Sinhala Only: Our Nation’s Curse?
By Jagath Asoka -February 16, 2015
Dr. Jagath Asoka
If you are a Sri Lankan—in the deepest sense—what is your identity? I think most Sri Lankans, first, would use their ethnicity or religion to identify themselves, not their country. Will Sinhala ever be the language that unites us, not the language that belongs only to the ethnic Sinhalese? What would happen to the Sinhala language if it is also spoken by the majority of our minorities?
What is the significance of knowing the Sinhala language in our day-to-day living in Sri Lanka? Is Sinhala a vehicle for expressing our thoughts, perceptions, sentiments, and values characteristic of a particular ethnic group? Is it a representation of a fundamental expression of our social identity? Does Sinhala help us maintain the feelings of cultural and ethnic kinship? Can the Sinhala language unite various ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka?
I do not think that the Sri Lankan Sinhalese would make an attempt to learn Tamil because they can survive without it; they have nothing to gain by expressing their grievances, political or otherwise, in Tamil. On the other hand, the minorities in Sri Lanka have to survive among this majority. If you are a Tamil or a Muslim, what is the impetus to learn Sinhala?
For all practical purposes, we must have two, or even three, official languages—Sinhala, Tamil, and English—in Sri Lanka, but can we form a single national identity without a common language? Can we blame the ravaging imperialist monsters for creating two bleeding halves of this edenic paradise? We know that English is not going to be our common language of the masses, because English is somewhat inaccessible and belong to the realm of the intellectual elite. English, spoken competently by about 10% of the population, is referred to as the link language in the constitution. I do not know the percentage of Tamils who are fluent in Sinhala, but I know one thing: When Tamil or Muslim politicians articulate their thoughts fluently in Sinhala, they get the attention of the majority Sinhalese. Try it if you do not believe me!Read More
