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The spoken Tamil varieties in Sri Lanka although different from those of Tamil Nadu in India share some common features with the southern dialects of Tamil Nadu. Sri Lankan Tamil dialects retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in everyday use in Tamil Nadu, [5] [6] and use many other words slightly differently. [7]
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are distinct from the Tamil dialects used in Tamil Nadu, India.They are used in Sri Lanka and in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.Linguistic borrowings from European colonizers such as the Portuguese, English and the Dutch have also contributed to a unique vocabulary that is distinct from the colloquial usage of Tamil in the Indian mainland.
However, the Tamil language used here for comparison is Tamil as spoken in Sri Lanka. Note: For information on the transcription used, see National Library at Calcutta romanization and Tamil script. Exceptions from the standard are the romanization of Sinhala long "ä" ([æː]) as "ää", and the non-marking of prenasalized stops.
In modern times, the Chetties have been assimilated either into Sinhala or Tamil resp. Vellalar society. [5] Most Chetties grow in Sinhala backgrounds. Hetti is another term used in this context, referring to the present generation of Chetties who do not have any relation to India but are solely from Sri Lanka.
English, Sinhala and Tamil languages on a war grave memorial plate in Kandy. (click to see full view of memorial plate) English in Sri Lanka is fluently spoken by approximately 23.8% [4] of the population, and widely used for official and commercial purposes. It is the native language of approximately 74,000 people, mainly in urban areas.
Having taken root in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1796, Sri Lankan English has gone through over two centuries of development.In terms of its socio-cultural setting, Sri Lankan English can be explored largely in terms of different stages of the country's class and racial tension, economy, social disparity, and postwar rehabilitation and reconciliation. [10]
Kulatunga, a Sri Lankan computer engineer, [16] [17] wrote a program in Visual Basic for an English–Sinhala dictionary, using the dictionary entries from the English–Sinhalese Dictionary of Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera. [18] [19] The program was marketed from 23 November 2002.
Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are classified into three major subgroups: the Jaffna Tamil, the Batticaloa Tamil, and the Negombo Tamil dialects. These dialects are also used by ethnic groups other than Tamils such as the Sinhalese, Moors and Veddhas. Tamil loan words in Sinhala also follow the characteristics of Sri Lankan Tamil dialects. [154]