How to learn Sinhalese language. Sinhalese

6.2. Colloquial sign language of the deaf as an example of a sign system replacing natural language There is no doubt that not all of our thinking is verbal. Nonetheless, the following is indisputable. In order for the child's intelligence to develop normally, the child must on time and normally

Vowel sounds and their graphic representation.

Consonant sounds and their graphic representation.

Graphic representation of vowel sounds [ā, æ, ǣ] in position behind the consonant.

Sinhala accent.

Pronunciation of doubled consonants.

Vowel sounds and their graphic representation

The short Sinhalese vowel sound [a] is similar to the Russian unstressed [a] in the words loaf, paddock. It is pronounced quickly and abruptly. The short vowel [a] is reduced (pronounced weaker) in all syllables, except for the first root syllable, where it acts in full capacity. In full quality, the sound [a] also appears in a closed syllable. In the transcription, adopted in the "Self-Tutorial", the reduction of the short vowel [a] is not reflected. In writing, a short vowel sound [a] is represented by the letter අ a:

(In Sinhala, there are no capital letters, and there is no division of letters into handwritten and printed ones. The letters are written without a slant, straight.)

The long Sinhalese vowel sound [ā] is similar to the Russian stressed [a] in the words izba, insert, but pronounced more drawn out. In Sinhalese, the duration of pronouncing long vowels is approximately twice the duration of pronouncing the corresponding short vowels. In writing, the long vowel [a] is represented by the letter ආ ā, which is a combination of the letter අ with the element ා

Longitude in the transcription is indicated by a dash above the letter.

In Russian, there is no sound similar to the short vowel [æ] of the Sinhalese language. When pronouncing it, the mouth is wide open, the tongue lies flat, and the tip of the tongue touches the lower row of teeth. This sound is similar to the English sound [æ] in can, fan. In writing, the short vowel [æ] is represented by the letter ඇ æ, which is a combination of the letter අ with the element ැ

The long Sinhalese vowel [ǣ] is articulated in the same way as the short vowel [æ], but differs from the last in the length of the pronunciation. In writing, the long vowel [ǣ] is represented by the letter ඈ ǣ, which is a combination of the letter අ with the element ෑ

Consonant sounds and their graphic representation

The consonants in the Sinhalese language coincide with the corresponding sounds of the Russian language.

The sound [k] is represented by the letter ක ka:

The sound [g] in writing is represented by the letter ග ga:

The sound [b] in writing is represented by the letter බ ba:

The sound [m] in writing is represented by the letter ම ma:

In Sinhalese, syllabic writing. All consonants indicate the corresponding consonant sound in combination with the short vowel [a], so the above letters are read,,,. In view of this, in the Sinhalese language, words can be written with only consonants, for example: ගම village, මග road.

In the case when it is necessary to designate one consonant sound without an accompanying short vowel [a], a special superscript "viram" is added to the consonant letter, which means that the short vowel [a] is omitted. The viram sign has two graphic designs:

ක් and ම්

The first variant of the viram sign is written with those letters in which no element protrudes above the line, for example, with the letters ග and ක: ක් [k], ග් [g]. With those letters in which one element protrudes above the line, the second version of the viram sign is written, for example, with the letters බ and ම: බ් [b], ම් [m]. The height of the letter with the viram sign should not exceed the height of the letter without the viram sign.

Graphic representation of vowel sounds [ā, æ, ǣ] in position behind the consonant

The letters ආ, ඇ, and ඈ denoting vowel sounds are used only at the beginning of a word or, in very rare cases, at the beginning of a syllable. In position behind a consonant, vowel sounds

are indicated not by vowels, but by special graphic signs. The use of such a sign with a consonant letter means that the short vowel [a], which, along with the consonant sound, is denoted by a consonant letter, is omitted, and the vowel sound to which this sign corresponds should be read instead.

The short vowel [a] in the position behind the consonant is not indicated in the letter, since it is included in the sign of each consonant letter.

The long vowel [ā] in position after the consonant is conveyed by the sign знаком, which is written immediately after the consonant letter, for example: කා, ගා, බා, මා.

The short vowel [æ] in position after the consonant is transmitted by the sign знаком, which is written immediately after the consonant letter, for example: කැ, ගැ, බැ, මැ.

The long vowel [ǣ] in position after the consonant is conveyed by the знаком sign, which is written immediately after the consonant letter, for example: කෑ, ගෑ, බෑ, මෑ.

Sinhala accent

In the event that there are only short vowels in a word, all syllables are pronounced equally clearly, and only the first syllable bears a slight stress. (For the pronunciation of the short vowel [a], see above) If a word has a syllable with a long vowel, then this syllable is distinguished by the power of pronunciation. If there are several syllables with long vowels in a word, none of them stands out in pronunciation.

Pronunciation of doubled consonants

In the case of doubling consonants in Sinhalese, both consonant sounds are pronounced. They are pronounced together, without a pause between them, for example: අම්මා mother.

EXERCISES

I. Say.

[ā – a] [æ – a] [ǣ – a]

[ā–æ] [æ–ā] [ǣ–ā]

[ā – ǣ] [æ – ǣ] [ǣ – а]

II. Write five lines of each letter:

අ, ආ, ඇ, ඈ, ක ග, බ, ම.

III. Write two lines of each combination:

කා, කැ, කෑ, ක්, ගා,ගැ,ගෑ,ග්,බා,බැ,බෑ,බ්,මා,මැ,මෑ,ම්

IV. Pronounce and write in Sinhala letters.

V. Read and transcribe.

අක, අක්, අක්කා, අග, අබ්බ, ආගම, ආගම්, ඇබ, ඇම, අමක්, කාම, ගෑම, බැම, බැම්ම, බෑම, මක්, මාගම,මාමා

Vi. Write the following words several times and learn them.

මම I, අම්මා mother, කෑම food, ‚village, ඈ [ǣ] she

Once I managed to talk with the Sri Lankan philologist Assif Hussein, who studied in sufficient detail the history of the origin, formation and stages of evolution of the Sinhalese language. According to Mr. Hussein, Sanskrit, in which the Vedas were compiled, existed in northwestern India about 4 thousand years ago in its still living form. This is confirmed by both internal evidence in the Rig Veda and the science of comparative philology. The grammarist Panini only standardized Sanskrit as a single literary language.

The claim is controversial. About 25 years ago, when I, as a schoolboy, began to study Sanskrit and Hindi on my own, I came across Russian-language sources of the Indologists Chelyshev and Dymshits, who claimed that literary Sanskrit existed about 8000 years ago. Both authors cited as an example several works at once - shastras, dated by Indian researchers to a period of about 8000 years or even a little more. Other works on Indology that I came across later, already at the time of professional study of Hindi, classify Sanskrit as a literary standardized language, which is no older than 6000 years.

But let's return to the Sinhalese language, as a direct descendant of Sanskrit. The origin of the Sinhalese language has been the subject of much controversy, and lately has again caused a new wave of controversy. The claims of the Hela Hawula movement that the Sinhalese language arose and formed independently of, and was brought to the island by native speakers during the time of King Ashoka and the kingdom of Kalinga (the territory of the present Indian states of Orissa, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh), do not stand up to criticism. given the available philological evidence. In particular, it is a vivid lexical and grammatical substrate of the indigenous island language of Vedda in Sinhalese.

In fact, hardly any modern language exists that did not develop from ancient sources. It is widely accepted that all modern Indo-Aryan local dialects, including Hindi, Bengali and Sinhala, went through two main stages before reaching their current state, namely, transit through the old Indo-Aryan stage and the Prakrites and the Middle Indo-Aryan stage, the era of late Prakrites - the beginning of the formation of the New Indian languages.

Ancient Indo-Aryan languages \u200b\u200bthat were in use in India during 2000-800 BC were, quite obviously, similar to each other. All of them have been designated as Sanskrit forms of Prakrit (i.e. colloquial, non-literary forms of Sanskrit). The term Sanskrit-Sanskrit (Sinhalese: Sanskrut-Sanskrut) literally means "exquisite", "polished", and was first applied sometime between the 7th and 4th centuries BC to refer to the ancient Indo-Aryan literary language in counterposition to Prakrit, or raw, natural and everyday speech, which developed on the basis of Sanskrit.

The Sinhalese linguist Elian de Silva went so far as to suggest that Sanskrit was "created" artificially, through the standardization and reform of Sanskrit grammar by the writer Rishi Panini around the 4th century BC. De Silva does not deny that Sinhalese ultimately derives from ancient Indo-Aryan speech, which was largely represented by a form of Prakrit in the territory of ancient Indian Madhya Desha (now Central India). And with the help of this middle Indo-Aryan speech, largely influenced by Sanskrit, the Pali language was formed. Therefore, it is not incorrect to pass off purely Sanskrit terms as Pali and vice versa. For example, in Hindi, the word Kam-Kaam (work) came from the old Indo-Aryan Sanskrit word Karmana-Karmana through the middle Indo-Aryan Pali in the form of Karm-Karm.
The same can be said about the Sinhalese words Kam-Kam or Kamhala-Kamhala (place of work, workshop). Other examples include the Sinhalese Tena-Thena (place), which is Tana-Thana in Pali and Sthana-Sthana in Sanskrit.
The Sinhalese word Mega-Mega (road) in Pali sounds like Megga-Megga, and in Sanskrit, like Marga-Marga. Sinhala Eta-Eta (bones), in Pali Atthi-Atthi, in Sanskrit Ashthi-Ashthi.

Epigraphic evidence of Sinhalese inscriptions can be cited as examples to show how the language can develop. For example, in the 4th century the Sinhalese inscription of the word "Moon" appears in writing as Chada-Chada, while in Pali the word was written as Chanda-Chanda, and in Sanskrit Chandra-Chandra. Numerous inscriptions in all 3 languages \u200b\u200bwere discovered simultaneously in India and Sri Lanka in the 15th century. And if we return to the word "Moon", then in the 15th century in Sinhalese Chad-Chada was already transformed into Handa-Handa, where H became semi-nasal, and D - intervocal.

Professor De Silva argues that Sinhalese professors sometimes resort to substitution or even replacement of certain pure Sinhala forms of vocabulary ("helu") with Sanskrit terms, which is unfounded. He cites as an example the simple Sinhalese word Eta-sekilla-Eta-sekilla (skeleton), which supplanted the cumbersome Sanskrit term Ashthipanjaraya from the literary Sinhalese. Many children who are native speakers of Sinhala in rural areas could not pronounce words that are difficult to remember and use in colloquial speech. This is how the substitution of the Sanskrit word for the Sinhala, adapted, arose.

However, the campaign for the purity of the Sinhalese language Hela Hawula calls on modern philologists to completely rid the Sinhalese dictionary of Sanskrit terms, which is still unreasonable. In the modern dictionary of the Standard Literary Sinhalese, there are so many simple Sanskrit terms that have been assimilated into the language, such as Rupa-Rupa (form), Bhasha-Bhasha (language), Desha-Desha (country), Dharma-Dharma (religion), Sundara-Sundara (beautiful). The deletion of such words, which are widespread in everyday use, is impractical, even if there are full synonyms of pure Sinhalese origin. In addition, ridding the language of Sanskrit terms will deprive it of pleasant sounds such as Sha-Sha and Ja-Ja, as well as their derivatives. But graphically, these sounds have existed in the Sinhala alphabet since its inception.

In addition, there is nothing wrong with the presentation of the Hela Hawula movement, the coexistence of Sanskrit equivalents when it is really lexically required to convey clearer connotations of a word's meaning or context. The existence of synonyms in any language is an indicator of its wealth. It is important to understand, however, that extremist tendencies in language are not helpful. The same Hindi language, one of the richest languages \u200b\u200bin the world, shows resistance to extremist movements of linguistic purity, reviving Sanskritism in the modern spoken language. It seems that the Sinhalese language is affected to a much lesser extent. Indeed, it is scary to think what would have happened to the rich and mellifluous Hindi speech if the views of Naghari Pracharini Sabha (who advocates replacing Persian-Arabic vocabulary with Sanskrit) won out. In this case, Hindi would be deprived of such common words as Asman-Asman (sky), Duniya-Duniya (peace), Zindagi-Zindagi (life), Mohabbat-Mohabbat (love), Dil-Dil (heart), Insan-Insan (person).

According to Mr. Hussein, Sinhalese scholars have received the priorities of the direction and have stopped disputes among themselves about the suitability or unsuitability of the Sanskrit vocabulary. But what is of great concern today is not the Sanskrit words that were assimilated into the language, but the use of English words, where native Sinhalese words in the modern language are easily and unnecessarily replaced by Anglicisms. If this alarming trend continues, we are likely to see Sinhalese rebirth into a creolized language, that is, English with a Sinhala vocabulary.

While some may reproach me for being on such a massive scale, this is actually what is happening in urban areas for a short time now, and can reach rural areas through media. And this is likely to happen, since the media is increasingly imposing not the literary language, but the spoken language. Think of me as an apocalyptic, but this may ultimately lead to the Anglicization of the Sinhala dictionary to the extent that literary works in a new language may even appear. For example, take a look at what is happening with the Russian or Ukrainian language in the last couple of decades. Maybe then it is easier for you to understand the concern about Sinhalese modifications.

I find it silly when English forms are used to refer to general concepts such as boy, girl, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband and wife. In fact, rural Sinhalese is unique in that it remains a non-Creolized language, where these terms would become so widespread. However, it is sad that terms such as Sinhalese Kolla-Kolla and Kella-Kella (boy and girl) have become derogatory and are considered unsuitable for polite conversation, especially in urban areas. But at the same time, the literary Pirimili Lamaya-Pirimi Lamaya (young man) and Gehenu Lamaya-Gehenu Lamaya (girl), on the other hand, are too cumbersome. This explains their replacement in modern speech with English equivalents. As for the colloquial Sinhalese Mahattaya-Mahattaya (husband) and Nona-Nona (wife), we can say that these terms convey the meaning not only in the meanings of "husband" and "wife", but also "master" and "mistress", and so same "lord" and "madam". This feature is absent in English terms, so, fortunately, the words Mister and Mrs. are unlikely to take root.

By the way, for example, only a few people today know that the common English word "brother" is a revived and old English term derived from a common Indo-European lexical root. Old Sinhala terms can similarly have been revived in accordance with modern meanings in use. For example, Kumar-Kumar (the old Sinhalese term for "boy") is also revived for use in a polite form of spoken language, while Lamissi-Lamissi (an old form of "girl") is still used in rural areas. The purely Sinhalese words Chemistry-Himiya and Biriya-Biriya can be used to refer to the words "husband" and "wife". Pemwata-Pemvatha and Pemvatiya-Pemvathiya can be used instead of Boy or Girl, respectively. Such attempts are likely to be successful, given the fact that even the term Pasala-Pasala (school) is essentially a neologism coined by the founder of the movement for the purity of the Sinhalese language Hala Haluwa Munidas Kumaratunga.

But let's, nevertheless, go back 6,000 years ago, when, as theories exist, the Sinhalese language began to emerge.
It would seem surprising to many, but the origins of the Sinhala language can be traced back to a period of 6,000 years ago. Surprising but true. Linguistic studies of the 19th century, represented by German linguists Franz Bopp and Schleicher, made it possible to connect Sinhalese words that are included in many European, Iranian and Indian languages, belonging to the so-called Indo-European language family. Two scholars have traced many Sinhalese words in their early forms by doing a comparative root analysis. The science known as Comparative Linguistics seeks to establish the close connection that exists between languages \u200b\u200bsuch as Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Lithuanian, German, French, English, Russian, Persian, Hindi, and Sinhalese. Specialists in this area of \u200b\u200blinguistics are also trying to restore the primary speech of all these related languages, which are believed to have a common origin in the distant past.

The close relationship between these languages \u200b\u200bis not very clear at first glance due to the sonic changes they underwent over the centuries before taking on their current forms. However, upon closer inspection, we will see that all these languages \u200b\u200bgo back to the proto-language, which German scholars prefer to call Ursprache-Ursprache or Early Speech. This proto-Indo-European language was apparently spoken in the south of Russia around 4500 - 3500 BC, before this proto-language spread to the outskirts of Europe and Asia, and with this began to break into dialects, and eventually separate ones were formed. local language groups and subgroups of completely different languages. The German linguist Schleicher was the first scholar to attempt to reconstruct this and the Proto-Indo-European language, which became his landmark work. As a result, Der Vergleichenden Grammatik der Indogermanischen Sprachen (Comparative Grammar of Indo-Germanic Languages) was published in 1861. And the method of studying languages \u200b\u200baccording to Schleicher received quite a lot of adherents and followers. Schleicher collected many of the then extinct and extant Indo-European languages, from which he deduced how the old forms might sound. He designated these hypothetical reconstructed forms with an asterisk. This practice continues to this day. Schleicher also wrote a fable in this hypothetical common Proto-Indo-European language called Avis Akvasas Ka (Sheep and Horses), which, however, was subject to revision. The linguist Julius Pokorny, in his comprehensive series entitled Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (Indo-Germanic Etymological Dictionary, 1948-1969 edition), was able to reconstruct Proto-Indo-European Speech (PIE) with greater precision.

Sound changes
Before we move on, I will continue a little about Julius Pokorny. He thought it was necessary to give the reader some idea of \u200b\u200bthe sound or phonetic changes to which the various Indo-European languages \u200b\u200bwere subjected. These differences in sounds or phonetics can be explained on the basis of the specific laws through which the sound or phonetic changes occurred. For example, one of the main phonetic changes that characterizes many Indo-European languages \u200b\u200bis the change in the PIE (Proto-Indo-European language) sound K to hissing sounds Ш (Щ, Ч) or С.

This change affected Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic languages, but did not affect Greek, Latin, Celtic, and Germanic languages. Consider the case of the Greek and Latin Kanis-Canis (dog), which in Sanskrit, Indo-Aryan languages \u200b\u200bbecame Shvan-Shvan. The Germanic languages, on the other hand, found themselves in the zone of change from the original for PIE K to X, for example, in the Gothic languages \u200b\u200bHunts-Hunths. The Germanic languages \u200b\u200balso lost the original D in favor of the T (as can be seen in the Gothic Twai-Tvai (two), where Sanskrit has the form Dwau-Dvau, and the Greek and Latin Duet-Duet. Also, the original PIE sound P passed to F (as seen in Gothic Fotus-Fotus (feet), where in Sanskrit Pad-Pad, and in Greek and Latin Podos-Podos.

Sinhalese, being an Aryan language, went through two significant stages of change before taking on its present form. The ancient Indo-Aryan stage is represented in Sanskrit (2000-800 BC), and the near Indo-Aryan stage is represented in Prakrit (about 800-400 BC). And the best representative of Prakrit is Pali, the language of Buddhist scriptures.

Sinhalese forms
Take, for example, the Sinhalese numeral Hata-Hatha (seven). The word can easily be proven to derive from the Sanskrit Saptan-Saptan through the Prakrit form of Satta-Satta, as in Pali. Related forms in other Indo-European languages \u200b\u200bincluding Latin, Greek Septem-Septem, Hepta-Gepta, Avestan Hapta-Hapta, Persian, Lithuanian, French Septyni, and Hindi Sat-Saat. All these forms are reconstructed in the PIE hypothesis about the sounding of the original form of the number, as Septom-Septom. Likewise, it can be shown how the Sinhalese number Ata-Ata (eight) derives from the Sanskrit Ashtau-Ashtau through Attha-Attha in Prakrit, which is identical to the sound in Pali.

Now let's look at the terminology of kinship, which is another very important aspect of folk vocabulary. The Sinhalese word Mawa-Mawa (mother) comes from the Sanskrit form Matr-Matr. Here, too, we find related forms, such as the Latin word Mater-Mater, Greek, Russian Matu-Matu (hereinafter abbreviated-weasel. "Mother") Lithuanian Motina-Motina, Persian Madar-Madar, Dutch Moder-Moeder, and Hindi Ma-Maa. All of these forms are derived from the PIE language form Mater-Mater, which is believed to have originally meant "producer". Then take the term for the Sinhalese Bey-Beya (brother), which comes from the Sanskrit Bhratri-Bhratri. Here we also find related forms, such as the Gothic Brothar-Brothar, the Persian Baradar-Baradar, the German Bruder-Bruder, the Russian Brother, the Lithuanian Brolis-Brolis, and the Hindi Bhai-Bhai. These forms are recorded in the PIE as Bhrater-Bhrater, which originally meant "supporter."

Then take the Sinhalese word Duva-Duwa (daughter). In Sanskrit, the word sounds like Duhter-Duhitr, in Avestan Dugdar-Dugdar, in Persian Dohter-Dokhter, in Gothic Dauhtar-Dauhtar, in Dutch Dochter-Dochter, in Lithuanian Dukta-Dukte and in Russian Daughter. All these forms refer in the Proto-Indo-European language PIE to the word Dhughater-Dhughater, which originally meant "milkmaid", or "milkmaid" or "milkmaid", which in descriptive terminology is interpreted as "the one who takes milk from her mother."

Now let's look at some of the terms for body parts. Take, for example, the Sinhalese term for "tooth." This word is derived from the Sanskrit Dante-Danta and is associated with such forms as Latin Dentis-Dentis, Lithuanian Dantis-Dantis, French Den-Dent and Hindi Dante-Dant, Dutch Tand-Tand and German Tsan-Zahn. All of these forms are derived from the PIE form Dantis-Dantis.

Likewise, the Sinhalese word Nahaya-Nahaya (nose) derives from the Sanskrit Nasa-Nasa and is associated with forms such as the Latin Nasus-Nasus, Russian Nos, German Naze-Nase, and Lithuanian Naše. The PIE form for this word was Nasus-Nasus.

Common words
Now let's take a look at some of the common words that appear in everyday Sinhalese speech. Take for example the Sinhalese term Dora-Dora (door), which derives from the Sanskrit Dvara-Dvara. In the Gothic we will find the sound of Daura-Daura, in the Lithuanian Durys, in the Russian Doors of the German Tyr-Tuer and in the Dutch Deur. The Proto-Indo-Aryan form sounds like Dvar-Dwar. Also consider the Sinhalese term Ginna-Ginna (fire), which has no doubt a derivative form from the Sanskrit Agni-Agni, and therefore is associated with such forms as the Latin Ignis-Ignis, Lithuanian Ugnis-Ugnis and Slavic Ognis (plural) ... The PIE form was something like Ognis-Ognis. Finally, take the case of the Sinhalese word Taruva-Taruva (star), which derives from the Sanskrit Str-Str and is associated with forms such as Greek Aster-Aster, Latin Stella-Stella, Gothic Stairno-Stairno, German Stern-Stern, and Persian Sitara- Sitara. All of these forms revert to the root PIE Str-Srt meaning "scattered" and therefore apply to the stars, which are scattered across the sky. Or meaning "diffusers" or "scatterers of light".

Sanskrit in Sinhalese: Struggle for Balance
There is not the slightest doubt that the Sinhalese language is an important aspect of the cultural heritage of the people of Sri Lanka. It represents most of the intellectual achievement of a nation and reflects to a large extent its view of the world. Therefore, it is not surprising why intellectuals of another country should be concerned about preserving their language for posterity, and some even advocate a policy of "purity" of the language, seeking to cleanse the language of all foreign influences. I have already mentioned this briefly above.

Most of the major languages \u200b\u200bin the world today are heavily influenced by the external influences of foreign languages. This also applies to Arabic, Persian, Russian, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English. Largely due to historical or practical reasons in the context of technology adoption and globalization. Take the Sinhalese language, which was influenced by Tamil as a result of multiple invasions by Tamil troops into the ancient Sinhalese kingdoms, etc. At the same time, peaceful trade communication and the assimilation of Tamil new words from the category of trade occurred in the Sinhalese social and linguistic environment. Likewise, Sinhalese was influenced by the languages \u200b\u200bof the European colonial powers, including Portuguese, Dutch, and English. These factors can be said to be largely historical.

However, there is another reason why foreign terms related to trade have entered the language. For practical reasons. And Sinhalese scholars, for example, found it appropriate to take loans of words from the Sanskrit language in order to make up for the shortcomings of the Sinhalese language, especially in terms of technical terminology. In fact, there are hundreds of Sanskrit terms that have entered the Sinhala lexicon in one manner or another over the past hundred years. Many of them seem to be influenced by the vocabularies compiled by Professor Raghu Vira. He devised a scheme for introducing technical terms for Indian languages, to which Sinhalese belongs, based on Sanskrit, the ancient Indo-European language, which was spoken and composed in ancient times by numerous written works in Northern India. Sanskrit is believed to be the progenitor of modern Indo-Aryan languages \u200b\u200bsuch as Hindi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali and Sinhalese.

The applied methodology of Professor Raghu Veer was somewhat reminiscent of the European model of the minting of neologisms from Greek and Latin, dead languages. However, terms taken from there have formed the basis of a significant number of modern scientific, medical and technological terms in some major European languages, such as English or German.

Among the Sanskrit borrowings, modern Sinhalese included such general terms as Prajatantra-Prajatantra (democracy), Shalyakarma-Shalyakarma (surgery), Chhayarupa-Chhayarupa (photography), Suryabalaya-Suryabalaya (solar energy), Trastavadaya-Trastavadaya -Hrudaspandana (heartbeat), Vagvidya-Vagvidya (linguistics) and Rupavahini-Rupavahini (television). Despite the fact that such borrowings are justified and even necessary, it can also be considered that Sanskrit terms are very often, as a rule, used excessively even where there are alternative or purely Sinhalese terms helu (genuinely Sinhalese), which convey exactly the same meaning or even better than the Sanskrit equivalents.

By the way, relatively recently, I had a funny incident in a conversation with a Sinhalese English teacher who kindly invited me to dinner at her charming house on the ocean. In particular, we were talking about. I asked the owners if they had already seen a new product called Spandana-Spandana. After a hefty pause and lively discussions within the family, it turned out that they had never heard of such a film and did not even understand the meaning of the title. And funny and sad, but I, a foreigner, had to explain that this Sanskrit word adapted in Sinhalese means Heartbeat ...

In general, an unhealthy tendency is especially clearly manifested in modern Sinhalese scientific, medical and technical literature, including school textbooks, where countless Sanskritisms are used, even in cases where there are alternative Sinhalese terms. For example, take Ashthipanjaraya-Asthipanjaraya (skeleton), which in Sinhalese is quite appropriate, as Eta-sekilla-Eta-sekilla, Shatavarsha-Shatavarsha (century) has a Sinhalese synonym for Siyavasa-Siyawasa, Dirghashirsha-Dirghashigushairshairshairs Digusiras, Shilalekhana-Shilalekhana (inscription) has the Sinhalese synonym Sellipi-Sellipi, while Pathashala-Pathashala (school) in Sinhala Pasala-Pasala, Arogyashala-Arogyashala (hospital) has the Sinhalese synonym Rohala-Rohala. The Sanskrit Karmantashala-Karmantashala (plant) is quite appropriate to replace the Kamhala-Kamhala.

In Sri Lanka, the question is often asked why Sinhalese scholars and educators prefer these complex Sanskritisms, if it could be possible to return to the original, much simpler and more pleasant-sounding terms helu, especially when compiling textbooks intended for schoolchildren. Brevity and practicality have been overlooked by Sri Lankan pundits in their impulse to join the fashionable Sanskrit, which has made rapid forays into the Indian media and academia since 1950.
Not only because of the difficulty in pronouncing is the problem of a bad impression of high literary style among Sinhalese youth, who, as I wrote above, strives to keep up with the rest of the world, grabbing and introducing foreign words and jargons. Indeed, this is an issue to which lexicographers must pay serious attention.

Chasing new words
Also, using existing Sinhalese terms, the creation of new terms based on old surviving forms or helu is also worth seriously considering.
There is a significant vocabulary in the Sinhalese language, both extinct and extant, which could form the basis for the creation of scientific and other terminology for modern research.

For example, take the obsolete Sinhalese words La-La (heart), Rov-Rov (disease), Dethu-Detu (elder), Milis-Milis (barbarian) and Hingu-Hingu (swift), which can be easily used to replace their respective the Sanskrit equivalents Harda-Harda, Roga-Roga, Jyeshtha-Jyeshtha, Mlechkhna-Mlechcha and Shighra-Shighra are widely used nowadays, even in difficult conditions. Using this technique, a number of neologisms can be minted, for example, Aturudela-Aturudela (Internet). Why not? After all, all rules and conditions are grammatically observed. This, of course, should receive the support of all stakeholders who sincerely believe in the preservation and perpetuation of the Sinhalese language. But in Sri Lanka I am a foreigner and my conversations on the preservation of the Sinhalese language often end in amazement: why, because Sinhalese is gradually dying and will once become a typical pidgin. Representatives of the younger generation make it especially clear to me. And the stories about the catastrophic situation in this respect in the Russian language now are simply not impressive. There is no understanding that the Sinhalese language is threatened by about the same.

Sound conditions
However, returning to the balance between the newly introduced Sanskrit terms and the minting of the Sinhala words proper, I would like to say that the campaign of the Hela adherents against Sanskrit should not be taken to the end. After all, otherwise, getting rid of Sanskritism, impoverishes the Sinhalese language itself, depriving it of some very useful and euphonious terms. And there is no doubt that English will come to replace them, which are completely or very inappropriate.

Take, for example, common words such as Rupa-Rupa (form), Krama-Krama (way), Svalpa-Svalpa (small), Avastha-Avastha (opportunity), Bhasha-Bhasha (language), Sthana-Sthana (place) , Viplava-Viplava (revolution) and Swarupa-Swarupa (form), which are simply worth using while preserving their euphony somewhere else. There are also many Sanskrit terms commonly used in Sinhalese that simply should not be changed for lack of a better one.

Take, for example, words like Madhyasthana-Madhyasthana (center) and Baladakshika-Baladakshika (girl guide). Alternatives to the Helu forms of Sinhalese cannot be easily found to convey certain ingrained connotations of meaning. Sometimes using equivalents from helu can get very ridiculous hue values. And there are also cases where the Sinhala helu equivalent to the Sanskrit term used today may have a completely different meaning. For example, the equivalent of the Sanskrit term Yantra-Yantra, which is used to denote a machine, in Sinhala in the form Yatura-Yatura means "key".

In conclusion, it should be noted that, although there is a need to use more pure Sinhalese Helu terms in the field of education and academia, up to the minting of new words, due attention should be paid to the brevity and euphony of these Sanskrit words, because replacement is not always appropriate. Striking a balance between the two sources of vocabulary creation is perhaps the best alternative.

By the way, I tried to compose the very first one avoiding Sanskrit terminology and words that are used strictly in the literary form of the Sinhalese language. Therefore, you can safely use this mini assistant on your journey around, without fear of being misunderstood. Well, of course, if you try to comply with phonetic conditions to the best of your ability.
In any case, I am ready to conduct conversations and discussions about the Sinhalese language only with Indologists. No more and no less. Please do not disturb specialists in the field of European linguistics or just the curious.

The inscription on the cartoon of Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is known to speak Sinhalese: Mata sinhala katha karannath puluwan - I can speak Sinhalese too

If you are passionate about comprehending one of the brightest, most beautiful and richest languages \u200b\u200bin the world, dreaming of seriously studying the Sinhalese language, then you can have a couple of tutorials.
I wish you every success on your way to the fascinating world of Sinhaletika!

With great respect to the readers, partners and guests of Lankarus,

Sergius Pedde,
Lankarus Lanka Private Limited

Or one of the free Unicode fonts - you may need to use a different browser, as browser capabilities often differ in this area.

Diglossia

Modern Sinhalese is characterized by diglossia, a division into written liyana basava and colloquial katakarana basawa, between which there are significant differences in vocabulary and grammar.

Write a review on the article "Sinhalese language"

Notes

Literature

• Belkovich A.A. Sinhalese-Russian Dictionary. - M., 1970.
• Belkovich A. A. Self-instruction manual of the Sinhalese language. - M .: International relations, 1977 .-- 214 p.

Links

Excerpt characterizing the Sinhalese language

There was no engagement and no one was announced about Bolkonsky's engagement to Natasha; Prince Andrew insisted on this. He said that since he is the cause of the delay, he must bear the whole burden of it. He said that he had bound himself forever with his word, but that he did not want to bind Natasha and gave her complete freedom. If in six months she feels that she does not love him, she will be in her right, if she refuses him. It goes without saying that neither the parents nor Natasha wanted to hear about this; but Prince Andrew insisted on his own. Prince Andrey visited the Rostovs every day, but not as the groom treated Natasha: he told her you and kissed only her hand. After the day of the proposal, between Prince Andrew and Natasha, a completely different, close, simple relationship was established than before. They didn't seem to know each other until now. Both he and she loved to remember how they looked at each other when they were still nothing, now they both felt like completely different creatures: then feigned, now simple and sincere. At first, the family felt awkward in dealing with Prince Andrey; he seemed like a man from an alien world, and Natasha taught her family to Prince Andrew for a long time and proudly assured everyone that he only seemed so special, and that he was the same as everyone else, and that she was not afraid of him and that no one should be afraid him. After several days, the family got used to him and did not hesitate to lead with him the old way of life, in which he took part. He knew how to talk about the household with the count and about the outfits with the countess and Natasha, and about the albums and canvas with Sonya. Sometimes the Rostovs at home between themselves and under Prince Andrei were surprised at how all this happened and how obvious the omens of this were: the arrival of Prince Andrei in Otradnoye, and their arrival in Petersburg, and the similarity between Natasha and Prince Andrei, which the nanny noticed on her first visit Prince Andrew, and the clash in 1805 between Andrew and Nicholas, and many other omens of what happened, were noticed by the family.