Fascinating Languages of Sri Lanka

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  • čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
  • Filmed on my recent trip to Sri Lanka, I look at the languages of Sri Lanka - Sinhala, Tamil, Sri Lankan Malay, Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole and Sri Lankan English. There's a deep dive into the writing systems, loan words and grammar of all the languages.
    00:00 Main and official languages
    01:03 Names of Sri Lanka
    02:52 Sinhala case system
    05:54 Diglossia
    06:13 Sinhala writing system
    07:22 Retroflex consonants
    09:42 Tamil
    10:24 Agglutinative grammar
    14:57 Nasal consonants
    15:52 Vedda language
    17:14 Foreign influence and loan words in Sinhala and Tamil
    18:52 Sri Lankan English
    19:40 Sri Lankan Malay
    21:05 Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole
    22:35 Sri Lankan Sign Language
    22:53 Jaffna Library
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Komentáře • 517

  • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
    @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +77

    I recently had the opportunity to visit Sri Lanka - one of my favourite places. For the first time, I was able to go to the north of the country. I very much enjoyed researching the linguistic riches of this beautiful island and am priviledged to share them with you.

    • @TrevisPietersz
      @TrevisPietersz Před měsícem +4

      English is not just spoken by an small elite group in Colombo but rather is also the native language of what is known as the Sri Lankan Burgher community, a term given by the British to the European settlers who remained after the conquest of Sri Lanka by the British. This group consisted of many Dutch, Portuguese, German, French people and others who were employed by the Dutch East India Company. There are not many Burghers left in Sri Lanka as many of them migrated after independence but a small sizable population remains mostly in the western province. As a Dutch Burgher myself who can trace his roots back to Europe it's quite interesting how they abandoned their original native tongues to be employed in the Civil service in the new empire.

    • @sudu-manika
      @sudu-manika Před měsícem +4

      Sinhala is only official language. Tamil not, Bro don't tell fake news 😂😂😂

    • @hiruharihari7668
      @hiruharihari7668 Před měsícem +4

      ​@@sudu-manika sinhalese brain🤣🤣🤣

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +9

      @@sudu-manika your government seems to disagree
      languagesdept.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=38&Itemid=163&lang=en

    • @somindadinnaga6786
      @somindadinnaga6786 Před měsícem +1

      As Sri Lankans we lave learnt that "Sangscrit" nad "Pali" are the parents of Sinhala Language
      Time to time it has got some influences from other languages like portuguese , dutch, English , Arabic and Some several Indian Languages
      Sinhalese haven't migrated ffrom India
      Sri Lanka has more than 5000 years of history
      As you have mentioned Rama - Ravana battle was happened around 5000 years ago
      There are some stone planks in Sri Lanka written in ancient sinhalese language
      When the King Wijaya migrated from India, there were rulers in Sri Lanka
      And they have used the Sinhalese
      And the fabulous thing about the Sinhala language is you cannot pronounce one word in different manner
      Every word has it's specific pronounce
      Except "අ" (a) sound
      Only doubt in that sound is there are three sounds as very short , short and long
      In Sinhalese there are two characters for that sound one is definitely for long sound
      But other one is for both very short and short sound
      Ex : papadam - පපඩම්
      In this word firt "ප" is in short 'අ' sound second "ප" in very short or sinked sound
      "පා" is used for long sound
      Except this all other words have it's own specific pronounce

  • @user-po2kq5in2u
    @user-po2kq5in2u Před měsícem +22

    OMG 😅 I have never seen a foreigner pronouncing Sinhala that good. Such a great flexible tongue you have. 😅

  • @user-zb6yp4qe5l
    @user-zb6yp4qe5l Před měsícem +41

    I am a native Sri Lankan, and I learned lot about my country from this video. Good job! ❤

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      Glad you liked it!

    • @DN_cooking
      @DN_cooking Před měsícem

      😂

    • @ransikadealwis8379
      @ransikadealwis8379 Před měsícem

      Because you have knowledge about your own history these bloody idiotic politicians removed history from school curriculum

    • @bs-dd6cu
      @bs-dd6cu Před měsícem

      Are you sinhalees or Tamil. If you are a sinhalees please don't tell me you are coming from king Vijaya who migrate to Sri lanka from India. If you are Tamil 1000 stories there. Be wised 🦉

  • @beardninja5029
    @beardninja5029 Před měsícem +43

    As a young Sinhalese Sri Lankan, the Sinhala Only Act was one of the worst decisions taken by our government. Words cannot describe the harm it caused our nation. As the current generation of Sri Lankans, we must strive our best to promote harmony and equality amongst our different ethnic groups.

    • @gnanathasanebenezer2915
      @gnanathasanebenezer2915 Před měsícem +5

      Your words are SO true, bless you!

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +8

      Indeed. Thank you so much for your comment. Young people are our hope for a more enlightened future where we treasure our common humanity.

    • @dananjaperera7922
      @dananjaperera7922 Před měsícem +10

      You dont know the History, being a Singhalese. What do you do for Sinhalese who were chased out from Jafna. Tamil leaders always stand up for their people
      For Innocent Sinhalese no one. Before Sinhala made State Languge all the rights were only for Enhlish speaking people and non Sinhalese. 50% of higher rank jobs occupied by non Sinhalese, where most amendments were done to historical documents including village names.

    • @ven.weerakodiyanenandarath2673
      @ven.weerakodiyanenandarath2673 Před měsícem

      😂

    • @ven.weerakodiyanenandarath2673
      @ven.weerakodiyanenandarath2673 Před měsícem +2

      I think you need more critical ability before comment ru***sh

  • @hiranthe5723
    @hiranthe5723 Před 14 dny +2

    Great work. I apppreciate your intellectual input into this fantastic product. One correction. @24.09 minute, you have told that Tamils were 45% of the population but the writing in Subtitle text says 29%. According to Wikipedea - "The Sri Lanka Tamils, who live predominantly in the north and east of the island, form the largest minority group at 11.1% (according to the 2012 census) of the population. There are also Indian Tamils who form a distinct ethnic group comprising 4.1% of the population". Therefore both sections together forms nearly 16%. According to Wikipedea. 1953 census gave Srilankan Tamils @ 10.93% and Indian Tamils @ 12.03%. some % of these Indian workers were retuened to India and the rest were made citizens of SL. 1981 Census shows a realistic value with Srilankan Tamils @ 12.71% and Indian Tamils @ 5.51%. This is before the 1983 riots and the serious stage of Ealam War.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před 12 dny

      Hi. Thanks for pointing this out. I did give the correct figure as an on-screen correction and in the subtitles.

  • @samithufernando
    @samithufernando Před měsícem +34

    Perhaps the most interesting video on Sri Lanka I've ever watched.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      Wow. That is praise indeed. Thank you!

    • @ransikadealwis8379
      @ransikadealwis8379 Před měsícem

      Because he was telling something so tasty for Tamil separatists for not accepting srilankan than saying Tamil elam

    • @samithufernando
      @samithufernando Před měsícem

      @@ransikadealwis8379 What do you mean?

  • @geenadasilva9287
    @geenadasilva9287 Před měsícem +14

    thanks for this. As a language lover and a half sinhalese woman who is only just discovering her connection, this is a joy. (my father's family is from Mount Lavinia btw)

  • @rusiruhettimullage5226
    @rusiruhettimullage5226 Před měsícem +6

    A wonderful video Dave ! It makes me happy that there is something like this, finally. :)

  • @SteevFernando-ok4dm
    @SteevFernando-ok4dm Před měsícem +7

    love your video mate. very informative.

  • @DanHannanMEP
    @DanHannanMEP Před měsícem +8

    You are a lucky man to be there. Keep up these amazing videos, you genius.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +1

      Wow, thank you. This one’s a bit more of a niche topic than I usually do.

    • @DanHannanMEP
      @DanHannanMEP Před měsícem +2

      @@DaveHuxtableLanguages A diglossic language based on abugida and retroflex consonants? This is what your fans come here for!

  • @sujeevadealwis5513
    @sujeevadealwis5513 Před měsícem +20

    Basically, what the British did was divide and rule.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +5

      Sadly yes.

    • @ransikadealwis8379
      @ransikadealwis8379 Před měsícem +2

      Absolutely right. That is why British colonists gave more opportunities to Tamils and tried to make a rift between two major ethnic groups. They even gave parliamentary representation disproportionately. The Sinhalese population as a percentage relayively was much higher than today. We should stop talking about this subject anymore and move with young people who were not corrupted with extremist ideologies. We should learn Tamil and even should elect a Tamil priminister and Muslim priminister in the future. Lashman kadiragamar should have been the first Tamil prime minister if Not Ltte had not brutally killed him

    • @alaricshiran9189
      @alaricshiran9189 Před 22 dny

      , going around the world causing all kinds of problems

  • @dula1020
    @dula1020 Před měsícem +14

    This song selections are top notch ❤. Keep it up. I watched all the video without skipping. Miss my country

  • @freecommentor
    @freecommentor Před měsícem +13

    Highly informative. And with a sense of humor also. Wonderful video. Keep it up. Love to see more.

  • @alsaceramenaden6607
    @alsaceramenaden6607 Před měsícem +3

    Wow, well researched history of Ceylon/Sri lanka. Thank you.

  • @theglobaldiary6827
    @theglobaldiary6827 Před 14 dny

    Thanks Dave, very informative upload this.

  • @upendrak95
    @upendrak95 Před měsícem +8

    Excellent professional presentation clip, interesting and well done.

  • @mahendraperera7688
    @mahendraperera7688 Před měsícem +22

    A Sinhalese here, thank you very much about the content. You have explained it without any bias. I love my country and that love grew more after seeing this.

  • @infinite5795
    @infinite5795 Před 23 dny +3

    As an Odia person from the province of Odisha, India( we speak Odia language), it was great to learn so many things about Sinhala and Tamil. But the burning of the Jaffna library is the most deplorable and loathful thing, any man could do, worser than a genocide. I admire the Tamil patience and perseverance coming from a speaker of an Indian classical language myself( Odia has the most number of manuscripts after Sanskrit for any South Asian language), the Sinhalese would have found their libraries and granaries dry if it had been done to any other ethnicity.
    Some points, i would like to mention here:-
    1) Sri lanka is called Bilanka in Odia generally.
    2) Odia has 8 cases as Sanskrit has. Man in Odia is maNisa( the N is a nasal retroflex), while book is bhuraja( Old Odia) or Khata( standard Odia) .
    3) Odia is the least foreign language influenced South Asian language( with loanwords

  • @ZootBurger
    @ZootBurger Před měsícem +3

    That was a most enjoyable video, Sir... visually stunning, a musical treat for the ear, and full of really interesting linguistic and historical information. Bravo! ❤❤

  • @user-jt3dw6vv4x
    @user-jt3dw6vv4x Před měsícem +2

    Highly informative and wonderful video 😊

  • @HirunKarunaratne
    @HirunKarunaratne Před měsícem +2

    Hey, no way! You're in Sri Lanka? What a coincidence. As a linguistic enthusiast, I've been watching you for a long time, and seeing you pop up here randomly is awesome. I hope you're having a blast in my homeland!

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +1

      So glad to hear it. I was only there for two weeks and have been home for a while. I did have a blast and am very fond of your homeland. The video took much longer to edit than I expected.

  • @baymathiya4581
    @baymathiya4581 Před měsícem +13

    I watched your video with much interest. Your account is insightful and a lot of fun. I like your Sinhala pronunciation! I think as a language Sinhala is much more difficult than English. There has been a very rich tradition of Sinhalese literature that spans over two and half thousands years. I have immense respect for Tamil culture, traditions, language and literature that are equally ancient and unique. They have been enriched by the larger South Indian Tamil traditions, just like the Sinhalese being influenced by the Indian traditions, maybe northern. Still Tamil people in the North and East have their unique traditions that they are very proud of. It is this uniqueness that is often subdued by Sinhalese. However, it is good that more Sinhalese are learning to embrace the unique as well as interdependent bases of all ethnicities. Both cultures are land-based. Sinhala and Tamil languages are phonetic.
    Muslim people have also lived in Sri Lanka for centuries claiming their unique identity and a lot of them Tamil as their first language.
    There is a remarkable distinction between spoken Sinhala and written Sinhala that makes it more difficult to study as a second language. In spoken Sinhala many of the grammar rules are broken. For example, the sentence 'I go home' in written Sinhala would be, 'mama gedara yami' whereas in spoken Sinhala, 'mama gedara yanawa'. I have studied and used Sinhala as my first language, growing up and as you said, used English in my higher education and professional practice. As someone domiciled in a western country, your account brings tons of nostalgic memories of my childhood and youth!
    You are right about the ways in which Tamil people have been marginalized, including their language and culture. Burning of the Jaffna library is a crime that defies any sensibilities. It is a loss for the entire world!
    It is also very important to contextualize the divisions and tensions within Sri Lanka's colonial past, especially the British who made irrevocable destruction of these rich cultures, burnt one of the world's most ancient libraries in Alu Viharaya in Matale, destroyed the preserved watersheds in the hill country, employed the divide and rule policy to create tensions among the Sinhalalese and Tamils we have seen in recent decades.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +5

      I’m so glad you found it interesting and I agree with your summary. I was not aware of the burning of the Alu Viharaya library. Such a dreadful thing! You are of course right about the terrible and long lasting effects of the British colonial method of divide and rule not only in Sri Lanka but also in many other places.

    • @kpakeerathakumar5326
      @kpakeerathakumar5326 Před měsícem +6

      Don't denied the one of oldest library in Jaffna was burn down by ruling Sinhalese 1981

    • @baymathiya4581
      @baymathiya4581 Před měsícem +11

      Absolutely YES, thanks so much for highlighting it. Burning the Jaffna library by Sinhalese Buddhist thugs led by a thug of a politician is one of the most heinous acts that defies any civilized sense. It was the Pride of Thamil heritage. It enshrined such rare ancient documents and books. The speaker does talk about it.
      This is all part of the genocide of Thamil peoples in Sri Lanka. Also remember what happened in 1956 and in 1972. Then 1981, Sinhalese Buddhists showed the world who we (most of us) really are OMG! Sinhalese people (myself included), should take this history to our hearts seriously, as we all have been complicit in this massive crime. Listen to and learn about the truth, speak out, act and make a lifelong commitment to undivided justice!

  • @jayandesilva8706
    @jayandesilva8706 Před měsícem +4

    How nice. Learnt lot of about my own country and dialect from you sir…❤

  • @Sri-Lankan-Heritage-Trail

    Nice Informative video, keep it up

  • @fingerstylesankha4508
    @fingerstylesankha4508 Před měsícem

    Hats off for taking pains to create this excellent informative video!

  • @Supun.S.Jayasinghe
    @Supun.S.Jayasinghe Před 21 dnem

    Highly informative video even for me as a Sri Lankan. Subbed immediately

  • @Nisharigan
    @Nisharigan Před měsícem +1

    Thank you for the helpful video. It really helped me with my research for my documentary film. I am grateful for your hard work and time.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      Glad it was helpful! What is your documentary about?

    • @Nisharigan
      @Nisharigan Před měsícem

      ​@@DaveHuxtableLanguages We're creating a documentary exploring traditional medicinal practices across different cultures in Sri Lanka. It's a journey to understand the healing traditions of various communities and the plants they use for remedies, while also exploring the connections between traditional and Western medicine.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      @@Nisharigan Sounds fascinating. I wish you every success with your project.

    • @Nisharigan
      @Nisharigan Před měsícem

      @@DaveHuxtableLanguages Thank you so much Sir.

  • @chathuranga86
    @chathuranga86 Před měsícem

    What an excellent video regarding Sri Lanka and our languages. Very well produced.

  • @sarithimaduwage8251
    @sarithimaduwage8251 Před měsícem +1

    Very informative. Thank you

  • @akalangkadezoysa3475
    @akalangkadezoysa3475 Před měsícem

    wow well researched and well explained keep it up

  • @jr_8292
    @jr_8292 Před měsícem

    Thanks so much for a fascinating video about a truly beautiful country, both culturally and naturally. And I will now use "proungoablers" in my daily vocabulary!

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      My huge pleasure. Who knows, it might be next year’s OED word of the year.

  • @thusithaperera4816
    @thusithaperera4816 Před 12 dny

    Thanks for your video about my Country ❤ 💐

  • @janakasanjaya6926
    @janakasanjaya6926 Před měsícem

    Thank you very much for the video

  • @lankawalpola8297
    @lankawalpola8297 Před měsícem

    Interesting investigation, thanks for the effort , appreciate it

  • @thusharajayamanna9254
    @thusharajayamanna9254 Před 13 dny

    Very knowledgeable and educated gentleman having enormous knowledge of history of Sri lanka.

  • @pasindulakshitha2407
    @pasindulakshitha2407 Před měsícem

    Thanks a lot, learned a lot about my native language and history I did not know before.❤

  • @pasindukandanaarachchi4242
    @pasindukandanaarachchi4242 Před měsícem +1

    awesome video.

  • @mt841000
    @mt841000 Před měsícem +3

    wow! this is amazing!!! while spoken Sinhalese is indo-aryan its scripting is based on Grantha scripts which tamil script falls as well (you'll find many similarity between sinhala and malayali scripts)

  • @dantabujha9635
    @dantabujha9635 Před měsícem +1

    this is amazing 😻

  • @denethweerasinghe
    @denethweerasinghe Před měsícem +3

    Not just loanwords, there are a lot of Portuguese surnames that still survive today even amongst non-Burghers, like Perera, Da Silva and Fernando. Awesome video ♥

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      So glad you think so. That’s for the comment about surnames - an interesting legacy.

  • @hawkingdawking4572
    @hawkingdawking4572 Před měsícem +8

    New knowledge even for south Indians. 😊

  • @qelak
    @qelak Před 22 dny +1

    One thing to add is 1958 SL has declared Tamil also as an official language

  • @shehanavindra7137
    @shehanavindra7137 Před měsícem

    You Sir have done justice to my wonderful native language. I have discussions with my colleagues (I live in Canada now) about Sri Lanka and I can give them this video which gives a great understanding about Sinhala. Not to mention the choice of background music is absolutely impeccable.

  • @carlinberg
    @carlinberg Před měsícem

    Great video, very interesting!

  • @ISHUMAYA
    @ISHUMAYA Před měsícem

    Awesome video 🌷💫🙌

  • @eruthayamarythiagarajah8960
    @eruthayamarythiagarajah8960 Před měsícem +2

    Very good video. I’m a Sri Lankan American fluent in both languages. I enjoyed.
    Very educational! Interesting!!

  • @cyblackbox
    @cyblackbox Před měsícem

    super video thank you

  • @JanakaVithanage
    @JanakaVithanage Před měsícem

    Thank you for doing such a remarkable study of the Sinhala language. 🙏

  • @nilminisubramaniam7985
    @nilminisubramaniam7985 Před měsícem +6

    A well researched and a much needed unbiased clarification for the diverse population of Sri Lanka. Very insightful. Thank you. I am from Jaffna but have lived all my life in the south and central Sri lanka.

  • @user-lj9ph8yw2o
    @user-lj9ph8yw2o Před 19 dny

    Valuable video

  • @chinthanaperera6202
    @chinthanaperera6202 Před měsícem

    Interesting and thank you

  • @theatisgr
    @theatisgr Před 12 dny +1

    These two languages have one thing in common: they are on my “Unlearnable languages” list. Nevertheless, Sinhalese has one relatively easy aspect: its script. A couple of days ago I started studying it and discovered, to my surprise, that I was able to recognize most letters in just two days. This is really very fast for a totally new script. The explanation is very simple: many letters evoke associations which makes them easy to remember. Let me give some examples. ස looks like a cat’s face with one ear cut. In my area, when stray cats are sterilized, a small cut is made in one of their ears so that no attempt is made to sterilized them again. Moreover, when I was a child, I had a Persian cat named Susa, after the ancient Persian city. ස is pronounced sa. Then, there is another cat, ප (pa), but if you want to torture it attaching a clothes-peg on its ear, it becomes ජ. න් (n) looks like a mouse. Its tail shows that the inherent vowel a is canceled. ත (ta) reminds me of a pig. If we add a hunch ති it is pronounced ti. Then we have a pig with its @ss in the wrong place ක which is ka. The three above letters are quite easy to confuse! ණ (ṇa) looks like a hand holding a pen. ම (ma) looks almost like a snail, or a pastry called Schnecke in German. ව (va) has a shape similar to that of a stomach. And so on.

  • @MrUdi123
    @MrUdi123 Před 21 dnem

    ❤ you are genius. Thank you. I have learned sinhala but this is amazing. Bless you. Good luck 🎉uk

  • @savindusanthusa99
    @savindusanthusa99 Před měsícem

    Amount of attention to details ...the effort is just incredible ..he has dig deep into the island nation than its own citizens ❤❤❤❤

  • @indimaweerakoon3887
    @indimaweerakoon3887 Před 22 dny

    You’re well versed in our language while most of us don’t care to learn it properly.A very big applaud for you!!!🎉

  • @angelsilva3727
    @angelsilva3727 Před měsícem

    i have seen some inscriptions in caves which look like latin letters more than the teapot style . Do you have any idea to which language they belong please.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      I’m afraid I don’t.

    • @Indrani-S2022
      @Indrani-S2022 Před měsícem +4

      Those are "Brahmi" letters. Sinhala letters evolved from prehistoric Brahmi and then Brahmi to present day Sinhala letters. There is a belief that when you keep on writing square shaped letters, it ultimately becomes circular shape as Sinhala letters are today. Also, one significant thing to notice with Sinhala letters compared to letters of other languages is that all circle to the right, like a galaxy, except eight letters of the 54-letter Mixed Sinhala alphabet.

    • @angelsilva3727
      @angelsilva3727 Před měsícem

      @@Indrani-S2022 Thanks a lot

    • @nnes759
      @nnes759 Před měsícem

      Has anyone looked into Kannada scripts vs Sinhalese as they both look super duper similar although I tried to learn Gr 1 Sinhalese in 70s most forgotten I left to West in 70s, but you need to compare both alphabets & grammars etc side by side to see how much similar or different, other possible ones are Kannadans next door.. the Telugu,then near by Odian & Bengali, my bet is Kannada scripts,..

  • @darshanediriweera4056
    @darshanediriweera4056 Před 25 dny

    Hi Dave, Thankyou for presenting your observations about languages including Sinhala. Compared to other languages my native language Sinhala has symbols for most of the sounds. For example, in English we use one symbol ‘th’ to represent two different sounds as in the words ‘think’ and ‘then’ but in Sinhalese we write using two symbols as තින්ක් and දෙන්. Also there are separate symbols to sound ‘ch’ as ච, and sound nga as ඥ . Also the word Lankawa is written as ලන්කාව but actual pronunciation is ලඞ්කාව or ලංකාව which has another sound between L and K . Also, in English there are 5 vowels but in Sinhala there are 6 vowels or 12 including long vowels.
    However, compared to English, Sinhala has some weaknesses in grammar. As there is no strict order of words in a sentence, sometimes it is not clear which is the subject or object. For example, when I say Wahala themenewa, it means the roof is leaking but also means the roof is getting wet. Also If someone hits me I can say Mata Uu gahanawa also as Uu mata gahanawa. ස්තුතියි.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před 25 dny

      Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Your insights are fascinating. One of the challenges of English is that the Latin alphabet was designed for a language that is very different. Latin had five vowel sounds, whereas English has 20. English had to use two-letter combinations for consonants like th, sh, ch, wh and gh that Latin didn’t have.

  • @darshiliyanage9429
    @darshiliyanage9429 Před 15 dny

    Excellent

  • @mylife8229
    @mylife8229 Před měsícem

    Good explain sir ❤

  • @jayashan_b
    @jayashan_b Před měsícem +1

    Ohh. Very informative. It’s an honor to have you here. 😊❤ but we didn’t came from India 😌😜

  • @subasevana7842
    @subasevana7842 Před 12 dny

    👍👍👍👍👍 THANK YOU

  • @ranjanvitharana8426
    @ranjanvitharana8426 Před měsícem +6

    Please note that your first phrase about how the country was inhabited is not correct. As per our historical records, very old ones are available at the London library in England, The HELAYANS who have lived since the beginning of this Island for uncountable years. Helayans have not migrated from India. National of HELAYANS are represented by the main four groups of people. They are Deva, Naga, Yaksha and Kumbanda. This island was divided into four quarters during the very very ancient era. Those four quarters are, Dambadiwa (Jambudveepa), Lanka Dveepa, Giri Dveepa and Kuru Dveepa. Due to these important four quarters, total island was called SEWHELAY ( means four HELAYANS). This name has changed like, seehelay ...Ceylon ..These people spoke mainly two languages. 1. Suddha Magadhi ( sometimes called Paali). 2. Sinhala.
    By now all HELAYANS are commonly known as Sinhalese and they use only the Sinhala language...
    You may study the details to understand the pathetic journey this nation had under the influences of so many invasions from the South Indian empires and Europe empires, which include Portuguese, Dutch and British. Finally this nation lost its sovereignty to the British in 1812 through an agreement.
    I kindly request you, Sir, please study the history of this nation through authentic sources.
    Thanks.
    Thanks

  • @laurencecrouch3634
    @laurencecrouch3634 Před měsícem +1

    What an informative, well-produced, and all round nice video, with an entertaining sprinkling of language nerd/dad joke humour 😁 I love it, thank you. As someone who has studied the Thai language for a long time, something that really did surprise and delight me was how similar the vowels are in Singhala and Thai. The 'i' vowel (อิ in Thai), the 'u' (อู) and 'e' (เอ) must be cognates for sure. They also look a lot like the Hindi/Sanksrit vowels, which is less surprising but also very cool. I guess they all come originally from ancient Indic roots. Anyway thanks again for the video, will check out some more of your channel. Cheers 👍

    • @user-jt3dw6vv4x
      @user-jt3dw6vv4x Před měsícem +1

      Yeah it would be from the common Indic roots. All of those languages were influenced by Sanskrit.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      Indeed.

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +2

      Yes, as someone else mentioned, many of the fascinating writing systems in south and South-East Asia have shared roots.

  • @harinfernando7845
    @harinfernando7845 Před měsícem

    Fantastic

  • @Jayhead2headputney
    @Jayhead2headputney Před 11 dny

    Interesting

  • @LiveEarth918
    @LiveEarth918 Před měsícem

    Great ❤

  • @vipulawattegedara9200
    @vipulawattegedara9200 Před měsícem

    Very interesting

  • @user-nv4ew7id4y
    @user-nv4ew7id4y Před měsícem

    Thank you

  • @taxiabey6772
    @taxiabey6772 Před měsícem +8

    Seradib or Serendib all these are because the original name of Sri Lanka was Sihaladeep aka “the land of Sihala (Sinhala) people. Arabians called it Serendib because they couldn't pronounce Sihaladeep. European was even unable to pronounce it like that. They called Sihala as Ceylanha and then later the British called it Ceylon officially. Ptolemy called Sri Lanka Taprobane because Sri Lanka’s first historic name before Sihaladeep was Tamparapani aka the island with beaches which has soil colored like copper sheets.

    • @Userdudei
      @Userdudei Před měsícem

      Serendib means fertile land in arabic. Thats why arabs called lanka as serendib...nothing to do with sihala eh..

    • @sujikanth
      @sujikanth Před měsícem +1

      ​@@Userdudeifacts

    • @taxiabey6772
      @taxiabey6772 Před měsícem +3

      @@Userdudei Serendib word (Like Serendipity in the English language) came to the Arabic language because of Serandib (Sehaladeep). Study the history.. Ehh.. Just because the Serendib word has a different meaning (fertile land) in Arabic now doesn't necessarily mean that initially it had that meaning. First the word was originated from the Sihaladeep and then Serendib became a word to interpret a fertile land because Sihaladeep was famous for fertile soil. For example consider the Indus river. Indus Valley later became Hindustan, India (British) etc etc. Thousands of years ago, the Indus was used to interpret a river. Does Inustan (Hindustan)/Hindu/India etc etc use fo interpret a river? No!! But the word exists. Learn the origin words. If Arabians create a new word in the future to interpret the land of opportunity/infidels, surely they will use America as their arabic word. After 1000 of years someone will argue that “Ohh the meaning of America in Arabic is land of infidels/opportunity, but nothing related to the country America blah blah balah” 😂😂😂

    • @taxiabey6772
      @taxiabey6772 Před měsícem

      @@sujikanth Which facts? 😂😂

    • @Userdudei
      @Userdudei Před měsícem

      @@taxiabey6772 ameer in arabic means leader. Ka has no direct meaning. Ngl😂 but america isnt an arabic word. But serendib is

  • @arcticpolyglots
    @arcticpolyglots Před měsícem

    Great video, interesting stuff! Would you Dave be interested to speak about your language background on our language podcast?

  • @varunaeeriyaulla
    @varunaeeriyaulla Před měsícem +4

    As a Sri Lankan, I don't give a fk about who came first or where we came. We are from Africa. 😅

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem +1

      We are from Africa, we are all related and our common humanity is a precious and beautiful thing! Thank you!

  • @upilaperera
    @upilaperera Před měsícem

    wonderful video , i'm srilanken but i learn a lot from this video, and its thambapanni its means copper coloured earth

  • @tissaliyanage
    @tissaliyanage Před měsícem +7

    Sinhalese had to sit for tamil proficiency exams to get government jobs. It continues today also.

  • @chaminithewarapperuma5369
    @chaminithewarapperuma5369 Před měsícem

    Thanks dave

  • @pakaya8007
    @pakaya8007 Před měsícem

    Hello sir , nice to meet you.

  • @ruwacj
    @ruwacj Před měsícem

    Very Good Documentry, Fact finding, Reserch and Music selection was great. actually better than Net Geo, Discovery or BBC documentary... Hatts Off..

  • @udaniwijayasundara
    @udaniwijayasundara Před měsícem +3

    Hi, Thank you for the video. But Sinhalese are not migrated from India. We are the world's very first civilization according to ancient resources. If you could find accounts written on Sri Lanka before the colonial era, even in English books in the early periods of the colonial era, you will see how much Sri Lanka's actual history has been changed. If anybody wants to find actual history of Sri Lanka, they will definitely revealed the world's biggest distortion of historical facts.

    • @gemini4491
      @gemini4491 Před 23 dny

      World’s very first civilisation 🤔

    • @wimalism
      @wimalism Před 21 dnem

      I think he focused the language usage..

    • @gemini4491
      @gemini4491 Před 20 dny

      You left out something very important - that Sinhalese was not only the first language of the world but the Sinhalese were the people who civilised the early humans in this world the but the people of the rest of the world plotted against the Sinhalese to add Sinhalese language as one of the 7 Classical Languages of the World : - Greek, Latin,Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabic and Tamil. You really are pathetic 😏

  • @Indrani-S2022
    @Indrani-S2022 Před měsícem +13

    I am a Siri Lankan. It is always nice to hear when others talk about my country!
    2:53 Sinhala is not an Indo-European language as many say it is. In fact, it is a dialect of Hela when Siri Lanka was called "Heladiva" or Island of "Hela". The most Hela words are derived from "Magadhi" or the language of the Buddhas or the language that describes the Path to Nibbana (or enlightenment). Magadhi is a tonal language. Therefore, all Dhamma of the Buddha was written in Magadhi but using Sinhala letters. Magadhi is also the language of people who lived in Magadha, the eastern part of Siri Lanka at the time of Gotama Buddha. Most of Magadha was destroyed due to natural disasters such as Tsunami and famine after the Buddha "parinibbana" or passing away of the Buddha. At present, only the Vedda tribe speaks a dialect very close to Magadhi.
    There are explanatory notes written reference to the 'Tripitaka', scriptures of the Dhamma of the Buddha written in Alu-Lena in 'Maatula' (present day Kegalle District) in the 456th Buddha Year (456 years after the 'parinibbana' of Gothama Buddha). One such note is 'Maha Sihanada Sutta Vannanawa' where it says that the Buddha gave His discourses both in Magadhi and Hela languages.
    Also, Sinhala people do not come from Prince Vijaya as some legends depict inaccurately. Sinhala is derived from 'Sewhela' or four 'Hela's, the four sectors of 'Heladiva' or the Island of 'Hela', as it was then divided into four sectors or counties, viz., Yakkha Hela, Naaga Hela, Kumbhanda Hela, and Dewa Hela.
    Our true identity was destroyed including the name of the country "Sewhela" to Ceylon during foreign invasions of Portuguese and Dutch, then British colonial period from 1795 to 1948. Many of our ancient "ola-leaf" writings that described in writing the true and proud history of the country, were taken away as artefacts to store and exhibit in a London museum to this day. This indeed is the reason many Siri Lankans of today are bewildered when it comes to acknowledging our true and prestigious identity.

    • @skipper2594
      @skipper2594 Před měsícem +6

      @@vasukinimalan888 sinhala is not a mix of tamil at all, sinhala has some tamil borrow words as same as sri lankan tamil has borrowed words from sinhalese , its just something happen when living together for thousands years, its not fair to say sinhala is mix of tamil bcz of that, then anyone can say modern sinhala is a mix of english

    • @AsankaW
      @AsankaW Před měsícem +1

      Agreed. Unfortunately, most of us are unaware of this. Thank you for sharing this info.

    • @Indrani-S2022
      @Indrani-S2022 Před měsícem +3

      @@skipper2594 Thank you for your insightful reply for fake claims.

    • @plazmagaming2182
      @plazmagaming2182 Před měsícem

      Buddy, sinhala is literally an indo-european language. Yes its a dialect of "hela", but hela itself is an indo european language, as well as magadhi. These languages from north india are indo aryan, therefore indo european, you flippin donut.

    • @AspirantKanishka
      @AspirantKanishka Před měsícem

      Magadh is modern day Bihar .. the living place of Buddha

  • @KaviVari
    @KaviVari Před měsícem

    23:08 ❤ that's for highlighting.

  • @Dilshan_Shanuka
    @Dilshan_Shanuka Před měsícem

    11:11 Can anyone say the name of the song please

  • @torrawel
    @torrawel Před měsícem

    Mooie video ! (ik weet dat u Nederlands spreekt dus dat schrijft makkelijker voor mij :)

  • @ddinterior8404
    @ddinterior8404 Před měsícem +1

    Wonderful video !!!
    Appreciate your efforts to make such a beautiful video with factual information. However I disagree with your description about the origin of the nation .
    There are evidence that ancient island People called “ hela “ which later gave the name “ Sihala “ (not Sinhala) were in the island dating back to many thousands years.
    Respected Scholars like Prof: Raj Somadeva argues ancient hela people were the descendants of Island’s prehistoric man ( 38,000 BCE) .

  • @KJFernan_22LK
    @KJFernan_22LK Před 27 dny

    Hope You Guyz Had Good Time In Srilanka..🤩✌️Always Welcome You All & Have Great Hospitality With Enjoyable Traveling Experience in The Pearl Of Indian Ocean..🤩❤️Love You Guyz From Srilanka.. 🇱🇰🫶❤️💐

  • @osa_smile
    @osa_smile Před 20 dny

    ❤✨️

  • @darshiliyanage9429
    @darshiliyanage9429 Před 15 dny

    It was a Pearl of Indian Ocean my friend

  • @anupaudayanga14
    @anupaudayanga14 Před měsícem

  • @oratorsforuminstitute2607
    @oratorsforuminstitute2607 Před měsícem

    Lots of Sinhala languages words have their roots from SANSKRIT.
    Many regional languages in India (Hindi, Malayalam etc.) have words with roots from SAMSKRIT. 0:43

    • @DaveHuxtableLanguages
      @DaveHuxtableLanguages  Před měsícem

      Yes, it’s a bit like Latin and Greek in Europe or Classical Chinese in East Asia. Learned words are brought in from a prestigious classical language.

  • @dissanayakanew3543
    @dissanayakanew3543 Před 2 dny

    YOU ARE KNOW OUR COUNTRY HISTORY.

  • @theboyofjoyy
    @theboyofjoyy Před měsícem

    22:50 at least it has been rebuilt. happy for that. still the lost treasure is lost

  • @mohamedhazman
    @mohamedhazman Před 22 dny

    ❤❤❤

  • @salempasangasp
    @salempasangasp Před měsícem

    Serendipity from sera theevu that's a great fact

  • @rumadenipitiya2666
    @rumadenipitiya2666 Před 14 dny

    ❤❤❤❤

  • @dahampathum-ym2bz
    @dahampathum-ym2bz Před měsícem

    ❤❤

  • @vasanthanbalasundaram3489
    @vasanthanbalasundaram3489 Před měsícem

    Hello sir
    Welcome to sri Lanka 🙏

  • @user-sy2vs1yi3k
    @user-sy2vs1yi3k Před 16 dny

    Paradise in the world ❤

  • @Jeepster353
    @Jeepster353 Před měsícem +5

    We all love our present multicultural Lanka. However it is very disturbing that revisionist historians are backing claims of who was here first. The Vedda and the Sinhalese have a connection and clearly Sinhalese are only found on this island! No where else! There is linguistic and a DNA match to evolution on this island!
    Tamils although may have been here in small populace maybe through trade and fishing etc, were never an established community until the Chola invasions and the British who brought the larger number of labourers from India! Please stick to the facts !
    Sri Lanka was known as Buddhist SimHela island even during the chola and pandya empires of south India!

    • @dananjaperera7922
      @dananjaperera7922 Před měsícem +2

      Good explanation

    • @nnes759
      @nnes759 Před měsícem

      According to several last few yrs latest Archeological works info I read very recently says close to what you're saying too, as to the corrected new DNA analysis results of several burial discoveries near Anuradhapura & to South, East, North & West areas of SL they found Few Trail of Tamil DNAs of Traders etc of few hundred yrs before dates of Sinhala kings,etc Establishment,
      but Cholas arrival remains same100-200 yrs after that & possibly Cheras/ Pandiyas akso arrived bit after that too mostly, all after the early Sinhalese establishment according to these latest analysis reportings easily seen on Britania, world Hist..& Wikipe.. etc on web.

    • @gnanimackinnon7165
      @gnanimackinnon7165 Před 27 dny

      Buddha was from India

  • @paulkuruvita7447
    @paulkuruvita7447 Před měsícem

    I was shocked to see the first three words discovered of Hittite language (recently found) thathi, nagaa and rook are exactly Sinhala words, father, sister and tree.

  • @JsportsCricket
    @JsportsCricket Před měsícem +1

    Welcome to srilanka

  • @chirathmadhawa4756
    @chirathmadhawa4756 Před 25 dny

    🎉

  • @jaylilantha1875
    @jaylilantha1875 Před měsícem +15

    serendeep derived from SINHADEEPA and Taprobane derived THAMBAPANI