Sinhalese. Sinhala Language - Sinhala Language - Sinhala Bhashawa ХI

6.2. Spoken sign language of the deaf as an example of a sign system that replaces natural language Undoubtedly, not all our thinking is verbal. However, the following is undeniable. In order for the child's intellect to develop normally, the child must

Sinhalese is part of the Indo-Aryan group of Indo-European languages. This is the native language of the Sinhalese - the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka (about 15 million people) and official language this country. The closest relative of the Sinhala language is Dhivehi, the official language of the Maldives.

Most scholars believe that the first settlers from North East India arrived in Sri Lanka around the 5th century BC. They mingled with the local Elu-speaking Naga people, and thus the beginning of a new nation, the Sinhalese, was laid. There are four periods in the history of the Sinhalese language: Sinhalese Prakrit (before the 3rd century AD); proto-Singhalese (3rd-7th century AD); medieval Sinhalese (7th-12th centuries); modern Sinhalese (12th century–present).

During the evolution of the Sinhalese language, important phonetic changes occurred, including the loss of aspiration in stop-glottal consonants, the shortening of all long vowels (long vowels appear only in loanwords: vibāgaya - from the Sanskrit vibhāga, "exam"), the simplification of consonant clusters and double consonants into geminates and single consonants, respectively.

In 1956, Sinhalese became the official language of Sri Lanka instead of English. It is this moment that scholars consider the beginning of ethnic conflicts between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority.

In Sinhala, as in many other languages ​​of South Asia, there is a pronounced diglossia: the literary and spoken languages ​​differ in many ways - for example, in the spoken language, verbs do not conjugate. Literary language is used and oral speech at official events (public speeches, television and radio, etc.).

There are many more words with Sanskrit roots in the literary language than in the spoken language. In addition, as a result of centuries of colonial rule, a wide layer of Portuguese, English and Dutch loanwords has formed in the modern Sinhalese language. However, many words are frankly of Sinhalese origin and are absent in neighboring Indo-Aryan languages ​​and in Sanskrit - kola ("leaf"), dola ("pig").

The Sinhala language is also characterized by the existence different types slang - however, the bulk of such vocabulary is considered taboo. In general, the differences between the literary and colloquial forms of the language are so strong that children in schools learn the literary language almost like a foreign language.

Nouns in Sinhala differ in the grammatical categories of case, number, definiteness and animation. In addition to the nominative, accusative, dative and relative cases, there is also a form of the instrumental case, which is used extremely rarely and will soon, apparently, become complete archaism.

Sinhalese uses the indefinite article: -ek for animate nouns and -ak for inanimate nouns. The indefinite article is used only in the singular, and its absence indicates definiteness. In the plural, the category of animate/inanimate is not marked in any way.

In the verbal system, three classes of conjugation are distinguished, while in the spoken language the categories of person, number or gender of verbs are not marked. A distinctive feature of Sinhala morphology is a four-step deictic system: nouns and pronouns are divided into four grammatical categories depending on the degree of proximity to the speaker (“here, close to the speaker”; “here, close to the addressee”; “there, close to the visible third person” ; "there, close to an invisible third person"). The typical word order in a sentence is Subject-Predicate-Object.

Vowel sounds and their graphic representation.

Consonant sounds and their graphic representation.

Graphic representation of vowels [ā, æ, ǣ] in position after the consonant.

Stress in the Sinhalese language.

Pronunciation of double consonants.

Vowel sounds and their graphic representation

The short Sinhalese vowel sound [a] is similar to the Russian unstressed [a] in the words baton, paddock. It is pronounced quickly and abruptly. The short vowel [a] is reduced (pronounced weaker) in all syllables except the first root syllable, where it appears in its full capacity. In full quality, the sound [a] also appears in a closed syllable. In the transcription adopted in the "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:

(There are no capital letters in the Sinhala language, as well as the division of letters into handwritten and printed letters. Letters are written without an inclination, straight.)

The long Sinhala vowel sound [ā] is similar to the Russian stressed [a] in the words hut, insert, but is pronounced more slowly. In Sinhala, long vowels are about twice as long as their 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 transcription is indicated by a dash that is placed 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 English sound[æ] in the words 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 latter 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 consonant sounds in the Sinhala language coincide with the corresponding sounds of the Russian language.

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

The sound [g] in the letter is depicted 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:

Sinhala has a syllabary. All consonants represent the corresponding consonant when combined with the short vowel [a], so the letters above 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 without the accompanying short vowel [a], a special superscript “viram” is attached to the consonant letter, which means that the short vowel [a] is omitted. Viram sign has two graphic styles:

ක් and ම්

The first version of the sign viram 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 sign of viram is written, for example, with the letters බ and ම: බ් [b], ම් [m]. The height of a letter with a viram sign must not exceed the height of a letter without a viram sign.

Graphic representation of vowels [ā, æ, ǣ] in position after a consonant

The letters ආ, ඇ and ඈ, denoting vowels, 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, vowels

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 indicated by a consonant letter, is omitted, and the vowel sound to which the given sign corresponds should be read instead.

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

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

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

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

Stress in Sinhala

In the event that the word has only short vowels, all syllables are pronounced equally clearly, and only the first syllable bears a slight stress. (See above for the pronunciation of the short vowel [a]) If the 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 during pronunciation.

Pronunciation of double consonants

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

EXERCISES

I. Speak.

[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. Say and write in Sinhalese 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 memorize them.

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

Once I managed to communicate with the Sri Lankan philologist Assif Hussein, who studied in sufficient detail the history of the origin, formation and stages of the evolution of the Sinhala language. According to Mr. Hussein, the Sanskrit in which the Vedas were composed existed in northwestern India about 4,000 years ago in its still living form. This is confirmed both by the internal evidence in the Rigveda and by the science of comparative philology. The grammarian Panini only standardized Sanskrit as a single literary language.

The statement is debatable. About 25 years ago, when I, being a schoolboy, began to study Sanskrit and Hindi on my own, I came across Russian-language sources of 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 the professional study of Hindi, classify Sanskrit as a literary standardized language, the age of which is not older than 6000 years.

But let's get back to the Sinhala language, as a direct descendant of Sanskrit. The origin of the Sinhalese language has been the subject of much debate, and has recently re-ignited a new wave of controversy. The claims of the Hela Havula movement that the Sinhalese language arose and formed independently of, but was brought to the island by migrant 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), does not stand up to criticism, given the available philological evidence. In particular, it is a vivid lexical and grammatical substratum of the indigenous island language Vedda in Sinhalese.

In fact, there is hardly any modern language that has not developed from ancient sources. It is widely accepted that all modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars, including Hindi, Bengali and Sinhala, went through two main stages before reaching their present state, namely the transit through the Old Indo-Aryan stage and the Prakrits and the Middle Indo-Aryan stage, the Late Prakrit era - the beginning of the formation of the New Indian languages.

Ancient Indo-Aryan languages ​​that were in use in India during 2000-800 B.C. were clearly similar to each other. All of them were labeled as Sanskrit forms of Prakrit (i.e. colloquial, non-literary forms of Sanskrit). The term Sanskrit-Sanskrit (Sinhalese: Sanskrut-Sanskrut) literally means "refined", "polished", and was first applied sometime between the 7th and 4th centuries BC to refer to the ancient Indo-Aryan literary language in the counterposition to prakrits, 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 Sinhala is ultimately derived 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, heavily 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) passed from the old Indo-Aryan Sanskrit word Karmana-Karmana through Middle Indo-Aryan Pali in the form Karm-Karm.
The same can be said about the Sinhalese words Kam-Kam or Kamkhala-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), Pali Atthi-Atthi, Sanskrit Ashthi-Ashthi.

Epigraphic evidence from Sinhalese inscriptions can be cited to show how a language might develop. For example, in the 4th century, the Sinhala inscription of the word "Moon" is displayed 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 ​​were 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 the Sinhalese Chada-Chada already transformed into Handa-Handa, where H became semi-nasal, and D became intervocalic.

Professor De Silva argues that professors from Singhalistics sometimes resort to substituting, if not completely replacing certain pure Sinhala forms of vocabulary (“helu”) with Sanskrit terms, which is unreasonable. He cites as an example the simple Sinhala word Eta-sekilla-Eta-sekilla (skeleton), which supplanted the unwieldy Sanskrit term Ashthipanjaraya from literary Sinhala. Many native Sinhala children in rural areas could not pronounce words that are both difficult to remember and apply in colloquial speech. This is how the substitution of the Sanskrit word for the Sinhalese, adapted, arose.

However, the campaign for the purity of the Sinhalese language, Hela Havula, calls on modern philologists to completely rid the Sinhalese vocabulary of Sanskrit terms, which is still unreasonable. AT modern vocabulary In Standard Sinhalese there are 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). Deletion of such words, which have become widespread in everyday use, is inappropriate even in the presence of full synonyms of purely Sinhala 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 Sinhalese alphabet since its inception.

Also, there is nothing wrong with giving the Hela Havula movement, the coexistence of Sanskrit equivalents, when it is really lexically required to convey clearer shades of word meaning or context. The existence of synonyms in any language is an indicator of its wealth. At the same time, it is important to understand that extremist tendencies in the language are not useful. The same Hindi language, one of the richest languages ​​in the world, is showing resistance to extremist movements of linguistic purity, reviving Sanskritisms in the modern spoken language. It seems that the Sinhala language is affected to a much lesser extent. Indeed, it is terrible to think what would have happened to the rich and mellifluous speech of Hindi if the views of the Nagari Pracharini Sabha (which advocates replacing the Perso-Arabic vocabulary with Sanskrit) won. In this case, Hindi would be deprived of such common words as Asman-Asman (heaven), Duniya-Duniya (peace), Zindagi-Zindagi (life), Mohabbat-Mohabbat (love), Dil-Dil (heart), Insan-Insan (Human).

According to Mr. Hussein, the Sinhala scholars received direction priorities and 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 have been assimilated into the language, but the use of English words where the native Sinhala words in modern language are easily and unreasonably replaced by anglicisms. If this worrying trend continues, we are likely to see Sinhalese degenerate into a creolized language, i.e. English with Sinhalese vocabulary.

Although, some may reproach me for being so serious, this is actually what is currently happening in urban areas in a short time, can reach rural areas with the help of media. And this is likely to happen, as the media is increasingly implanted not in the literary language, but in colloquial speech. Call me an apocalyptic if you like, but this may eventually lead to the anglicization of the Sinhala vocabulary to the extent that literary works in the new language may even appear. For example, look at what is happening with the Russian or Ukrainian language in the last couple of decades. Maybe then it will be easier for you to understand the concerns regarding the modifications of Sinhalese.

I find it stupid when English forms are used to refer to general concepts such as boy, girl, friend, girlfriend, husband and wife. In fact, rural Sinhalese is unique in that it remains as yet a non-creolized language where these terms would have become so widespread. However, it is sad that terms such as the Sinhalese Kolla-Kolla and Kella-Kella (boy and girl) have taken on a pejorative meaning and are considered unsuitable for polite conversation, especially in urban areas. But at the same time, the literary Pirimi Lamaya-Pirimi Lamaya (boy) 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 or "Mr" and "Madam". This feature is absent in English terms, so, fortunately, the words Mr. and Mrs. are unlikely to take root.

By the way, for example, only a few 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 be revived according to modern meanings in use. For example, Kumar-Kumar (the old Sinhala term for "boy") has also been revived for use in the polite form of the spoken language, while Lamissi-Lamissi (the old form for "girl") is still used in rural areas. The purely Sinhalese words Himiya-Himiya and Biriya-Biriya can be used to denote the words "husband" and "wife". Pemvatha and 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 Sinhalese purity movement Hala Haluva Munidasa Kumaratunga.

But let's, nevertheless, go back 6000 years ago, when, as there are theories, the Sinhalese language began to emerge.
Seemingly surprising to many, the origins of the Sinhala language can be traced back to a period of 6,000 years ago. Surprising but true. Language research of the 19th century, represented by the 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 family of languages. The two scholars, having made a comparative root analysis, traced many Sinhala words in their early forms. The science known as comparative linguistics aims to establish the close relationship that exists between languages ​​such as Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Lithuanian, German, French, English, Russian, Persian, Hindi and Sinhalese. Specialists in this field of linguistics 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 ​​is not very clear at first glance due to the sound changes they underwent over the centuries before reaching their current forms. However, on closer examination, we will see that all these languages ​​go 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 southern Russia around 4500 - 3500 BC, before this proto-language spread to the outskirts of Europe and Asia, and with it began to break up into dialects, and eventually separate, 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, his seminal work. As a result, the collection Der Vergleichenden Grammatik der Indogermanischen Sprachen (A Comparative Grammar of the Indo-Germanic Languages) was published in 1861. And the method of studying languages ​​according to Schleicher received quite a lot of adherents and followers. Schleicher collected many of the then known extinct and surviving Indo-European languages, from which he deduced how the old forms might have sounded. He designated these hypothetical reconstructed forms with an asterisk. This is a practice that 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. Linguist Julius Pokorny in his comprehensive series titled Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (Indo-Germanic Etymological Dictionary, published in 1948-1969) was able to reconstruct Proto-Indo-European speech (PIE) with greater accuracy.

Sound changes
Before we move on, let me continue with a little about Julius Pokorny. He thought it necessary to give the reader some idea of ​​the sound or phonetic changes that the various Indo-European languages ​​were subjected to. These differences in sounds or phonetics can be explained on the basis of the specific laws by which the sound or phonetic changes have taken place. For example, one of the main phonetic changes that characterizes many Indo-European languages ​​is the change in the PIE (proto-Indo-European language) sound K to the hissing sounds Ш (Ш, Ш) or С.

This change affected the 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 Canis-Canis (dog), which in Sanskrit, Indo-Aryan evolved into Shvan-Shvan. The Germanic languages, on the other hand, found themselves in the zone of change from the original PIE K to X, for example, in the Gothic languages ​​of the Hunts-Hunths. The Germanic languages ​​also lost the original D in favor of T (as can be seen in the Gothic Twai-Tvai (two), where Sanskrit has the form Dvau-Dvau, and Greek and Latin Duet-Duet. Also, the initial sound for PIE passed into Ф (as you can see in Gothic Fotus-Fotus (feet), where in Sanskrit Pad-Pad, and in Greek and Latin Podos-Podos.

Sinhala, being Aryan language, underwent two significant stages of changes before acquiring its current 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 AD). And the best representative of Prakrit is Pali, the language of Buddhist scriptures.

Sinhalese forms
Take, for example, the Sinhalese numeral Hatha-Hatha (seven). The word can be easily proven to be derived from the Sanskrit Saptan-Saptan through the Prakrit form Satta-Satta, as in Pali. Related forms in other Indo-European languages ​​including 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 sound of the original form of the numeral, as Septom-Septom. Similarly, the Sinhala numeral Ata-Ata (eight) can be shown to derive from the Sanskrit Ashtau-Ashtau via Attha-Attha in Prakrit, which is identical to the sound in Pali.

Now consider 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 diminutive-caress. "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 Beya-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 Brat, the Lithuanian Brolis-Brolis and the Hindi Bhai-Bhai. These forms are recorded in PIE as Bhrater-Bhrater, which originally meant "supporter".

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

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

Similarly, the Sinhalese word Nahaya-Nahaya (nose) is derived from the Sanskrit Nasa-Nasa and is related to such forms as Latin Nasus-Nasus, Russian Nose, German Naze-Nase and Lithuanian Naše. The PIE form for this word was Nasus-Nasus.

Common words
Now let's look at some 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 Gothic we find the sound of Daur-Daura, in Lithuanian Durys, in Russian Dver, in German Tyr-Tuer and in Dutch Deur. The proto-Indo-Aryan form sounds like Dwar-Dwar. Also consider the Sinhala term Ginna-Ginna (fire), which is no doubt a derivative of the Sanskrit Agni-Agni, and is therefore related to such forms as the Latin Ignis-Ignis, the Lithuanian Ugnis-Ugnis, and the Slavic Ogni (plural) . The PIE form was something like Ognis-Ognis. Finally, take the case of the Sinhala word Taruva-Taruva (star), which is derived from the Sanskrit Str-Str and is associated with such forms 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, because they are scattered across the sky. Or the meaning of "scatterers" or "scatterers of light."

Sanskritisms in Sinhalese: the struggle for balance
The fact that the Sinhalese language is an important aspect of the cultural heritage of the people of Sri Lanka is not subject to the slightest doubt. It represents the bulk of the nation's intellectual achievements and reflects to a large extent its view of the world. Therefore, it is not surprising why the intellectuals of any other country should be concerned about preserving their language for posterity, and some even promote the 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 ​​in the world today are heavily influenced by external influences from foreign languages. This also applies to Arabic, Persian, Russian, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English. Largely due to historical or practical considerations in terms of technology and globalization. Take the Sinhalese language, which was influenced by Tamil as a result of multiple invasions of Tamil troops into the ancient Sinhalese kingdoms and. At the same time, peaceful trading communication and the assimilation of new Tamil words from the category of trade occurred in the Sinhalese social and linguistic environment. Similarly, Sinhalese was influenced by the languages ​​of 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 commercial matters entered the language. For practical reasons. And Sinhalese scholars, for example, found it expedient to adopt word loans from the Sanskrit language in order to make up for the shortcomings of the Sinhala language, especially in terms of technical terminology. In fact, there are hundreds of Sanskrit terms that have entered the Sinhalese lexicon in one form or another during the last hundred years. Many of them seem to have been introduced under the influence of the dictionaries compiled by Prof. Raghu Vira. He devised a scheme for introducing technical terms for the Indian languages, of which Sinhala belongs, on the basis of Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-European language spoken and composed in ancient times in numerous written works in North India. Sanskrit is considered to be the progenitor of modern Indo-Aryan languages ​​such as Hindi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali and Sinhala.

The applied methodology of Professor Raghu Veer somewhat resembled the European model of minting neologisms from Greek and Latin, dead languages. However, the terms taken from there 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, such general terms as Prajatantra-Prajatantra (democracy), Shalyakarma-Shalyakarma (surgery), Chhayarupa-Chhayarupa (photography), Suryabalaya-Suryabalaya (solar energy), Trastavadaya-Trastavadaya (terrorism), Hrudaspandana -Hrudaspandana (heartbeat), Vagvidya-Vagvidya (linguistics) and Rupavahini-Rupavahini (television). Although such borrowings are justified and even necessary, it can also be considered that Sanskrit terms are very often, as a rule, overused even where there are alternative or purely Sinhala terms helu (genuine Sinhalese) that convey exactly the same meaning. or even better than the Sanskrit equivalents.

By the way, relatively recently I had a funny conversation with a Sinhala 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 it’s funny and sad, but I, a foreigner, had to explain that this Sanskrit word adapted in Sinhala means Heartbeat ...

In general, the unhealthy trend is especially pronounced in modern Sinhalese scientific, medical and technical literature, including school textbooks, where countless Sanskritisms are used, even in cases where alternative Sinhalese terms exist. For example, take Ashthipanjaraya-Asthipanjaraya (skeleton), which is quite appropriate in Sinhala, like Eta-sekilla-Eta-sekilla, Shatavarsha-Shatavarsha (age) has a Sinhalese synonym for Siyavasa-Siyawasa, Dirghashirsha-Dirghashirsha (dolicocephaly) in Sinhalese sounds like Digusiras- Digusiras, Shilalekhana-Shilalekhana (inscription) has a Sinhalese synonym Sellipi-Sellipi, and Pathashala-Pathashala (school) in Sinhalese Pasala-Pasala, Arogyashala-Arogyashala (hospital) has a Sinhalese synonym Rohala-Rohala. Sanskrit Karmantashala-Karmantashala (plant) is quite appropriate to replace with Kamhala-Kamhala.

In Sri Lanka, the question is often asked why Sinhala scholars and educators prefer these complex Sanskritisms, if one could return to the original, much simpler and more pleasant-sounding helu terms, especially when compiling textbooks intended for schoolchildren. Brevity and practicality were missed by Sri Lankan pundits in their rush to join the fashionable Sanskrit that made rapid forays into the Indian media and academia beginning in the 1950s.
Not only because of the difficulty in pronunciation is the problem of a bad impression of a high literary style among the Sinhalese youth, who, as I wrote above, strive to keep up with the rest of the world by grabbing and introducing foreign words and jargons. Indeed, this is a question that lexicographers should pay serious attention to.

Minting new words
Besides using existing Sinhala terms, creating 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 existing, which could form the basis for the creation of scientific and other terminology for modern research.

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

euphonious conditions
However, returning to the balance between the Sanskrit innovations and the actual coinage of Sinhalese words, I would like to say that the Hela campaign against Sanskrit should not be taken to the end. Indeed, otherwise, getting rid of Sanskritisms, impoverishes the Sinhalese language itself, depriving it of some very useful and harmonious terms. And there is no doubt that they will be replaced by English ones, which are completely or very inappropriate.

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

Take, for example, such words as Madhyasthana-Madhyasthana (center) and Baladakshika-Baladakshika (guide girl). It is not easy to find alternatives in Helu forms of Sinhala to convey certain deep-rooted shades of meaning. Sometimes using helu equivalents you can get very ridiculous hue values. And there are still cases where the equivalent of the Sanskrit term in Sinhala helu, used today, may have a completely different meaning. For example, the Sanskrit equivalent of the term Yantra-Yantra, which is used to denote a machine, is in Sinhala in the form Yatura-Yatura meaning "key".

In conclusion, it should be noted that while there is a need to use more pure Sinhala Helu terms in education and academia, up to the minting of new words, due attention should be paid to the brevity and euphony of these Sanskrit words, as substitution is not always appropriate. Achieving 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 in your journey through, 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 Sinhala language only with Indologists. No more and no less. Please do not disturb experts in the field of European linguistics or just curious people.

The inscription on the caricature of Minister Sergei Lavrov, who, as you know, speaks Sinhalese: Mata sinhala katha karannath puluwan - I can also speak Sinhalese

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All the best to you on your way to fascinating world Singalistics!

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

Sergius Pedde,
Lankarus Lanka Private Limited