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Concept
Sinhala language
Summary
Sinhala (ˈsɪnhələ,_ˈsɪŋələ ; Sinhala: සිංහල, siṁhala, ˈsiŋɦələ), sometimes called Sinhalese (ˌsɪn(h)əˈliːz,_ˌsɪŋ(ɡ)əˈliːz ), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million people as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script, which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India.
Sinhala is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka. Along with Pali, it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature.
The early form of the Sinhala language is attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions with long vowels and aspirated consonants is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi, a regional associate of the Middle Indian Prakrits that has been used during the time of the Buddha. The closest relatives are the Vedda language (an endangered, indigenous creole still spoken by a minority of Sri Lankans, mixing Sinhala with an isolate of unknown origin and from which Old Sinhala borrowed various aspects into its main Indo-Aryan substrate), and the Maldivian language.
It has two main varieties, written and spoken, and is a conspicuous example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia.
Names of Sri Lanka#Sinhala
Sinhala () is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan (Eḷu) word is Sīhala.
The name is a derivation from , the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island.
According to the chronicle Mahavansa, written in Pali, Vanga kingdom's Prince Vijaya and his entourage merged with the Yakkha and later settlers from the Pandya kingdom. In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India (Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), Kalinga, Magadha) which led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits.
Official source
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