Official Language Of Sri Lanka

Sinhala and tamil are the official languages of sri lanka. This language belongs to the indo european language family.

Constitutional Mandates For National Official Languages In South

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Official language of sri lanka. It was taken there by colonists from northern india about the 5th century bc. One of the official languages of sri lanka is sinhalese. Sinhala and tamil are the two official languages of sri lanka.

Copyright 2018 department of official languages all rights reserved. An additional 4 million speak sinhalese as a second language. English is widely used for education scientific and commercial purposes.

The constitution defines english as the link language. May 30th 2018 colombo sri lanka. Language is fundamental to human communication and a key marker of identity.

Sri lanka accords official status to sinhala and tamil. Tamil and sinhala are sri lanka s two official languages and english is known as the link language. Sinhala is widely spoken in the southern western and central parts of the island while tamil is almost exclusively spoken in northern and eastern parts of the island.

It is the sinhalese people s native language who total approximately 16 million. Because of its isolation from the other indo aryan tongues of mainland india sinhalese developed along independent lines. The failure to do so will adversely impact the enjoyment of full and equal citizenship meaningful reconciliation and national unity as well as the quality of governance and the legitimacy.

The languages spoken on the island nation are deeply influenced by the various languages in india europe and southeast asia. Sinhalese language also spelled singhalese or cingalese also called sinhala indo aryan language one of the two official languages of sri lanka. Although the public has the right to deal with government institutions in any of the three languages it is generally english that is preferred in governmental policies and practices.

Several languages are spoken in sri lanka within the indo aryan dravidian and austronesian families. A profile of the languages in sri lanka. Accordingly it is essential that the language rights of every citizen of sri lanka is upheld.

The Languages Spoken In Sri Lanka