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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
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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,
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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.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.99.13019
2002). The data analysis was also done qualitatively through content analysis on two levels;
descriptive and interpretative. In the procedure of data analysis, first, the relevant data were
collected from the mass of existing literature. The recorded and other data also were filtered to
take only the information relevant. They were coded, categorized and concepts were identified
thereafter.
DISCUSSION
The major and significant variable of our research topic is 'language influence'. One aspect of
language influence is language mixing due to contact-induced situations. This as a study area
falls into the main discipline of linguistics and specifically now into sociolinguistics, but earlier
in historical linguistics or the main discipline of philology. About 6000 languages (Crystal,
2005:47) exist in the world and so the influence of one language over the other is inevitable in
their interaction with each other.
Contact linguistics has gained popularity as a field of research since the pioneering studies of
Weinreich (1953) and Haugen (1953). In addition to the studies by Weinreich and Haugen
which still reserve a central place, modern linguists like Thomason (2001), Winford (2003),
Myers-Scotton (2002) and Clyne (2003) also have discussed various aspects of contact
linguistics. The current study attempts to investigate factors that have affected the influence of
English on the Sinhala language, and none of the above researchers has not specifically touched
on that area. "Perceptions of the bilingual and bilingual phenomena transformed mainly as
linguists believed that external factors do have a significant influence on changes in languages
perhaps even more than internal factors" (Senararatne, 2009: 86). The current study has clearly
established specific causes of English language influence on modern colloquial Sinhala as
presented below under different categories.
Political Reasons
Linguistic and cultural hegemony, colonization and American expansion are the main
discussion points in this section. A language starts to be influenced by another language due to
various reasons. They are in a variety of ways such as political, commercial, cultural or
technological, etc. A group of people who speaks one language and are governed by another is
commonplace in political history. Not only the Eastern countries, African and most of the South
American countries were colonized by Britain, France, Spain, Dutch and Portugal imperialists
and their languages influenced the native languages due to political reasons. A classic example
is Sri Lanka under colonization where the school system, public administration, court
proceedings, and almost all the official functions were conducted in English creating a linguistic
hegemony. This situation has led to the marginalization of local languages. Through the school
system and the university education system, the culture also was transmitted as an additional
boost for the policy of British colonization in Sri Lanka.
As a result of a long period of British rule, English has firmly established in South Asia. Even
those with no direct command of English may have been exposed to its indirect influence
through numerous loanwords which have entered all South Asian languages (Gunesekere,
2005: 12). Bilingualism has been referred to by many contact linguistic researchers to bring out
explanations on lexical influence. The Sri Lankan situation is different from this mainstream
discussion as the English lexical influence on Sinhala has taken place not mainly through
bilingualism. This political authority is no longer in the British hand as the world order and its
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leading role normally gets transferred from hand to hand among the most powerful countries.
As the root has transferred, the other matters such as linguistic and cultural hegemony are now
being governed by the USA in different forms.
The pride and prestige of the American tongue headed by the American culture – pop music
Hollywood cinema, cable television, VOA broadcasts, Peace Corps, and American language
centres, - are major attractions for L2 users of English (Anchimbe, 2006:6). This has become
the ground reality in Sri Lanka too. This comes in different forms such as cultural influence
through food, different utensils and the language of the computer, probably as the default one.
These are forms of the web of American expansion. The source of pouring lexical items is now
mainly from the USA though they do not show the USA identity after arriving in Sinhala, but not
British.
Sociological Reasons
The sociological factors that cover a broad spectrum area as an umbrella term have made
extensive influences on Sinhala. The spoken languages adapted themselves to the needs of the
new life that the westerners brought with them chiefly by the ready and ready method of
borrowing largely from the English vocabulary. Consequently, the indigenous languages could
not, under these circumstances be the vehicle of modern learning and culture or the means of
coping with a new and increasingly complex civilization (Passé, 1943:54). Therefore, the
society wanted to adapt itself to the new reality which performed in the form of a societal shift
in Sri Lanka, mainly in Sinhalese society. As it has already been pointed out, borrowing, code- switching and code-mixing were the mechanisms that conveyed lexical items from English to
Sinhala. While these two language communities encountered socially one language
automatically became dominant. Code-switching between English and Sinhala has become
more fashionable in recent times (Meyler, 2007: XXVIII). Life fashions frequently undergo
changes, but when the object of the fashion becomes the language, it lasts longer than other
concepts of fashion as something more than a fashion envelops it. Some speakers tend to adopt
loanwords to show their superior learning over other members of their culture, or the lexical
item in question may fill a definite need that it is imported along with a new idea or object
(Anderson, 1973: 95). This is also a sociological fact in terms of the mixing of lexical items of
English in modern colloquial Sinhala. English is not merely a language but a potent class
weapon and class indicator. At a time, English-speaking natives were branded as English- speaking classes (Chandrarathne, 2011). Even though this situation is gradually fading away, it
has not come to an end in Sri Lanka. However, through the modern efforts of decolonization
and a huge number of commercial English programmes which are conducted all across the
country after the British imperialists left, the ground realities are moving in different directions
while erasing the power of class marking through the English language in Sri Lanka. Now, in Sri
Lankan universities, irrespective of the social classes, almost all the students use the university
jargon in English as a Sinhala-English mixed discourse.
Language contact has historically taken place in large part under conditions of social inequality
resulting from wars, conquests, colonialism, slavery, and migrations forced and otherwise
(Sankoff, 2001:3). As it has already been highlighted, the language contact situations create the
bridges to vehicle loanwords from one language to another. It is also a sociological reason, but
it occurs most probably due to politically-induced reasons. As Sankoff brings out, forces behind
social inequality are wars, conquests, colonialism, etc. This again recalls us that it is rather
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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.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.99.13019
difficult to separate the reasons for language influence as political, sociological, globalization
and other factors since they are interconnected in many ways.
Intervention of Globalization
David Crystal (2005) has paid much attention to globalisation in terms of current trends in
languages when analysing language-relevant issues in his most of publications and specifically
in the book "The Language Revolution" which takes us very far on this line. As a means of
globalising languages, the internet plays a tremendous role as Crystal observes throughout the
whole study. The policy of closed economy in Sri Lanka up to 1977 was some sort of a barrier
to intervene the technological and commercial ideologies which brought relevant linguistic
forms too which later became the biggest and the major reason for language influence after
colonisation. Globalisation covers and is interconnected with almost all the other reasons for
the English language's influence on modern colloquial Sinhala in some way or the other. It is
rather important to understand what globalisation is in this context too. The denotation of
globalisation is 'the increase of trade around the world but the political implication or the
connotation is withering away the world into a small place through technology. However,
history may no longer be a guide to what is happening to English today. In other words, the
traditional explanation of colonisation is not a valid augment further as it has come through
different channels by now. One of the consequences of globalisation is that through the media
we have immediate access to other languages and varieties of English other than our own, in
ways that have come to be available but recently, and this is altering the manner in which
people are aware of the language (Crystal, 2005: 35-36).
Other Reasons (commercial, industrial, religious etc.)
American English and culture find comfortable places in some native Englishes (Australian,
New Zealand, Canadian, etc.), and Outer Circle and Expanding Circle Englishes, as a
consequence of pride, prestige, pop culture, trade, technology and law (Anchimbe, 2006: 8). As
Sri Lankan English is an Outer Circle variety, it has emerged as a consequence of pride, prestige,
pop culture, trade, technology and law but here the major boost is American intervention as
this author further concludes in his study. Most of the reasons were scrutinised above apart
from trade, law and technology can be categorised under other reasons.
It is known that, when there is a cultural innovation in society, relevant words also keep adding
to the language in use in that society. It is a general experience if the cultural innovations have
not been produced by himself and taken from the outside, related words are also taken from
that external culture. For instance, when we take the telephone from English culture, the word
telephone and other relevant words such as call, exchange, etc., have been taken from the same
culture in order to introduce that instrument (Darmadasa, 1996: 45). Now, it is clear that
through this example and similar kind of many more examples, cultural innovation is also a
reason to arrive English lexical items into the Sinhala language. This is not only limited to the
Sinhala language, and even in other countries this has happened and it has now become a
universal norm in terms of language influence. That is why Anderson concludes that, when
cultures come into contact with one another, borrowing takes place primarily in the realm of
lexical items (1973: 95).
Mechanisms of the spread of American English are indeed complex because a language variety
does not operate in isolation, but by facilitating activities and people. American fast food,
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soldiers, educators, the artists in Hollywood and pop culture, and even the Coca-Cola tradition
make English usage not just a matter of choice and sentiment but rather one of necessity
(Anchimbe, 2006: 5). Most of these observations are cultural factors but they are
interconnected with some other things such as political involvements. Fast food, pop culture
and Coca-Cola tradition also obviously made available English lexical items in modern
colloquial Sinhala. For instance, a large collection of English words is used for fast food in
Sinhala and even pop culture has made the same impact through different kinds of television
and radio programmes which established the pop culture among Sinhalese speakers. We have
found many words relevant to pop culture and fast food from the gathered data both first-hand
and secondary forms in this study.
Weinreich (1963) has comprehensively discussed the reasons for lexical innovation or in other
words lexical borrowing in languages. The previous discussion further conforms through this
contribution and this is a very keen and micro-level theoretical observation and explanation by
Weinreich. The reasons presented by him have been numerically ordered by us to organize it
in a better way though it had not been done by him in his study:
1. The need to designate new things, persons, places, and concepts is, obviously a universal
cause of lexical innovation (Weinreich, 1963: 56). But, designative inadequacy of a
vocabulary in naming new things is not the only cause of lexical innovation. Internal
linguistic factors also contribute to the innovation process.
a. One such internal factor is the LOW FREQUENCY of words.
b. Another internal factor conducive to lexical innovation is pernicious
HOMONYMY. Sometimes a word seems to have been borrowed from another
language in order to resolve the clash of homonyms.
c. The third reason for lexical innovation is related to the well-known tendency of
affective words to lose expressive force.
d. Three additional factors may prompt lexical borrowing on the part of bilinguals.
First, a comparison with the other language to which he is exposed may lead
him to feel that some of his semantic fields are INSUFFICIENTLY
DIFFERENTIATED. A second consideration affecting bilinguals, in particular, is
the symbolic association of the source language in a contact situation with
SOCIAL VALUES, either positive or negative. If one language is endowed with
prestige, the bilingual is likely to use identifiable loanwords from it as a means
of displaying the social status that its knowledge symbolizes (Weinreich, 1963:
57 - 60).
2. In some contact situations, on the contrary, lexical borrowing is utilized for
cacophemistic purposes, in slangy speech, because of the unfavourable associations of
the other language (Weinreich, 1963: 60).
Some of these Weinreich’s findings are in fact sociological factors though they are presented
here separately. As it has already been mentioned, prestige is one such fact which comes under
sociological concerns. Designative inadequacy is also an important fact in terms of English
language influence on Sinhala which has been researched by some Sinhalese scholars too. For
example, when there are no appropriate words in a language, it acquires lexical items from
outside (Darmadasa, 1996: 37). There are many English words in Sinhala which have arrived
in this sense. Importantly Weinreich’s attention has been paid almost to internal factors of
lexical influence. What he observes as universal factors such as new things, persons, places, and
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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.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.99.13019
concepts have happened to be designated with English words in Sinhala very frequently. The
English words given for some cities in Sri Lanka and some places, particularly up-country can
be forwarded as examples. Kandy, Colombo, Galle, Slave-Island, Jaffna, Kegalle, Maho, Dondra,
Spring-Valley and Mannar are some of the examples. Also, we have a lot of personal names as
well which can be placed under this category used among Sinhalese speakers. Low frequency,
homonymy, insufficiently differentiated semantic fields and cacophemistic purposes can also
be introduced as reasons for lexical borrowing by the Sinhalese from English. Almost all these
are internal factors. The low frequency of some Sinhala words obviously has created a void by
facilitating to take the place of English words. This is very regular in the university jargon as we
found out through participatory observation.
For example /pi: tǝjǝ/ (faculty of study), /pi:ta:ðpǝθI/(dean),/ʊpǝkʊlǝpǝθI/(vice - chancellor),
/kʊlǝpǝθI/(chancellor), /ðeʃǝnǝjǝ/(lecture), /ʌðjǝnǝ/(academic), /kʌθIka:ʧa:rjǝ/ lecturer),
/mʌha:ʧa:rjǝ/(professor)are infrequent in modern colloquial Sinhala as there are frequent
English words. Respectively, faculty, dean, vice-chancellor, chancellor, lecture, study, lecturer,
and professor are also used for these infrequent Sinhala words. The symbolic association of the
Sinhala language in a contact situation with social values has also become an obvious reason to
use English lexical items in modern colloquial Sinhala. The English language is endowed with
prestige; therefore, some Sinhalese speakers are likely to use identifiable loanwords as a means
of displaying social status. Even the usages of cacophemistic purposes which are stressed by
Weinreich can be seen in Sinhala, but as they cannot exactly be conformed to gathered data, the
present study does not support it.
Now, this section succinctly discusses the reasons given by Sri Lankan scholars who have
conducted studies almost on the same research line. As one scholar scrutinises, the changes in
languages occur due to both internal psycholinguistic factors and external sociolinguistic
factors. Colonial invasions, military invasions, slavery, living in border areas of different
linguistic communities and migration are observed as externally motivating factors of language
change that cause one language to come into contact with another. Scholars propose that
prolonged and intense contact between languages can change them significantly. Research into
mixed languages, pidgins and creoles reveals that there are no limits to the extent in which one
language can affect another (Senaratne, 2009: 85). As they have already been mentioned above
under different categories, almost all these are realities in modern colloquial Sinhala apart from
a few matters such as living in borders of different linguistic communities and slavery.
The main purpose of linguistic borrowing is to fill a void in the borrowing language in the
description of new concepts and elements, which may not have been in existence earlier and
suddenly entered a language which then demands a term to identify it (Premawardhena, 2003:
3). This study further concludes that since the introduction of policies of open economy in the
late seventies the influence of English loan words on Sinhala has been on the increase
(Premawardhena, 2003: 4). Also, the electronic media has taken the hitherto foreign language
of English to the doorsteps of the rural communities. Especially, in the field of advertising the
use of English loanwords with Sinhala text is very common today (Premawardhena, 2003: 4).
The major reason for the British colonial policy which subsequently made drastic changes in
the local languages, particularly, Sinhala which has moved to a new direction by now. This is
led by the USA under different circumstances by today. This can be understood as an 'economic
imperialism' that brought a fresh dimension to the balance of linguistic power (Crystal, 2005:
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13). Though the open economic policy introduced in 1977, was a reason to accelerate the lexical
influence of English on Sinhala as it has been cited above, it is quite difficult and unfair to
conclude that the previous governments in Sri Lanka had put a pause for the English language
after getting the freedom from British crown up to 1977. For a very simple reason, see the
Secretary General of Commonwealth for some period, Sridath Ramphal’s (1996) illustration
below:
Shortly after I became Secretary General of the Commonwealth in 1975, I met Prime Minister
Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Colombo and we talked of ways in which the Commonwealth
Secretariat could help Sri Lanka. Her response was immediate and specific: 'send us people to
train our teachers to teach English as a foreign language (As quoted in Crystal, 2005).
This illustration shows that the efforts of promoting English as a foreign language had not been
given up by the government which gave a prominent place to the Sinhala language as the
mother tongue in Sri Lanka. Truly, the teaching efforts and realities in Sri Lankan English as a
foreign language too play an important role in the case of English lexical influence on Modern
colloquial Sinhala. This can further be proven through the other part of the same illustration:
...my amazement must have shown, for the Prime Minister went on to explain that the policies
her husband had put in place twenty years earlier to promote Sinhalese as the official language
had succeeded so well that in the process Sri Lanka-so long the pearl of the English speaking
world in Asia-had in fact lost English, even as a second language save for the most educated Sri
Lankans. Her concern was for development. Famers in the field, she told me, could not read the
instructions on bags of imported fertilizer and manufacturers in the global market were not
likely to print them in Sinhalese. Sri Lanka was losing its access to the world language of English
(As quoted in Crystal, 2005).
Thus, it is clear that the requirements for English as a foreign language arose before introducing
the open economic policy to Sri Lanka. Though the acceleration of English influence was
boosted by this drastic economic change, some ground realities had taken place in advance.
CONCLUSION
Finally, the reasoning of the English language's influence on modern colloquial Sinhala can be
generalised in two ways considering its evolution and drastic changes in socio-political
environments behind the situation, as 'top-down' and 'bottom-up'. The pressure that can come
from political, social or economic sources can be introduced as 'top-down', in the form of
incentives, recommendations or laws introduced by the government or national body which
was under colonial governance in Sri Lanka. Then the 'bottom-up' is the form of fashionable
trends or peer group pressures from within the society of which they form a part or again, it
might have no clear direction emerging as the result of interaction between socio-political and
socioeconomic factors that are only partly recognised and understood. In other words, the
initial influence on Sinhala which was put forward by the British colonial expansion can be
considered as a 'top-down' influence, whereas the current influence can be defined as a
'bottom-up' influence which does not associate with sharply directed political impose though
there is an American role behind the curtain. If this is further clarified, the sociological reason
for 'prestige' which was discussed earlier does not directly come from a political hegemony but
comes through the language community due to egoistic inspirations which can be placed under
the 'bottom-up' way of influence. It does not mean that the usage of English lexical items by the
speakers of modern colloquial Sinhala for prestige does not associate with any political