Sinhala (/ˈsɪnhələ, ˈsɪŋələ/ SIN-hə-lə, SING-ə-lə;[2] Sinhala: සිංහල, siṁhala, [ˈsiŋɦələ]),[3] sometimes called Sinhalese (/ˌsɪn(h)əˈliːz, ˌsɪŋ(ɡ)əˈliːz/ SIN-(h)ə-LEEZ, SING-(g)ə-LEEZ), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million.

[6] The language has two main varieties, written and spoken, and is a notable example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia.

[10] Sinhala (Siṅhala) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan (Eḷu) word is Sīhala.

[14][15][16] In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India, including additional migration from the Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), as well as Kalinga and Magadha.

[21] An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular (instead of Western -o) in Sinhalese Prakrit.

He wrote the 377-page An anthology of Sinhalese literature up to 1815, selected by the UNESCO National Commission of Ceylon[22] According to Wilhelm Geiger, Sinhala has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages.

Possible examples include kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda (although others suggest a Dravidian origin for this word.

Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones (in toponyms used throughout the island, although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin).

[27][28][29] There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhala, such as olluva for head, kakula for leg, bella for neck and kalava for thighs, that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka.

[31][32] The consistent left branching syntax and the loss of aspirated stops in Sinhala is attributed to a probable South Dravidian substratum effect.

[33] This has been explained by a period of prior bilingualism: "The earliest type of contact in Sri Lanka, not considering the aboriginal Vedda languages, was that which occurred between South Dravidian and Sinhala.

"[34]In addition to many Tamil loanwords, several phonetic and grammatical features also present in neighbouring Dravidian languages set modern spoken Sinhala apart from its Northern Indo-Aryan relatives.

Some of the features that may be traced to Dravidian influence are: ඒකēkaitඅලුත්aḷutnewකියලාkiyalāhaving-saidමමmamaIදන්නවාdannavāknowඒක අලුත් කියලා මම දන්නවාēka aḷut kiyalā mama dannavāit new having-said I know"I know that it is new.

"ඒකēkaitඅලුත්aḷutnewදdaQකියලාkiyalāhaving-saidමමmamaIදන්නේdannēknow-EMPනැහැnæhænotඒක අලුත් ද කියලා මම දන්නේ නැහැēka aḷut da kiyalā mama dannē næhæit new Q having-said I know-EMP not"I do not know whether it is new.

"As a result of centuries of colonial rule, interaction, settlement, intermarriage and assimilation, modern Sinhala contains many Portuguese, Dutch and English loanwords.

Macanese Patois or Macau Creole (known as Patuá to its speakers) is a creole language derived mainly from Malay, Sinhala, Cantonese, and Portuguese, which was originally spoken by the Macanese people of the Portuguese colony of Macau.

The Sinhala language has different types of variations which are commonly identified as dialects and accents.

Yet their unique regional variation is visible in relation to the second verb which is 'enawai' (coming) as they add 'ai' at the end of most verbs.A point to remember the ‘ai’ at the end of a word could also be used in the context of future tense Even though the Kandy, Kegalle and Galle people pronounce words with slight differences, the Sinhalese can understand the majority of the sentences.

While the lexicon can vary continuously between formal and informal contexts, there is a sharp contrast between two distinct systems for syntax and morphology.

The literary language is used in writing for all forms of prose, poetry, and for official documents, but also orally for TV and radio news broadcasts.

Religious sermons, university lectures, political speeches, and personal letters occupy an intermediate space where features from both spoken and literary Sinhala are used together, and choices about which to include give different impressions of the text.

[citation needed] The rest indicate sounds that have been merged in the course of linguistic change, such as the aspirates, and are restricted to Sanskrit and Pali loan words.

In writing, /a/ and /ə/ are both spelt without a vowel sign attached to the consonant letter, so the patterns of stress in the language must be used to determine the correct pronunciation.

Much more complicated consonant clusters are allowed in loan words, particularly from Sanskrit and English, an example being ප්‍රශ්‍නය praśnaya ("question").

[40] The main features marked on Sinhala nouns are case, number, definiteness and animacy.

In addition, for animate nouns these cases formed by placing atiŋ ("with the hand") and laᵑgə ("near") directly after the nominative.

මල්/malflowersහතරhatərə/fourමල් හතර/mal hatərə/flowers four"the four flowers"(it can be argued that the numeral is the head in this construction, and the flowers the modifier, so that a more literal English rendering would be "a floral foursome")පොත/potəbookයටjaʈə/underපොත යට/potə jaʈə/book under"under the book"මම/maməIපොහොසත්poːsat/richමම පොහොසත්/mamə poːsat/I rich"I am rich"පොත්/potbooksලියනliənəwritingමිනිසාminisa/manපොත් ලියන මිනිසා/pot liənə minisa/books writing man"The man who writes books"There is a four-way deictic system (which is rare): There are four demonstrative stems (see demonstrative pronouns): Sinhalese has an all-purpose odd suffix තුමා (thuma) which when suffixed to a pronoun creates a formal and respectful tone in reference to a person.

e.g. oba thuma (ඔබ තුමා) - you (vocative, when addressing a minister, high-ranking official, or generally showing respect in public etc.)

ජනාධිපතිjanadhipathiතුමාthumaජනාධිපති තුමාjanadhipathi thumathe president (third person)Sinhala is a pro-drop language: Arguments of a sentence can be omitted when they can be inferred from context.

කොහෙදkoɦedəwhereගියේɡiewentකොහෙද ගියේkoɦedə ɡiewhere wentcan mean "where did I/you/he/she/we... go"In informal contexts, Sinhala slang may be integrated into the vocabulary used.