Retail
Subscription
Advertise
  • ISSUES
    • 1987 to 1990
      • 1987
        • May 1987
        • June 1987
        • July 1987
        • August 1987
        • September 1987
        • November 1987
        • December 1987
      • 1998
        • November 1988
        • December 1988
    • 2010 to 2019
      • 2010
        • January 2010
        • February 2010
        • March 2010
        • April 2010
        • May 2010
        • June 2010
        • July 2010
        • August 2010
        • September 2010
        • October 2010
        • November 2010
        • December 2010
      • 2011
        • January 2011
        • February 2011
        • March 2011
        • April 2011
        • May 2011
        • June 2011
        • July 2011
        • August 2011
        • September 2011
        • October 2011
        • November 2011
        • December 2011
      • 2012
        • January 2012
        • February 2012
        • March 2012
        • April 2012
        • May 2012
        • June 2012
        • July 2012
        • August 2012
        • September 2012
        • October 2012
        • November 2012
        • December 2012
      • 2013
        • January 2013
        • February 2013
        • March 2013
        • April 2013
        • May 2013
        • June 2013
        • July 2013
        • August 2013
        • September 2013
        • October 2013
        • November 2013
        • December 2013
      • 2014
        • January 2014
        • February 2014
        • March 2014
        • April 2014
        • May 2014
        • June 2014
        • July 2014
        • August 2014
        • September 2014
        • October 2014
        • November 2014
        • December 2014
      • 2015
        • January 2015
        • February 2015
        • March 2015
        • April 2015
        • May 2015
        • June 2015
        • July 2015
        • August 2015
        • September 2015
        • October 2015
        • November 2015
        • December 2015
      • 2016
        • January 2016
        • February 2016
        • March 2016
        • April 2016
        • May 2016
        • June 2016
        • July 2016
        • August 2016
        • September 2016
        • October 2016
        • November 2016
        • December 2016
      • 2017
        • January 2017
        • February 2017
        • March 2017
        • April 2017
        • May 2017
        • June 2017
        • July 2017
        • August 2017
        • September 2017
        • October 2017
        • November 2017
        • December 2017
      • 2018
        • January 2018
        • February 2018
        • March 2018
        • April 2018
        • May 2018
        • June 2018
        • July 2018
        • August 2018
        • November 2018
        • December 2018
      • 2019
        • January 2019
        • February 2019
        • March 2019
        • April 2019
        • May 2019
        • June 2019
        • July 2019
        • August 2019
        • September 2019
        • October 2019
        • November 2019
        • December 2019
    • 2020 to 2023
      • 2020
        • January 2020
        • February 2020
        • March 2020
        • September 2020
        • October 2020
        • November 2020
        • December 2020
      • 2021
        • January 2021
        • February 2021
        • March 2021
        • April 2021
        • May 2021
        • June 2021
        • July 2021
        • August 2021
        • September 2021
        • October 2021
        • November 2021
        • December 2021
      • 2022
        • January 2022
        • February 2022
        • March 2022
        • April 2022
        • May 2022
        • June 2022
        • July 2022
        • August 2022
        • September 2022
        • October 2022
        • November 2022
        • December 2022
      • 2023
        • January 2023
        • February 2023
        • March 2023
        • April 2023
        • May 2023
        • June 2023
        • July 2023
        • August 2023
  • FOR DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
  • ABOUT US
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result

A Unique alphabet with 58 letters

in December 2013, Featured
0
Children begin to learn how to read at a very young age with the guidance of Buddhist monks (Photographs Sarath Perera)

Amma  (‘A’ as in ‘up’) in Sinhala (and also in Tamil), the language of the majority of Sri Lankans—the Sinhalese—means ‘mother’. It’s the first word that any infant would say, naturally— because the infant gets used to calling the mother.

Words D C Ranatunga

අ is the first letter in the Sinhala alphabet. It represents ‘A/a’ in English. Just as much as the little one starts calling for the mother, in writing the first letters, the child is taught to write අම්මා (Amma – Mother) starting with the letter අ.

Sinhala as a language has a cherished history of two and a half millennia. A continuous record of two thousand three hundred years can be counted for writing by the Sinhalese.

Learning the alphabet starts at a very early age. As a child starts to talk, the parents look for an auspicious time to read the first letters. It is the common belief that unless this tradition is followed, the child may not be able to study well. The child’s horoscope is taken to an astrologer who will go through it and do the necessary calculations and arrive at a good time.

The village Buddhist temple has been the seat of learning long before schools were established during the British colonial era in the 19th Century. The Buddhist monks were the most learned in the village and the chief monk gave leadership to the village in all matters. Being the most learned person, he was considered most suitable to read and write the first letters.

On the auspicious day the parents would take the child to the temple, flowers will be offered and Buddhist stanzas recited at the image house prior to meeting the monk at his quarters with the child. As the auspicious time approaches, the parents and the child will offer betel leaves and worship the monk who will select a book and make friends with the child, coaxing him to read a few letters with the monk giving the lead. Often this becomes a fairly tedious process with the child refusing to read.

Learning the alphabet starts at a very early age. As a child starts to talk, the parents look for an auspicious time to read the first letters.

Once the reading was over, it was time to write the first letters of the alphabet. Writing was done on trays of sand. The most outstanding Sri Lankan literary figure of the 20th Century, Martin Wickramasinghe (1890-1976) recalls his early days when he learnt the alphabet. “I feel an eager curiosity to look back into the past stirring in me when I recall how I used to write, my forefinger pressing my middle finger on the sand board… a board painted black and its surface covered with a thick layer of sea sand. As the fingers traced the Sinhalese letter upon it, the smooth sand parted exposing the black board as curving black lines of letters. To a man who looked at them from a distance, they appeared like letters written in charcoal on a white board… My hand was first disciplined at the sand board, before I graduated to the copy book and the quill pen,” (from the novel: ‘Lay Bare the Roots’).

Sinhala is unique to the Sinhalese and has its own script based on an alphabet with 58 letters, making it one of the largest alphabets in the world. Not all letters are in common use though. According to renowned linguist, Professor J B Disanayaka, 38 letters are used to write contemporary Sinhala. Of them, 12 are vowel-letters and 26, consonant-letters. In the use of vowel sounds there is a further division—vowel- letters and vowel-strokes. While the former are used to write vowel-sounds that occur at the beginning of a word, the latter are used when vowel-sounds occur in another place in a word, say, after a consonant-sound.

The Sinhala script traces its origins to ‘Brahmi’ like all other Indo-Aryan scripts.

Let’s have a look at the vowel sounds of the Sinhala alphabet. Of the 12 vowel-letters අ (a) has four variations: අ (pronounced as in ‘Up’) ආ (pronounced as in ‘Ask’), ඇ (as in ‘Amber’) and ඈ (as in ‘Ash’). The other vowels are ඉ (as in ‘India’), ඊ (as in East), උ (as in ‘Uganda’), ඌ (as in ‘Ooze’), එ (as in ‘End’), ඒ (as in ‘Ancient’), ඔ (as in ‘Odd’) and ඕ (as in ‘Own’).

The set of consonants are not found in any other language in the world, says Professor Disanayaka. The only exception is ‘Divehi’, the language of the Maldives, which is an offshoot of Sinhala.

Historical records indicate that people speaking an Indo-Aryan dialect migrated to Sri Lanka from North India about five centuries before the beginning of the Christian Era.

The origin of the Sinhala alphabet dates back to several centuries—at least to the time that Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka in the Third Century BC. The Sinhala script traces its origins to ‘Brahmi’ like all other Indo-Aryan scripts. However, distinguished Sri Lankan archaeologist, Professor Senerat Paranavitana noted differences between the Indian Brahmi script and what was used in Sri Lanka. He refers to the many hundreds of caves with inscriptions engraved on their brows, found in various parts of the Island. The script of these records is the same as that of the inscriptions in India in the edicts of Emperor Asoka. Though the script is different to what is in the present alphabet, Professor Paranavitana has converted and identified the letters and comparing them to the sounds in the present  alphabet.

38 letters are used to write contemporary Sinhala. Of them, 12 are vowel-letters and 26, consonant-letters.

Over time, the original script changed. The present letters of the Sinhala alphabet have more curves closer to Telugu and Malayalam, two Dravidian languages in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively. It has been described as “a unique cursive script.”

Evolving through time the Sinhala language has nurtured much, incorporating new words though the written script has stayed the same. As such we step forward with a ‘unqiue’ language that combines both the old and the new to preserve the age old and unfolding beauty of Sinhala.

Please login to join discussion

Explore Sri Lanka July 2023

Recent Posts

  • Victory is War and Peace?
  • President Ranil Wickremesinghe visits Arugambay 
  • Casa Serena: Where Art Meets a Cause
  • An Unorthodox Melodrama 
  • Mer.chant Hotel Galle Fort

Recent Comments

No comments to show.
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

© 2023 BT Options. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • ISSUES
    • 1987 to 1990
      • 1987
      • 1998
    • 2010 to 2019
      • 2010
      • 2011
      • 2012
      • 2013
      • 2014
      • 2015
      • 2016
      • 2017
      • 2018
      • 2019
    • 2020 to 2023
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2022
      • 2023
  • FOR DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION
  • ABOUT US

© 2023 BT Options. All Rights Reserved.