Sri Lankan English (SLE, en-LK) or Ceylonese English is the English language as it is spoken in Sri Lanka. However, the classification of SLE as a separate dialect of English is controversial. The British colonial presence in South Asia led to the introduction of English to Sri Lanka. Since 1681, some words have been borrowed from the Sri Lankan language by English. In 1948, Sri Lanka gained independence from the British Monarchy and English was no longer the only official language. In subsequent years, inequality in access to education, and national conflict have confounded the development and use of SLE, particularly in Sri Lankan literature. SLE may vary from British or American English in elements such as colloquialisms, vocabulary, syntax, pronunciation and emphasis of syllables.
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Sri Lankan words in English
Sri Lankan words that were borrowed by the English and are used in the language are recorded in A Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East Indies. Such words often relate to flora and fauna.:
Colloquialisms
Colloquialisms have emerged in SLE. Some involve vocabulary. Others involve grammar (such as tense and plurals), syntax and intonation. Some may be common to Indian English.
Syntax
Words and tags may be added, subtracted, overused, or changed in order and tense in SLE.
Pronunciation
Speakers of Sri Lankan English may have varying ability in producing some sounds. Again, the sound of "a" in "father" ( /ɑː/ ) of "u" in "luck" ( /lʌk/ ) are absent in Sinhala and so are variably difficult for people from Sri Lanka to pronounce in SLE.
Metatheses occur, as they do in many languages. For instance, "Exercise" may be pronounced as "Ex-cise".
Some differences in pronunciation may relate to socioeconomic background and level of education. For example, a word like "note" is pronounced with a diphthong, /nəʊt/ in British English and /noʊt/ in American English. In SLE, it is pronounced /noːt/ with the monophthong, /oː/ and is accepted as normal in Sri Lanka. However, pronouncing a word like "hall" ( /hɔːl/ ) as /hoːl/ is not accepted. Other words pronounced with a monophthong include: take and made.
Those unfamiliar with English may add an involuntary /i-/ prior to words like "skill" and "smell". However, this is not standard in SLE.
Other common features of Sri Lankan English
The speaker of SLE may not use contractions as readily as English. For example, "What is the matter?" would be used over "What's the matter."
Some elided syllables in English are pronounced in SLE. For example, "different" would be pronounced "diff-er-ent" (/ˈɖifərənʈ/ ). Also, some syllables normally unstressed and sounded as /ə/ may be sounded as /a(ː)/ (or, /o/, /u/, /e/ or /i/). For example, the word "camera" (/ˈkæmərə/) may become "/ˈkæməra(ː)/".
In SLE, the first syllable may be emphasised rather than the usual second or third. Examples include, "address", "cassette", "dessert", "museum", "hotel" and "gazette". One may also see differences in the allocation of primary and secondary syllable stresses.