 Sri
Lanka >> Languages |
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National
or official language: Sinhala. 18,455,000
(1998 UN) |
The official languages of Sri Lanka are Sinhala,
or Sinhalese, and Tamil. Sinhala is spoken by 74 percent
of the population. Tamil, a Dravidian language of southern
India, is spoken by people living in the northern
and eastern provinces. English, the official language
of the country until 1957, is still widely used.
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The number
of languages listed for Sri Lanka is 8. Of those,
7 are living languages and 1 is extinct.
| Spoken
Living Languages |
| Language |
Number
of Speakers |
Area |
Dialects |
Classification |
| ENGLISH
[ENG] |
97,000
first language speakers in Sri Lanka (1962) |
|
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Indo-European, Germanic, West, English. |
| INDO-PORTUGUESE
[IDB] |
30
to 2,250 in Sri Lanka (1971 Ian Smith), including
250 families in Batticaloa (1984 Ian Smith), but
possibly only about 30 speakers left (1992 P.
Baker) |
Population
total all countries 730 to 3,000 |
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Creole, Portuguese based.
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SINHALA
[SNH]
SINHALESE, SINGHALESE, SINGHALA, CINGALESE |
13,190,000
in Sri Lanka, 72% of the population (1993) to
15,000,000 possibly including second language
users (1997). Population total all countries 13,220,000 |
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RODIYA. |
Indo-European,
Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Sinhalese-Maldivian.
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CREOLE
MALAY [SCI]
SRI LANKAN MALAY, MELAYU BAHASA.
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50,000
speakers, .29% of the population (1986 Hussainmiya,
Prentice 1994:411). Especially the cities of Colombo,
Kandy, Badulla, Hambantota. |
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Creole,
Malay based.
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| TAMIL
[TCV] |
3,000,000
in Sri Lanka (1993). North and northeast coasts,
a few pockets in the south. |
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Dravidian,
Southern, Tamil-Kannada, Tamil-Kodagu, Tamil-Malayalam,
Tamil. |
VEDDAH
[VED]
VEDDHA, VEDA, WEDA, WEDDO, BEDA, BEDDA,
VAEDDA. |
300
(1993 Johnstone). All may not be speakers. Eastern
mountains, Badulla and Polonnaruwa districts. |
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Indo-European,
Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Sinhalese-Maldivian.
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| Extinct
Languages |
| PALI
[PLL] |
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Indo-European,
Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Unclassified.
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| Deaf
Sign Languages |
| SRI
LANKAN SIGN LANGUAGE [SQS] |
(12,800
deaf persons; 1986 Gallaudet Univ.) |
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Deaf
sign language.
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