Language of Sri Lanka
Since Sri Lanka endows a
diversity of ethnic groups, language spoken in the country is
various. The two major ones widely used are, however, Sinhala
language spoken by the Sinhalese majority and Tamil language used
by the Tamils. Although, Sinhala and Tamil are
languages from different source, both share some common
characteristics and obviously have influence on each other's
linguistic evolution as well.
For Sinhala language whose
origins have been very discussable is widely accepted that it is
ultimately derived from Indo-Aryan speech which is in turn
divided into two phases of evolution: an old Indo-Aryan speech (C.2000-800
B.C.) represented by Sanskrit language used in central India and a
middle Indo-Aryan speech (C.800 B.C-400 A.D.)
represented by Pali, the language of Buddhist scripture. With a
science of comparative linguistics, Sinhala language shares a
common parent language with Greek, Latin, German, English, French
Persian, Russian, and Hindi in the distant past. In the evolving
phases, they have been derived from each other and ultimately
became distinct languages.
The Tamil language belongs
to Dravidian family mostly spoken in the South Indian
states. Tamil language played a key role in trades and business
along the Indian coasts as well as Sri Lankan coasts as it was a
main language used in commercial communication at that time. Even
Arab traders from the Middle East had adopted the Tamil language
as their speech when they had to contact with the Tamils in the
region. Ironically, Sinhala language has 400 loan words from Tamil
language, indicating the influence of both languages that has on
one another.
Language is one of the most
important elements representing the national identity. In Sri
Lanka, national language issue seems very influential in both
cultural and political sphere; it was the major bone of contention
between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. During the 1950s when the
nationalism movement was in force, the language question became
dominant political issue. By then the Buddhist revivalism also
emerged and enforced the adoption of Sinhala as the sole official
national language. Eventually, in 1956, despite efforts to conduct
the two-language policy, the ruling coalition of the Parliament
introduced the Official Language Bill of 1956, making the Sinhala
the sole official language. From then onwards, the Tamils who
resided elsewhere other than in Jaffna were discriminate against;
all public servants were required to have proficiency in the
Sinhala language within three years, or they would be penalized
and lose their jobs. They were also discriminated against in
political, educational and professional opportunity. Language
issue led thus to the religio-ethno-nationalism as well as the
communal riots in the country. |
