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Sri Lanka: Languages, Literature, Books and Book Reviews
"Words have evolved with time, passing through various phases before assuming their present form. Sinhala is no exception. That the Sinhala language is an Aryan one and is related to other Indo-Aryan speeches such as Hindi and Bengali is generally well known. Less known, however, is the fact that Sinhala is distantly related to other major languages such as German, French, English, Russian, Persian and Lithuanian. The fact is that Sinhala is not only a member of the Aryan group of languages, but also of a larger linguistic group, the Indo-European family, which includes all the major languages of Europe, Iran and Southern Asia. The parent indo-European speech from which all these languages derive, was evidently spoken somewhere in Europe, probably Southern Russia, over 5000 years ago. "
Sinhala Language
The origin of Sinhala (The origin of the Sinhala language has been the subject of much controversy, and has lately provoked much debate. The Hela Havula movement's claim that Sinhala developed independently on Sri Lankan soil, sans any foreign influences, is not tenable considering the available philological evidence.)
Evolution of the Sinhala Language (Sinhala, the language of Sinhalese, is ultimately derived from old Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit) through middle Indo-Aryan or Prakrit (whose best representative is Pali, the language of the Buddhist scriptures).)
Sanskritisms in Sinhala Language (Among the Sanskritic loans in modern Sinhala may be included such common terms as praja-tantra (democracy), shalya-karma (surgery), chaya-rupa (photograph), surya-balaya (solar energy), trasta-vadaya (terrorism), harda-spandana (heart-beat), vag-vidya (linguistics) and rupa-vahini (television))
Sinhala, 6000 years ago (It would seem surprising to many that the origins of the Sinhala language could be traced back to 6,000 years ago. Surprising but true. Linguistic research pioneered by nineteenth century German linguists like Franz Bopp and August Schleicher have made it possible to connect Sinhala words to words occurring in a good many European, Iranian and Indian languages belonging to what is known as the Indo-European family of languages and to trace them to their earliest forms. )
Some unique features of Sinhala Language ( Sinhalese, which developed as an island language, has some unique features which are not known in any other Indo-Aryan language. This uniqueness of Sinhala is due to its exposure to other language families of the region such as Dravidian and Malayo-Polynesian.)
The roots of Sinhala ( Less known, however, is the fact that Sinhala is distantly related to other major languages such as German, French, English, Russian, Persian and Lithuanian. The fact is that Sinhala is not only a member of the Aryan group of languages, but also of a larger linguistic group, the Indo-European family, which includes all the major languages of Europe, Iran and Southern Asia. )
Divehi - an offshoot of the Sinhala language ( Linguistic evidence clearly shows Divehi, the speech of the Maldive Islanders to have derived from an early form of Sinhala known as Proto-Sinhala spoken in Sri Lanka from about the fourth to eighth centuries A.D. )
Semantic changes of Sinhala Language ( Semantic change is evident in Sinhala from the earliest times, even before the language came to be established in the island around the middle part of the first millennium B.C. Take for instance, the Sinhala word ganga which is a general term meaning river. However, in Sanskrit and Pali, the term ganga specifically refers to the river Ganges, the general term for river being nadi. Such a usage might indicate that the early speakers of Sinhala hailed from a country watered by the Ganges)
A Short History of Sinhala Language ( The Sinhala language came to Sri Lanka with the original migrants from North India who are traditionally considered to be the founders of the Sinhala nation. They spoke Indo-Aryan vernaculars depending on the areas from which they migrated. The early migrants came from Bengal, Magadha and Kâlinga)
The Language correspondence between Japanese and Sinhalese ( There are so many words correspondence in Japanese and Sinhalese. Is is the reasopn why the Japanese , living in Sri Lanka , speak Sinhala so easily In the same way, it is easy for the Sinhalese ,who are living in Japan, to speak Japanese as if they were the ordinary Japanese people)
Sanskritic loans in modern Sinhala( Among the Sanskritic loans in modern Sinhala may be included such common terms as praja-tantra (democracy), shalya-karma (surgery), chaya-rupa (photograph), surya-balaya (solar energy), trasta-vadaya (terrorism), harda-spandana (heart-beat), vag-vidya (linguistics) and rupa-vahini (television)
Impact of English loan words on modern Sinhala 
( major structural changes have occurred in modern Sinhala due to English loan words)
Sinhala Language Page
Sinhala Alphabet
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Sinhala and Tamil Literature
- Sinhalese Literature : From Ancient time to the Modern period (The oldest extant Sinhala prose work we have dates back to the ninth century.This is not to say that there existed no Sinhala prose work before this period.)
- Sinhala Poetry - From Ancient Times to Now (The Sinhalese have, of all the arts, excelled in poetry. Sinhala, the language of the Sinhalese, is a poetical language.)
- Sinhala Poetry - The changing fortunes of Sinhala poetry(Even though there is no dearth of talent, Sinhala poetry does not enjoy the popularity that it had a few decades ago. Kavi maduwas were held occasionally in the towns and sometimes lasted a whole day. Poetry collections of well-known authors sold in large numbers. Kavi kolayas, which carried important or sensational incidents narrated in verse form, were sold at bus stands, Sunday fairs and so on by men who recited them aloud to attract customers. )
- Poetry, in Sri Lanka - The Lost Song of the Lotus Child (Balava kara hala-la/Pehebara digu nuvan la. -‘Turn Give me a glance -And lay thy bright long eyes upon me." This is a fragment from a lost poem.)
- Gajaman Nona : The legendary poetess
- 50 years of Sri Lankan Tamil literature ( Since the ethnic riots of 1983, the pattern of life has changed in the Tamil-majority northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka and these changes have inevitably been reflected in recent Sri Lankan Tamil literature. )
Sri Lanka : On-Line Books
- MAHAVAMSA: The Great Chronicle of Lanka
- A Visit to Ceylon (1881) by Ernst Haeckel - The electronic version ( This the Englisch translation from a German original. )
- Rifle and Hound in Ceylon by Samuel White Baker (1845 - 1853)
- Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon by Samuel White Baker (1845 - 1853)
- The Saadhu Testament- The first electronic novel by an Asian author ( it is a story of how a businessman makes a successful venture to sell ‘faith’. )
- A SHORT HISTORY OF LANKA by Humphry William Codrington (1845 - 1853)
- An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East Indies by Robert Knox (1641-1720) (An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East Indies Together with an Account of the Detaining in Captivity the Author and Divers other Englishmen Now Living There, and of the Author's Miraculous Escape)
- A Record of Buddhistic kingdoms: being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hsien (ca. 337-ca. 422) (Chinese monk Fa-hsien of travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline)
- Sketches of Natural History of Ceylon by J. Emerson Tennent
- Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, Volume 1 (of 2)
- Every Day Life on a Ceylon Cocoa Estate by Mary E. Steuart ("Miss Gordon Cumming and others have written so well and so exhaustively on the subject of Ceylon that there is little left to say, and I should not have presumed to put in my word were it not that, writing as I do from a Planter's Bungalow, I think I have tapped a new and different stratum of information. Should you, my dear Sir, or Madam, who have lived in the island as many years as I have months, perchance open this little book, my earnest advice is, "Close it at once." Your experienced eye will find nothing but the tritest of truisms")
Sri Lanka : Books, Book Shops and Libraries
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