Abstract:
In Sri Lanka, there is little official acknowledgment of or discussion on the
preservation of its lesser-known languages. Perhaps this is to be expected,
in a country where the politics between the two major languages – Sinhala
and Tamil – has led to interethnic violence that lasted over 30 years. There
are only three languages mentioned in the Constitution – Sinhala and Tamil,
the official and national languages, and English, which is termed the ‘link’
language. However, there are several other languages which are facing
various threats to their survival. In this context, the present study investigates
the manner in which Sri Lanka’s macro-level language and language-in
education policies of the 1940-1950 period have impacted the language
practices and ideologies of two of the communities of lesser-known languages:
the Memons and Malays of Sri Lanka. Although the journeys that brought
these communities to Ceylon are very different, they both practice the Islamic
faith, and members of both communities believe that their languages are
now endangered. This study employs a sequential research design where a
quantitative study of the language practices and ideologies of 176 Memons
was followed by semi-structured interviews with several participants from the
Memon and Malay communities who were directly impacted by the language
and language-in-education policy implemented during the 1940-50 period.
The findings reveal that these macro-level changes resulted in the language
repertoires of these participants increasing because they became proficient
in Sinhala/Tamil, which was the medium of instruction in school. The way
this change is viewed by the participants is reflective of their ideologies
surrounding their own language – for some it meant a threat to the survival
of their mother tongue and for others it meant a broadening of their linguistic
repertoire, which was viewed as having a positive impact on their identity
as Sri Lankans. The study concludes by drawing attention to the complex
relationship between policies, identities, and ideologies in the contemporary
Sri Lankan context.
