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The Sri Lankan Language Community and Social Effects of Sinhalese Diglossia

By Professor Mallawa Arachchige Nimal Karunaratne

University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

Introduction

Sri Lanka is a small island situated on the southern tip of the Indian Peninsula in the Indian

Ocean. Even though it is a small island, its significance in the Asian region has always been felt

with great interest with whoever came in contact with the island nation. Socially, culturally,

linguistically and geographically, Sri Lanka presents a variety of interests to be explored and

enjoyed. Strategic situation of the island in the Indian Ocean has always be a key factor for the

external powers to look for settlement in the island. Historically encounters with various rulers

from the mainland had the interest of making the island a part of their kingdom. In the latter part

of the history during the colonization, the Portuguese, Dutch and the British managed to maintain

their authority on the island nation for varying periods of time of which the longest being the

British who were the last colonizers. Except for the issue of sovereignty of the people on the

island under the colonial rule, there are certain aspects which lent to enrich or change the social,

cultural, political, economic and linguistic outlook of the country. Sri Lanka has always

maintained a close affinity to its neighbors in the region socially, culturally and linguistically.

Sri Lanka as a nation comprises of people from two main ethnic origins namely Sinhalese and

Tamil with smaller numbers of Malays, Persians, Chinese and Arabs living in harmony. The

island also enjoys the co-existence of all the major religions namely Buddhism, Hinduism,

Christianity, Islam and Baha‟i. Ethnically, Sinhalese are the majority and their main religion is

Buddhism. Three main languages are in use namely Sinhala, Tamil and English with Arabic and

Malay being confined to the cultural and religious activities of the respective groups. Thus it is

clearly evident that Sri Lanka belongs to one of the multilingual, multi-religious and

multicultural nations in the region. Like any other country in the region, Sri Lanka has its own

issues to address internally and where possible with the help of its neighboring nations. The

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point that I would like to bring to discussion is Diglossia1 which is one of linguistic interest even

though it has political ramifications. I would like to briefly examine the points of diglossia in the

Sinhala Language which is the language of the majority of speakers.

Sinhala Language Community and Ethnicity

Language is a collective creation of human society. Each language is closely connected with

each community to which it belongs. A community needs a language. On the other hand a

language also needs a community. Accordingly language and community can be identified as

interdependent. Man, the unique creature that is a blend of faculties of senses and intellect both

achieves perfection with his or her capability of language. Language capabilities not an

inheritance derived genetically from parents. It is acquired through regular contact with the

society and environment in which one is born. Man has created a lingual world; it is a result of

his own effort.

An investigation of various communities belonging to various countries in the world clearly

shows that the common use of any language by any community tends to create a true unity

among that particular circle of people. In the same manner, the Sinhala and the Tamil, the two

major communities in Sri Lanka seemed to have coexisted depending on the language preserving

their racial identity. This can be identified as language community. Further, a language

community need not be confined to one particular geographical, political or territorially

continuous area. English language community is a fine example in this regard. Although Britain

and continents of America and Australia consist of various different people speaking different

languages, English language binds all these countries together and makes them a single speech

community. It is the state language in many countries. The Tamil speaking community, which is

a minority in Sri Lanka, spreads out South India, South Africa etc.

1 Oxford Dictionary- “Diglossia” word (mod.l; ad. F. diglossie, f.Gr..bilingual+IA.) (2nded), 1959, C.A. Ferguson in word XV.325 Diglossia.

In many Speech Communities two or more varieties of the same language are used by some Speakers under different conditions…The term

‘diglossia’ is introduced here, modeled on the French diglossie, since there seems to be no word in regular use for this in English,

1964, E Palmer tr. Martinet‟s Elem. General Linguistics V. 139, Linguists have proposed the term ‘diglossia’ to designate a situation where a

community uses… both a more colloquial idiom of less prestige and another of mo learned and refined status.

1965, Language XLI.502, The Concept of diglossia rests on the observation that different languages or dialects enjoy varying Social and

political status within a community.

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Although the same language community is thus found in a number of countries due to historical

reasons, the origins of each of these language communities are different. The birthplace of the

Sinhala language community is Sri Lanka. Nowhere else in the whole world is found a Sinhala

language community. In Sri Lanka a community of Tamil speakers, a minority sprang up as a

result of the military policy of Medieval South India and the colonial control exerted over Sri

Lanka by Great Britain. In fact the spread of the English speaking community all over the globe

itself is a result of colonialism. In view of this it is clear that a language community is usually

confined geographically and both politically to one and the same locality

Except for a few languages such as English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, and Chinese

used in many parts of the world each of the rest languages, which comprises of some thousands

of languages seems to be confined to a particular area which is geographically independent of the

rest. Sometimes there may be a number of different states comprising a particular region, which

is geographically different from others yet using one and others yet using one and the same

language. The Arabic speech community is a nice example for this. Even if fall the states are

using one and the same language yet there may be good number of language sub divisions within

that speech community depending on various political, economic and cultural factors peculiar to

those states. A unit thus politically divided is known as a language society. Moreover, in the

modern world, it is common to find instances at which owing to historical reasons a number of

language communities have come within the control of a single state. A state of this kind can be

treated as a language community and such communities can be called as multilingual societies.

Sri Lanka is a multilingual society. It consists of the Sinhala language community and the Tamil

language community, which are the majority and the minority respectively. Although these two

language communities coexisted for a number of centuries there have been various conflicts

based on the language issue from time to time, between these two communities. The problems

such as the official language issue, which has been a controversial subject since the 1950 decade

up to a recent date, are excellent examples for this. History asserts that there have been

problems-conflicts- even bloodshed led by the language issue in almost all the fields such as

public administration, education and economic development etc.

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Sinhalese nation and language has an unbroken history, which dates back to some thousands of

years. Some enthusiasts of language go to such an extent as to claim that Sinhala language which

is quite independent is whatsoever not affiliated as old as Sanskrit.2 Sinhala seems to be a

language with written evidence of great antiquity which dates at least to the 3rd century BC.3 In

the sense Sinhala is a language of great age.

Classification of language on the basis of nation (to which it belongs) goes back to distant past.

Factors which can be offered in support of the justification of such classification are innumerable.

Classification of languages by the names of the nations to which they belong has been the

practice from the very inception, because of the intimate relationship that existed between the

nation and the language. Thus the mother tongue of the Sinhalese or Sinhalese nation is the

“Sinhala” language and likewise “Tamil” is the language of Tamils. The expression that there is

no language without a nation and no nation without a language is an essential feature of

nationalism. It is evident from a investigation into modern language communities that the close

relations that had existed between the language and the nation at the beginning were

subsequently lost owing to the growth and spread of the kind of languages and nations referred to

above either through the spread of one and the same language among different nations or through

the learning of different languages by one and the same nation.

Numerous factors can be given to show that there exists no essential relation between the

language and the nation although there does exists such relation between the language and the

language and the community. Any child belonging to any nation acquires language from his

environment and not as something transmitted to him by birth. Even in the present-day world

there are nations which do not know what their mother tongue is. Indians who live in South

America use Spanish as their mother tongue in spite of the fact that they already possess their

own national language. Muslims who live in present Sri Lanka and South India use Tamil

language. But they are never identified as Tamils. This clearly shows that the strongest factor

which determines one‟s language is the environment in which he lives. Further there are

2De Alvis, James, (1852), The Sidath Sangarava, A Grammar of the Sinhalese Language, Colombo, 1966 ed. pp. xviii 3 De Alvis, James, (1865-66), Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Oxford University press. London , pp. 143-156; (1867-70), pp1-86;

Rhys Davids, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, NS.vii, Oxford University press. London p 35 etc.

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instances where the spread of one language causes the decline of another. Arabic is treated as the

language of Muslims when they are considered as a nation. However, in North India, especially

the Muslims and many other people belonging to other nations use “Urdu” language. Urdu

language emerged following the conquest of India by Muslims who spoke Arabic. Actually

speaking Urdu is not the mother tongue of Muslims but a mixture of Hindi and Arabic languages.

But Urdu has become a national language of Muslims today. These circumstances also confirm

that language and community are the two major forces which interact on each other.

Literary Language and Standard language

The Sinhala tongue also like any other language must have been only in the form of speech at

the beginning. The written form must have been established but with the passage of time when

the nation become more refined. The Introduction of a literature by means of the written form is

the feature/ nature of any developed language. Literature is a supplementary thing produced by

language itself. Literary language is but a higher phase of the speech form. However, the literary

language is governed by a code of rules which is responsible for the proper and regular guidance

of the former. This is what we called grammar. A language is governed by a grammar. This is

the reason why the literary language or the writing does not undergo a rapid change.

There is a developed literary tradition even in Sinhala Language, which possesses written

evidence since the 3rd century BC. are splendid examples for this. It is also the literature which

is the chief factor which contributes to a standard language which had been either a dialect or an

under developed language confined only to speech at the beginning. The standard language thus

emerged becomes also the official language of that country. Florence language, a dialect in Italy

is said have been converted into a standard language owing to the literary works of a few writers

such as Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. The total credit for making the modern Bengali the

standard language of Bengal goes to modern men of letters led by (sir) Rabindranath Tagore.

World languages such as French, Russian and English captivate the minds of the learned and

critics all over the world for the value of colossal literature they possess. Although Arabic is the

religious language of the Muslims it is Persian which is honored as their literary (especially

poetic) language. The Muslims in countries such as India, Russia, Turkey and Indonesia learn

Persian even today for the essential affinity it has with its literature. Even the languages such as

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Sanskrit, Latin and old Greek etc. achieved international stays because of the worthiness of

literature they possess.

It is evident from the above circumstances that even the literary language assists in sustaining

not only any language tradition through a standard language which is cantered on a written form

in any country or in any nation but also it helps to have inter relations among different language

tradition in the world.

Language Policy and Ethnic Problem in Sri Lanka

While the Sinhalese, the major nation and Sinhala, the major language dates back to some

thousands of years. The Tamil nation and Tamil language also seems to have been established

since 11-12 centuries AD. in Sri Lanka. The Tamil community which has increased by now up to

18% of the total population of Sri Lanka seems to have migrated from South India to the North

of the Sri Lanka where they settled down.

Although Sri Lankan Sinhalese and Tamils, the two communities speak two different

languages they had never been divided, racially, culturally or socially and on the other hand

together they fought colonialists for the independence and territorial integrity till a recent date.

These two communities, the Sinhalese and the Tamil never considered language as a barrier

which kept them apart. But since the gaining of the national independence, circumstances were

changed where new national state concept and the language policy aroused an ethnic conflict.

As a result of this a civil war was waged for 3 decades in Sri Lanka. Many people think the

major reason is the establishment of Sinhala as the official language since the National

Independence4It was in these circumstances that (the issue of) language as the chief device for

restoring peace came to the fore. Accordingly Tamil language was also accepted as an official

language. It was made law by amendments Nos. 13 and 16 made to the Constitution.5 The

Constitution (1978) specifies the present law pertaining to the language.

Although an attempt has been made by the contemporary (ruling) government so as to solve

the ethnic problem through the above procedure by then the matter had gone too far and it had

4 Official Language Act, No. 33 of 1956, Language chapter, Constitution of Sri Lanka, Government press, Colombo 5Amendment to Constitution- 13-16 Chapter iv, 1978

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been already grown into a state of terrorism. It was though the minorities would work together

with the major community yet without success up to date. Accordingly the Department of

Official Languages which was established in 1956 was made more functional in 1978 and an

attempt has been made to implement the new legislation on language more meaningfully

throughout Sri Lanka. The role of the Department of Official Languages can be presented in

summary form as follows.6

*Sustaining the responsibility vested with the Ministry of Public Administration, Local

government and home affairs for the implementation of the legislation enacted on official

languages.

*Conduct of researches and compilation of dictionaries, glossaries and books etc. in order to

make the legislation on language meaningful.

* Keeping the public informed of the legislation on language.

* Functioning as the chief government translator

* Holding language course for state and corporation sector employees so as to provide them

with language skills.

* Holding Annual Language efficiency Examinations and recommending minority incentives.

* Amending various forms issued by government institutions for the use among the public so as

to facilitate for them to understand those documents.

Although the freedom of using any language was granted by legislation rectifying the old

mistakes done by politicians who intentionally fulfilled their own trivial objectives the exercise

of the freedom has not been practically feasible up to date. Although language training projects7

were conducted in the recent past by the Dept. of Official Languages results obtained therein

proved inadequate. A large number of language centers were built spending a big sum for this

purpose.8 But this huge project on the theme “Ethnic Harmony and Peace through language,

provide fruitless than they thought it to be.

When a member of the community calls at a government office over an affair of his even today

6 Nimal Samarasundara, Commissioner, Official Language Dept., from a talk at a language conference, Colombo, 1978

7Language Training Project 1999-2000, Department of Official Language, Sri Lanka 8 Location of Language Centers in the Provinces, Department. of Official Language, Sri lanka,2000

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he will rarely be attended to through the medium of language he desires. One seldom gets even

his reply in the language in which he addressed the letter. This is the reason why there is a strong

tendency towards English as the link language in place of both Sinhala and Tamil which are open

to dispute.

Other Languages used in Sri Lanka

Majority of people living throughout Sri Lanka except Northern Province and Eastern coastal

region speak Sinhala Language. As, it has already been pointed out that Tamil which comes

second is the principal language mainly among the Tamil living in Northern and Eastern

provinces and Indian Tamils living in central hills. In Addition to this, Tamil is spoken even by

Sri Lanka Muslims. Muslims who count about 7% of the Total population of Sri Lanka spread

island wide. Especially in the Eastern province, following their invasion which took place in 13-

14 centuries AD.

In addition to the two major languages mentioned above the language of Vaddas (Sri Lankan

aborigine) means bowmen in Sinhala - a dialect of Sinhala which looks quite unusual in form is

in use among Vaddas, The people restricted in number and confined to the Eastern hill country

of Sri Lanka. According to Wilhelm Geiger9 Vaddas are primitive tribes who are akin to the

ancient South Indian tribes. The dialect of Vaddas also seems to be on the wane due to their

contact with the Sinhalese, adoption of Sinhala to their secret language, gradual separation from

their tribal pattern of life and the influence of education.10

Moreover, the Rodiya tribe living in some parts of Sri Lanka speak „Rodi dialect‟11

C.M. Austin

de Silva says that the Rodiya dialect “which contains a lot of features not connected with Sinhala

Language has certain characteristics which belongs to Austro- Asian languages.12

As the above

two languages, i.e. Vedda‟s dialect and Rodiya‟s dialect are confined to speech they belong to

the category of languages which are gradually being disappeared. Even the Maldives dialect13

used only in the Maldives Island is treated as a dialect which has emerged from Sinhala language.

9 Indian Historical Quaterly xi, 1935, p 515) 10 ibid 11 Geiger, W., 1934, The Language of Ceylon, in CALRV. pp. 103-118 12 Raghavan, M.D. 1957, Handsome Beggars (The Rodiyas of Ceylon), chapter xv, pp. 106, 107, Colombo, 13Geiger, W., 1919, Maldivian Linguistic Studies, RCBRAS, Vol. xxvii,), London

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Problems of Diglossia

Professor Ariya Rajakaruna who made an authoritative investigation into Sinhala prose

literature referring to the age of transition of the Sinhala language says thus;-

“Sinhala writers of the 19th century were devoid of any clear understanding of the written

tradition of the ancient Sinhala language. They who did not distinguish between suitableness

and unsuitableness began to mix in their spoken form and written form of the language. The

difference between the speech form and the written form of the language began to diminish

unprecedented. Consequently there appeared a disorderly tradition of written prose which

was not responsive to any rules of grammar or syntax during the period from the beginning

of the 16th century to the end of the 19th century.”14

This implies that the written tradition once it is worn out will begin to follow the spoken form.

Written tradition is to be learnt using very much effort trough a formal education. Whenever

literature and art of writing which depend on education (suddenly) become in active naturally the

prevailing speech influence the writing to such and extent that the two forms would not differ

much from each other. In other words, Diglossia would be much minimized. Although this is the

general tendency everywhere in case of the written form of Sinhala of the 17th-18th-19th

centuries it was somewhat different. The written form of Sinhala used during the colonial period

referred to above comprised of a coarse, unrefined tradition of writing which neither belonged to

speech nor to writing.

One can see that there was in progress a catholic campaign of which the chief aim was the

propagation of Catholism in Sri Lanka during the Portuguese rule, i.e. 1505-1658 AD. even the

King himself embraced catholism. The Portuguese themselves record.15

That Buddhist Temples

and Monasteries, the leading institutes of education and of literary activities had been destroyed.

There is evidence to show that the court, the sovereign, KingWimaladharmasooriya ll and his

councilors used to speak Portuguese16

However, as the control of the Portuguese was confined to

the maritime regions in other areas Sinhala Literary activities were continued in secret. But these

14Rajakaruna, Ariya,1994, 19 Siyavase Sinhala Gadyaya Sahityaya, (Sinhala Prose literature of the 19th century), Colombo, p. 141 15 Couto de Cads, JRAS, Ceylon Branch, Vol. xx, p. 373-374 16 Maha Hatana, 721 padya,(Great Bottle)-721 poem (written in 17 century)

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literary works indicated in both form and contents degenerated features. So, they contained in

other words characteristics of “the Lesser Tradition”.

Although, Portuguese language was used as the language of administration their prime motive

was not the spread of their language but the propagation of Catholism, their religion.

Accordingly the activities of the Portuguese include the translation of the Bible into Sinhala and

learning Sinhala in order to facilitate the promotion of Catholism.17

In consequence more and

more Portuguese vocabularies were added to Sinhala.

Even during the Dutch Period (1658-1796) which followed the Portuguese rule written form

(of Sinhala) seems to have functioned closely following the speech owing to the gradual decline

of education. The complete Bible was translated into Sinhala in 1780. Works such as Syama

Duta Varananava, Sangharaja Sadu Chariyava etc. are examples in this regard.

Next comes the British Period during which a turning point in the history of the language in Sri

Lanka was brought about with the establishment of English as the Official language. A great

social change took place through the now recommendation made, i.e. recommendation of

Colebrook Commission (1832).18

Morgan Committee Report on19

.etc. as English was given

Priority not only in spheres of education, public administration and judiciary but also in every

other area of the Sri Lankan community.

Thus as a result of the foreign domination over 400 years the great change brought about

therein in Sri Lanka affected not only political, religious and cultural aspects but also that of the

language of this country. Even in the Sinhala Language signs of Diglossia began to emerge

surviving various rehabilitation schemes which appeared from time to time. Although Sinhala

Diglossia seems to have been a social problem at the time when English was made the Official

Language, on the other hand it certainly did introduce difficulties in the Sinhala language

community with the establishment of Sinhala as the official language following the National

Independence. It was to some extent due to this fact that the need of a standard Sinhala arose.

17Ars. Chingalensis Linguae, 1626, A Grammar Book arraigned to study Sinhala language through Portuguese. 18 Mendis, G. C. 1956, ed. The Colebrook Cameroon Papers, Oxford University Press, London p. 152. 19 Jayaweera, S., 1976, Morgan Report on Education, Colombo, pp.72-77

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Sinhala Language rehabilitation campaign which was hand in hand with the National

Independence campaign could not preserve Independence. Sinhala Diglossia increased due to

this. While the speech rapidly changed by mixing with other languages and progressed as living

tongue the writing on the other hand had limitations and thus the difference between the two

forms widened. Consequently the Sinhala written language which came to be used in 18th 19th

centuries was denounced by many people.

Although the circumstances did not present a crucial social problem no doubt practical

problems in regard to the use of language would have emerged following the establishment of

Sinhala as the Official language.

Need of a standard Sinhala language has arisen on that account. But up to date no standard

Sinhala language has been established. Use of the current Sinhala language seems to have

introduced a lot of problems. Especially, many people do not like to write in spoken form of the

language as the written form gives preference to grammar. However, electronic (Private) media

which are universal and both the majority of newspapers seem to favor and give first preference

to the spoken form. Although by now many old objections have gradually been vanished love of

tradition is still being retained among the learned circle and language lovers both.

The present day student population is in particular confronted with problems in the sphere of

education owing to diglossia. The students who do not study correct traditional Sinhala grammar,

orthography, and language devices meet with problems. Their knowledge of language or the

education which they undergo will be at risk if they become victims of teachers who either

belong to different schools (of thought) or excessively traditionally minded. This sate of affairs is

seen even among university teachers. Art students are in particular victims of this tendency.

Actually speaking this is a sad state. The scholar or scientist who does not know his mother

tongue- especially the written form- meets with that particular problem not only due to the

absence of standard tradition but also as a result of unsatisfactory system of education. This

could be remedied neither by writing through spoken form nor by speaking through written form.

Unnecessary rules of grammar, which are being taught and followed for the sake of tradition,

should be made more lucid. Students should be taught correct usage from childhood. Even there

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are teachers who make students reject grammar solely due to the way it is taught. A version to

grammar found among the students could be removed by teaching Sinhala grammar and spelling

correctly if the practice is begun from early childhood.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Sri Lanka is a trilingual country where Sinhala and Tamil are official languages and

English is the link language. Apart from these people belonging to Rodiya tribe speak Rodiya

dialect and people called Vedda speak Vedda language or dialect. Like all other living languages

Sinhala has both social and regional varieties and also is in diglossic situation where the spoken

variety is different from the written variety phonologically, grammatically and in lexicon. In the

context where there is need for an official language policy which is nationally accepted and

practiced by the whole nation, the issue of Diglossia needs to be addressed within the language

community so that the speakers can proudly integrate into their own language community and

enjoy own cultural identity.

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