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English in Sri Lanka Englishin AsiaandtheSouthernHemisphere Prof. R. Hickey WS 2015/16 Sri Lanka Marina Ewerlein and FrederikeMüller Course of study: LA-BA Type of credit:TN Module: I English in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere Prof. R. Hickey WS 2015/16 SriLankain General Marina Ewerlein Course of study: LA-BA Type of credit:TN Module: I Sri Lanka in General Source: Worldaltas/ Government of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka in General Main facts: -Democratic Socialist Republic of SriLanka -65,610 km² -Capital: Sri Jayewardenepura -CommercialCapital:Colombo Source: Worldaltas/ Government of SriLanka Sri Lanka in General Main facts: -population: 20.3 million ( last counted in 2011) Source: Government of SriLanka/ SVE Sri Lanka in General Main facts: -Religion Buddhism 70.19% Hinduism 12.61% Christianity 7.45% Islam 9.71% -Ethnicity Sihalese, 74.9%; Tamil, 15.4%; Muslim 9.2%; others 0.5% (2012 est) Source: Government of SriLanka/ SVE Sri Lanka in General 543 BC: Sinhalese people from northern India History: 250 BC: Buddhism 12th century: Sri Lanka most powerful 16th century: Portugese 17th century: Dutch 1796: British 1802: Crown Colony 1948: Independence 1972: name change 1983: civil war 26th December 2004: Tsunami Source: Worldatlas Sri Lanka: Tsunami 2004 -36,603 people perished in the months following the tsunami -Another 800,000 people directly affected -90,000 buildings were destroyed. Source: Tsunami Disaster in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka in General Conclusion: -Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean -many different groups -first settlement in 543 BC English in Asia and the Southern Hemisphere Prof. R. Hickey WS 2015/16 SriLanka: Language Frederike Müller Course of study: LA-BA Type of credit:TN Module: I Sri Lanka: Language Status and function of English in Sri Lanka After independence from Britain in 1948: English was de facto language until 1956 → Sinhala: sole official language 1987: Constitution of Sri Lanka states English as “link language”(official languages: Tamil and Sinhala) → English in fact more than this in government, many areas of officialdom, media, advertisement and education system Sri Lanka: Language Administration: parity for English in cases where the official language is not the language of a speaker (e.g. for speakers of Sinhala in an Tamil area) Judiciary: all laws and legislation published in Sinhala and Tamil PLUS a translation of English → most disparity in Sri Lanka´s courts: language used in Sri Lanka´s highest court is English Sri Lanka: Language Education: -Due to law in 1956: English as a medium of instruction changed to Sinhala -1980s: International Schools → so popular that there are now even English-medium pre- schools for children under three years -1990s: government sponsored interventions to emphasize English from grade 1-13 -lack of competent English teachers, urban-rural disparities Sri Lanka: Language Interpersonal Communication: -increase in the use of English, especially in the homes of young people → result of the reintroduction of English in schools -English as language of e-mail and text-messaging -English as association with prestige → examples explains the common assumption that English is an official language Sri Lanka: Language -many complexities and sub-variaties of Sri Lankan English -significant class distinctions: stereotype “Colombo”family: English as first language -the further you travel from Colombo, the greater is the influence of Sinhala and Tamil on the English people speak -many Sinhala and Tamil words entered SLE -Sinhalas influence on English, as it was the sole official language → Singlish Sri Lanka: Language Sri Lankan English, Linguistic aspects Some phonological features: → the replacement of diphthongs [eɪ] and [aʊ] in British English with the long vowels [e ] and [o ] → The replacement of interdental fricatives [ð] [θ] with dental plosives [d]̪ [t]̪ → The replacement of the labiovelar approximant [w] and [v] with the labiodental approximant [ʋ] → Confusing [o] and [ɔ] hall/hole → Confusing [f] and [p] fan/pan → Use of [s] in place of [z] zoo, zip Sri Lanka: Language Some syntactic features: Examples of ellipsis: 1) “I just came home. [There is] Not enough time to shower.” 2) “Most of the people have migrated. [There is] Just a handful here.” Topicalization: 3) “All beautiful arranged it was.” 4) “Very busy they are.” 5) “A really nice person she is.” Sri Lanka: Language Some syntactic features: Verb deletion in question:6) “From where to get the money?” Use of tags: 7) “They used to have a black car, isn´t it?” 8) “Raining no, how to come?” Use of [s] in place of [z]: 9) “Let´s go to the zoo.” Sri Lanka: Language The associative plural marked by and them: „Sunil and them didn’t come.“ Certain uncountable nouns are pluralised: lands The definite article is frequently dropped: gone to office, going to temple The indefinite article is dropped: couple of times, lot of problems, little more rice Sri Lanka: Language Conclusion: -confusion whether English is an official language or not -notable increase of the use of English especially for young people -Sinhalese and Tamil influence in English in Phonology and Syntax Literatur Gunesekera, Manique (ed). 2005. “The Postcolonial Identity of Sri Lankan English.”Maharagama: Tharanjee Prints. Mendis, Dushyanthi /Rambukwella, Harshana. 2010. “Sri Lankan Englishes.”In: Andy Kirkpatrick (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes. New York: Routledge, 181-196 Meyler, Michael. 2004. “Sri Lankan English”. In: Bernd Kortmann (ed.). A handbook of varieties of English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 540–547 References in the internet Government of Sri Lanka: https://www.gov.lk/index.php SVE: Studying Varieties of English: https://www.uni-due.de/SVE/index.html Tsunami Disaster in Sri Lanka: http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/HELGESTJ/ Wordaltas: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/lk.htm Thank you for your attention!.
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