'arnu

(S 160). The formation of the optative m'aram-ati, marahi-ud'

&c. ($ l5l) is no doubt strange, but certainly made withAryan elements. Weare perhaps allowed to quote as analog-

ous formatiorr, extrinsically only, the past conditional in

Lahndd, ; rniird,-ho, rnlir6-ha, md'r€-hd' &c. (LSI VI[. ],p. 307)"

But I mtrst add here a short remark which would have

its proper place rather in the chapter on the Sinhalese Voca-

bulary. W. f'. Gunawardhana (quoted JRAS.CB. No. 89,

p. 236) says : ' In Tamil, there are two verbs pod,u 'to put '

and, uiQu 'to leave ofl',' which are affixecl to other verbsjust for the sake of vivid expression, the subst'antive verb,in this case, being put in the perfect participle. There isno such idiom in any known Aryan language' But the

irlionr ohtnirrs in Sinha,lese.' I rva,s leally astorrished when

No. 90-l 9ll7 | lrlcursTrc olrall,Ac'r'llll, ori srNr{At,Esrl 4I

I rcacl this statement,. Did rrot the learned }Iudaliy.r,rlinorv thu,t thc for:mation of such composite verbs (substan-

tivc velb irr a, st. form *f inflected verb of more genelal mean-

ing) a,re orter of the most characteristic features of all MIAVs.I r.cftr. to GnrnnsoN, Maithili Grammar, p. 290 sq., and to(lii.rr"ltit',Jt, BengS,li Language, p. 1049 sq. Of. a,lso Atsuonn,ZDf"f(i XCI, p. 445-6. Suchformations are due to Dravidianilllucrrce, as Cu",trrpn.rr has shown, but it was the Mudaliyar'sincomprchensiblc error to take them as an icliom peculia,r toSinhalcse. I may also point to the fact that similar combi-riill,ions, sulxl,. v. gerundf t-. titthati or uiharati frequentlyoccur in Pali. Cf. ubho atth| santad,higayha titthati ' cont-

1rr:ises two blessing objects,' S f.8621 ; pa{hamajjhd,narpu,pasampujja uihctrati 'he enters on thc first state of trance 'D I.373. The substantive velbs get b;r tittha,ti and uiharatithc rneraning of an accornplished action or of a permanentsta,te.

IV. Morle of Expression. I hope I can bc brief inthis chapter. trf we compare a Sinha,lese text with an older one,for instance, a Pali text, we notice, of c<turse, some discre-l.lancies, but for the main their similarity in style is obvious.llhe Sinhalese mode of expression is somewhat prolix owingto the ma,ny verbal and nominal honorifics which a,re partlyrltre to' Bnddhist mentality. Ifor bhagaud, bhauantardna'paticchonnaln kdlarynm pakatarp akasi (Jd" I 13723) the Sinh..Iitalra-book has bhd,gy aaot -uil, builu -raj ano,n-uahans e bhouon-tara -praccha,ntut, -uil, kararyaya aad,ala- sdka.

With Otd- and }fiddle-Indian the Sinha,lese languageslrares the peculiarity that it does not possess an orati,orll,iclua, but quotes all that one may think or say in his ownr1',.;1.{s ; go (: Sk. iti) and ki,ya ,having said so, or sitcT,havingilrought so' a,r'e put at the end of the senterrce. The pro-lr,;ity cf Sinhalese sometimes becomes manifest in the fact1 i,,1f , Jrsgiflss ltiya at the end of the sentence, the gerwcl kiya-;tt:tr. 'saying' may be put at the beginning of the oratio recta.

ilhe use of the g e r. u n d is as much in vogue in Sinha-it'st.r a's it is in the older Aryan languages. All the actions

42 JOlni,NAL, n,.A.s. (clryr,oN) [Vor,. XXXIV.

which are subordinate in time or otherwise are expreSsed bygerunds, the main action alone by a finite verb. The lengthof a sentence carr become very great by the gerundial con-struction, chieflv in literary works (see below). 'Ihat dependsupon the taste or eruclition of the author. Brrt gerundsare also used in the colloquial language i tn(r?ne, gohin efi.ft,a,

lit . I having gone sha,ll come.

\{rithin the serrtence the order clf words is quite thesame as it is prescribed in Sanskrit. The subject comesfirst, the verb or prealicate stands at the end, o{ the sentence,the object and adverbial determinations stand betweensubject and preilicaLe : kailuuo Sudd,ha-no-kiromen malakad,akd,aa,lit'. the sword by not cleaning ate rust (GuF., Gr. p. 465,No. f38) ; ?ninii,-m&ruad, elld,-daman-ta ,iss&ra, ellr, mciruq,a,lit. the murderer before hanging (i.e. before being hanged)lraving hanged himself (v" ellenu) died (ib. No. f33). Ofcourse, the order of words can be altered owing to momentaryreasons. Often the adverbial determination may stand atthe beginning of the sentence, as e.g. e-kalhi . 'at thattirne . .' : Sk. P. t&dii. . . ("f. below).

The attlibute, be it an adjective or a genetive, has itsplace before the noun v'hich it qualifies. This too corres-ponds to tbe olcl Aryan sL-v\e: mama ohu.gd bd,l,a, putd,'I amlris youngest son ' wculd be in P. aham tassa kani,ttha-putfti. Theuninflected arlj. f subst,. is really a karmadhdraya compound.'Io an attril-rutive aoj. sometimes -od (Sk. P.bhilto,) is affixed.Prototypes of this construction are met with in P. (S 120.1).

The near relatiorr in style of Sinhalese to Pali becomesmanifest by comparing the translation of the Jdtaka-bookwith the original text. The translation, if we omit wordsor phrases which are inserted in order to make the narrationclearer, is indeed almost a chdya, i.e. a word-for-word transla-tion, and I must emphasize that this Pansiyapanas-j5,taka-book is read and understood rlot, only by all educated Sinha-lese, but also by people of the middle and" lower cdasses. I

No. 90-tr.937] r,rNGursrro crrARAcrax, on'srNrralnsE 43

t1r.r6ic 1,rvo l)ilssli,gos which tr,re picked orrf, qrrito ctt,su:llly.

'I'1c wr.rrcls pr:intetl in Ittr,lics arc tho rururing Sinhalesc text,.

Jn L 18912 : PspJ 8933: tadd e-kathi, Ekd ek kukkur6sunc,klr,ay ek mangala-hatthi-sElarn mahgul - cit -hala - ta gantv E"

gos rrrarigala-hatthissa maitgul. ritd, bhufljana-llhd,nd onu-Itluttu,-lr:arana-tanhi' patitdni aritu2td,-ul7 bhatta-sitthd,ni bat-

lul r,t, klra"dali anubhaua-karannd.ya . ' At that time a dog havingr,ourt-' to th.e stable of the royal elephant, used to eat thebits of rice that had dropped at the royal elephant'splacc of feeding.'

.In'1. 26512 : PspJ 1626: idjd rajjrcru,ulparysun6 sithila"lrlravanr pas-si,thi,la-niyd,ua fi,atvtt, d,cina sigalam krit.tahild,virsaijetvd htira, n5,ga-bal6 cit-bala-citi thama-sampanno.i*,ki,i - sarnltann&-kincittd apariparam obinoba samcar ant-o kara-kri't,n lde-Iti,ta-ttt, nrimn) ubho hatthE dd,ta ukkhipitvd, osaurl;.r,vnta-mukhava!{iyam rnuu&-ai[a, 6lubbha elba vaLa-cchinna-vrilrrhako v iy a, sulaitgi,n kad.o,fuimil, uald,hul,ak naera nikkhamitvd,.thit6 ltaalin udof nciitgr,-sita amttccl anrcityayan assd,setvfl,n,vuo.srl pamsum pas viydhitv-a prrd sabbC siyallauun :uddha-r itvl. g ot{.ct -nair,g d, amacca-parirmto amdty o,yan aisin p iriuarana-fn,rl,u-trr 5,maka-sus6,nE arnu sohonehi althd,si si,tiyahuya.'\d|[rol the king saw that the earth had become loose helt'ilrased the jackal and with the strength of an elephant,irr-rirrn

"nUowed with vigour, he rnoved to and fro antl having

grtl iiis two hands free he planterl them orr the erlge of thetri1, a'ixl got out of it like unto a cloucl which has been tornlrl' tire rvind, he encour:r,ged his ministers and rcmovirrg thelttlf h lit' hclperl thern out (of the pit) and stootl in the,;,r,rtltc{i{r;',!' srrrr.orrnrl.rrl by lris mirristers.,

N()'lI.l : Quotations in brackets as, e.g. ($ 60), refer to my Gramrnarof th_e Sinhale*u J.a"gu"gu, 1'9Ub. ",i,'h;

abbreviatr.ons arernainl.y those usecl rn'it*' sir*,ur-"*" ijiiuora",