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Tamil loanwords in Sinhala can appear in the same form as the original word (e.g. akkā), but this is quite rare.Usually, a word has undergone some kind of modification to fit into the Sinhala phonological (e.g. paḻi becomes paḷi(ya) because the sound of /ḻ/, [], does not exist in the Sinhala phoneme inventory) or morphological system (e.g. ilakkam becomes ilakkama because Sinhala ...
Exception from the standard are the romanization of Sinhala long "ä" ([æː]) as "ää", and the non-marking of prenasalized stops. Sinhala words of English origin mainly came about during the period of British colonial rule in Sri Lanka. This period saw absorption of several English words into the local language brought about by the ...
Sinhala (Siṁhala) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan (Eḷu) word is Sīhala. The name is a derivative of siṁha, the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. [12] The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island.
In more modern times, Tamil has imported words from Urdu and Marathi, reflecting groups that have influenced the Tamil area at times, and from neighbouring languages such as Telugu, Kannada, and Sinhala. During the modern period, words have also been adapted from European languages, such as Portuguese, French, and English. [116] The strongest ...
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 and national conflict have confounded the development and the use of SLE, particularly in Sri ...
Additionally many Dutch and Portuguese words can be seen in the coastal areas. Sinhalese people, depending on where they live in Sri Lanka, may also additionally speak English and or Tamil. According to the 2012 Census 23.8% or 3,033,659 Sinhalese people also spoke English and 6.4% or 812,738 Sinhalese people also spoke Tamil. [56]
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are distinct from the Tamil dialects used in Tamil Nadu, India.They are used in Sri Lanka and in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.Linguistic borrowings from European colonizers such as the Portuguese, English and the Dutch have also contributed to a unique vocabulary that is distinct from the colloquial usage of Tamil in the Indian mainland.
English, Sinhala and Tamil languages on a war grave memorial plate in Kandy. (click to see full view of memorial plate) English in Sri Lanka is fluently spoken by approximately 23.8% [4] of the population, and widely used for official and commercial purposes. It is the native language of approximately 74,000 people, mainly in urban areas.