Page 1 of 10
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 9
Publication Date: September 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.99.13019. Gamage, U. P., & Dilani, N. (2022). The Rationale Behind the Influence of English on Modern Colloquial Sinhala Language. Advances
in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(9). 11-20.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Rationale Behind the Influence of English on Modern
Colloquial Sinhala Language
Upul Priyantha Gamage
Senior Lecturer, Department of Sinhala
Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka
ORCiDs-0000-0001-9112-3273
Nipunika Dilani
Senior Lecturer, Department of English
Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka
ORCiDs-0000-0001-6542-4785
ABSTRACT
The causes of language influence that come under contact linguistics is a topic of
common interest among linguistic academics nowadays. Sinhala is the majority
language in Sri Lanka that has evolved over 2000 years and during this long retro,
it has had both oriental and occidental language influences while the major impact
has received from western languages after colonising the country. This piece of
research employed two primary data collection methods: participatory observation
and chunk recordings while collecting secondary data from the previous literature.
As the sampling strategy, we used convenient sampling and the analytical technique
of data was content analysis. The main objective of conducting this research was to
find out the exact causes of the English language influence on modern colloquial
Sinhala over the last 200 years. The study has established the main causes of English
language influence on modern colloquial Sinhala as linguistic and cultural
hegemony, colonisation, American expansion, superiority of social class,
globalisation, commercial, industrial and religious factors while language contact is
recognised as an umbrella term for these root causes. In conclusion, there have
been two broad directions of these causes of English language influence that had
taken place. At the beginning of the colonial rule, it had become top-bottom and now
it has transferred to bottom-up, and the influence of English in the modern period
on Sinhala has become complementary and multidimensional while the political
influence behind the process in its nature is soft and arbitrary.
Keywords: Colloquial Sinhala, English Influence, Colonial language, top-down and
bottom-up, soft-arbitrary
INTRODUCTION
Language contact which dates back to an unknown history perhaps to the origin of human
languages could be seen everywhere to the extent that no language could be identified in
isolation (Thomason, 2001). In a common scenario of constant language contact, the changes
to the languages in contact are unavoidable for any reason. Accordingly, the Sinhala language,
the main language of the majority of native Sri Lankans is subjected to this unavoidable
phenomenon. The research on the influence of English on Sinhala has addressed varied aspects
Page 2 of 10
12
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 9, September-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
of this phenomenon (Senaratne, 2009; Mawelle, 2019; Premawardhena, 2003; Atapattu- Bakmeewewa, 2017).
The causes of language contact sometimes are obvious whereas sometimes not. Languages can
contact one another due to various reasons and the results too can vary. The influence of the
English language on Sinhala accounts for some common reasons which are experienced by
other language communities too. Situating them under a justifiable taxonomy as political
reasons such as invasion, linguistic hegemony, colonization and, expansion of Americanization
are very common root causes even in other Asian countries. Other than political matters, the
other important reasons are social factors like globalization, commercialization,
industrialization and religious factors have shown a significant impact. When investigating the
root cause of English language influence on Sinhala, the umbrella term 'language contact' is the
main reason and it has realized in many forms. The first incident where the Sinhala language
was contacted with English is the arrival of British nationals as an ethnic group in Sri Lanka in
1796. Considering these causes further, the influence of English on Sinhala has occurred mainly
under two eras; the arrival of British colonizers and since 1948 to date after independence.
Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the root causes that led to English
influence on modern colloquial Sinhala. This investigation tries to endorse the specific reasons
with examples and specific events from Sri Lankan history regarding this phenomenon. Despite
the causes having been sub-categorised to streamline the analysis, in fact they are coherently
interconnected. Political factors cannot be isolated from social factors and vice-versa.
Commercial reasons are also truly linked with globalization, etc.
METHODOLOGY
The current study follows the qualitative approach of research that uses descriptive and
categorical data in their natural setting attempting to interpret them as per people bring
meaning to them (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008). As they further assert, this type of data focuses on
the socially constructed nature of reality and enables one to explore reality from multiple
perspectives. As the major data source, the study uses literature and thus can be introduced as
secondary qualitative research. As a desk study, the data that has been already created and
existing are derived from books, reports, documents, scholarly articles and reliable internet
sources. The data collected from these sources are critically analysed having original objectives
and reliable methods and systematically applying suitable methods. Thus, secondary research
can be made systematic, reliable and valid in contrast to some criticisms on them (Claire &
Theresa, 2019).
Moreover, the primary data for the study was collected from participatory observation applying
the convenient sampling method. The raw data from informal conversations where the
influence of English on Sinhala was collected. Some were recorded as per the availability of
facilities and other were taken down for about three months with careful observation of
informal speeches of university students. The other method used to gather raw data was chunk
recordings of television programmes of state and private Sinhala channels. This data was
collected from entertainment programmes but not from formal news reading which uses high
standard Sinhala consciously avoiding code-mixing, switching or borrowing to a greater extent.
The main aim of gathering raw data was to verify secondary data. The reason for using
electronic media programmes to gather raw data apart from participatory observation is the
belief that media use the standard dialect for their communication in a country (Dissanayaka,