Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism from language loyalty to language disloyalty in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Language disloyalty is a sociolinguistic phenomenon; the denial and loss of loyalty of native speakers to their language. An instantaneous observation of the current linguistic landscape of Sri Lanka suggests that Sinhalese people show a significant tendency to choose English over Sinhala for many purposes. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to explore the trends towards language disloyalty among Sinhalese people. The Sinhala language is important for the Sinhalese ethnicity in two ways: first, it demarcates the social boundaries of the group. Secondly, when the history of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism is considered, it was through language that nationalism was manifested into politics. Fueled through nationalism, language loyalty for the Sinhala language became the basis of a mass political movement and culminated in the state declaring Sinhala as the official language. This loyalty led to an unprecedented language revival and then later to many complexities and a civil war. Hence, language was the most contentious issue of nationalism and the focal component in the construction of the Sinhala ethnic identity. In this context, linguistic behaviour of the Sinhalese people at present is unique and warrants a scientific investigation. Thus, this research, whilst particularly exploring the status and position of the Sinhala language within the nationalist ideology and therein Sinhala society in general, further explores the trends of Sinhala language disloyalty among them. Data was gathered in three different sites to observe language in use in (i) traditional Sinhala-Buddhist weddings (50 invitation cards), (ii) 410 nameboards in a predominantly Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist area and (iii) wall paintings (thaappa chitra) (25), which were created to show support for a nationalist leader. A qualitative descriptive analysis of data showed that 100% of the wedding cards used English. Of the nameboards observed, 74% were written only in English while only 7% were written entirely in Sinhala. The language evident in most of the wall paintings, which had words or phrases, was English. Therefore, in conclusion, this data shows that Sinhala people in the present context of Sri Lanka are being disloyal to their native language which they have fought hard throughout history with very high social, political and economic costs to preserve and develop. This linguistic behaviour indicates an interesting political paradox as it takes place at a time when nationalist politics in the country have gained momentum with the election of a nationalist president and government. Further research needs to be carried out to explore as to why a group of people who are nationalistic in many ways are being disloyal to their native language – the most significant characteristic of ethnic identity and nationalist ideology.