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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 4.8 million (29% of the population), making it the second largest language in Sri Lanka. There are more than 40,000 speakers of the Sri Lankan Malay language.
Sinhala (/ ˈ s ɪ n h ə l ə, ˈ s ɪ ŋ ə l ə / SIN-hə-lə, SING-ə-lə; [2] Sinhala: සිංහල, siṁhala, [ˈsiŋɦələ]), [3] sometimes called Sinhalese (/ ˌ s ɪ n (h) ə ˈ l iː z, ˌ s ɪ ŋ (ɡ) ə ˈ l iː z / SIN-(h)ə-LEEZ, SING-(g)ə-LEEZ), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the ...
Topographic map of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka, an island in South Asia shaped as a teardrop or a pear/mango, [167] lies on the Indian Plate, a major tectonic plate that was formerly part of the Indo-Australian Plate. [168] It is in the Indian Ocean southwest of the Bay of Bengal, between latitudes 5° and 10° N, and longitudes 79° and 82° E. [169]
The Ministry of National Co-existence Dialogue and Official Languages (formerly the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration) (Sinhala: ජාතික සහජීවනය, සංවාද හා රාජ්ය භාෂා අමාත්යාංශය Jāthika Sahajeewanaya, Sangwāda hā Rājya Bhāsha Amathyanshaya; Tamil: தேசிய சகவாழ்வு ...
Sinhala and Tamil are the official languages of Sri Lanka, with English as the link language. Tamil is a South-Dravidian language, and Sinhala belongs to the Insular Indic family (along with Dhivehi of Maldives). Vedda is said to be the indigenous language of Sri Lanka before the arrival of the Indo-Aryans and Dravidians.
During the British colonial era, English was the official language in Ceylon (known as Sri Lanka since 1972). Until the passage of the Free Education Bill in 1944, education in the English language was the preserve of the Sri Lankan elite and the ordinary people had little knowledge of it.
The British colonial presence in South Asia led to the introduction of English to Sri Lanka. Since 1681, some words have been borrowed from Sinhala and Tamil by English. [6] In 1948, Ceylon gained independence from the United Kingdom, and English was no longer the only official language. In subsequent years, inequality in access to education ...
Official language A language designated as having a unique legal status in the state: typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business. Regional language A language designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state.