Symposia & Conferences

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Morphological processes in the language of Facebook
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Mallawaarachchi, I.A.
Social networks including Facebook®, Twitter® and Instagram® have gained popularity throughout the world and thus have emerged with distinct cultures of their own. The fact that interactions on them are done ‘virtually’ without one to one communication emphasises the significance of written medium of communication in social media. This stance is evident in the culture of Facebook where a considerable number of Sri Lankans are engaged in social networking. Online chatting, posting various updates, captioning photos and videos are done through texts, thus ‘language’ plays a key role in the communication that takes place. Therefore, a remarkable linguistic culture has emerged, with numerous ‘new words’ entering the language every day. Accordingly this study concentrates on the usage of English particularly by Sri Lankans who interact through Facebook. However, in the instances where borrowings are concerned, the influences from and upon Sinhalese are also discussed. Various social and cultural implications were taken into consideration in order to analyse the semantic changes and culture – bound expressions. The proposed study is a participant observation in which the researcher conducted the analysis while actively participating in the activities that happen on Facebook. A number of Facebook profiles of both Sri Lankan and foreign users, Facebook chats, Facebook pages that are administered by local and foreign users and the design of the website in general are thus considered the primary source whereas the literature on morphological processes and the language on the internet serves as the secondary source. The analysis of these new words exposes various morphological processes, which are compounding, initialism, acronym, semantic expansion, affixation, blending, semantic shift, functional shift and borrowing. Remarkably, existing words are employed to create new words and new meanings rather than coining entirely new words. A significant number of morphological processes attempt to shorten longer phrases and sentences.
'ගම්පෙරළිය' සහ 'කුමුදිනී' (Yogayog) යන නවකතා ද්වයයෙන් පිළිබිඹු වන සමාජ පරිස්ථිතිය පිළිබඳ සංසන්දනාත්මක අධ්‍යයනයක්
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Kaushalya, S.S.
Language policy in Singapore
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Kamali, R.D.; Hettihewa, A.S.; Senarathna, I.R.
Language is not merely a tool for human communication where it also plays an important role in the development of social identity. Therefore it is important to have a wellplanned language policy in a country and it is becoming more and more essential in an increasingly multilingual society. As a multinational country Singapore has a diverse population and it includes Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians, Caucasians and Asians of different origins. As a result of that Singapore has become a multilingual nation. However, the Singapore government recognises four official langauges: English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil. Their decison to adopt English, Mandarian, Malay and Tamil as their official languages came early in their nationhood. And also Bilingualism is a fundamental aspect of their education system while English is the medium of instruction in schools, students are required to learn their mother tongues aswell. This has ensured that they are able to engage fellow singaporeans of different races, access the global economy and at the same time remain connected to their cultural roots. This study attempts to describe how the language is being planned by the Singapore government and the present condition of their language policy. Data for the research are collected by using official documents of Singapore Government, newspaper articles and from recordings of informal conversations with a group of native speakers. These informal conversations are used to identify the bilingual habits of Singapore citizens. What we learned from the study is that in Singapore all four official languages were accorded parity of recognition, a clear message that all Singaporeans are equal partners in a single nation, regardless of race or language.
The Role of Psycholinguistics Knowledge in Improving Proficiency in L2
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Ravindran, S.
During the last two decades listening comprehension has received considerable attention, in the fields of applied linguistics, psycholinguistics and second language pedagogy. Listening is a complex cognitive process, in which the listener constructs the meaning using both the linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge. This study attempts to find out how psycholinguistic knowledge facilitates in improving proficiency in L2 listening skills. It is hypothesized that the psycholinguistic elements which are involved in listening skills could be introduced to both the teachers and learners to obtain mastery in the skills. A convenient sample of forty five, first year students from the Faculty of Arts were randomly selected as sample fro the study. The data collection was done by questionnaire survey and teachers’ observation. A qualitative analysis was carried out to gather information and to analyze data. Through the analysis it was found that the role of Psycholinguistic knowledge in improving proficiency in L2 listening skills is indispensable to obtain proficiency in listening skills. This study recommends that the learners need to familiarize the psycholinguistic elements which are indispensable for the improvement in the listening skill proficiency. Finally the undergraduates of the university with less proficiency in listening skills could be facilitated and enabled to improve their proficiency in listening skills.
A study of conditional structures "ba”, “tara” and “to” in Japanese language
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Sewwandi, R.A.D.N.
There are various types of conditional structures in Japanese language. Such as "ba, tara, to and nara". The students who are learning Japanese language are facing some difficulties when they are using these conditional structures. Some languages have various types of conditional structures and some languages do not have these types of many conditionals. This paper is to analyze the main characteristics of "ba, tara and to", the commonly using conditional structures in Japanese. Relevant data for the research has been collected from the native speakers. The purpose of this paper is to find out difference between " ba, tara and to" The findings will be useful for the students who are learning Japanese as a foreign language.
Sound without Fury: The Decline of an Isolated Community of Drum-Makers in Central Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Alawathukotuwa, M.
Kuragala is identified a‘low caste’ village situated in the UdunuwaraDivisional Secretariat of the Kandy distract. All the residents of this village belong to theRodi caste which is recognized as the lowest caste group according to the Sinhalese caste hierarchy.Currently 16 families are engaged in manufacturing traditional local drums such as Getabera, Daul, Tammattam, low country drum, Udakki, and Bummadi, as well as internationally-used classical and popular drums such as Tabla, Mridangam, Maddala, and various other kinds of instruments at present. Initially these drums were entirely hand-crafted, but soon the villagers were granted electronically powered lathe machines by the government to facilitate the faster carving of drum logs.Apart from this occupation they have become involved in different types of “traveling businesses” such as selling mats, carpets and mattresses since they are unable to make ends meet by selling drums. Three men and one woman have obtained employment in the government sector such as hospital attendants. The objectives of this study are to analyze the changes of these people, their traditional craftsmanship and other social and cultural practices pertaining to this community. Viewing them as a Discourse Community, I shall focus on how they are able to sustain a specific cultural identity, even though the Sinhala Buddhist mainstream have classed them as “Rodiyas” at the same time assimilated into the society of Upcountry Kandyan Buddhists of Kuragala.This study will be framed as a development of John Swales’ pioneering work on discourse communities through incorporating Arjuna Parakrama’s insights on subalternity to better understand the survival, coping and resistance strategies of marginalized caste-based artisan communities that are fighting mechanization and the capitalization of such specialized niche markets.
An overview on the Writing Test Performance of ESL Learners at the University Test for English language-UTEL
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Ravindran, S.
The University Test on English language (UTEL) is an annual English Language test conducted simultaneously in all the universities in Sri Lanka to test the undergraduates’ proficiency levels in the four language skills. The test is conducted both through face to face and online modes. The purpose of the test is to enable the target group to know their proficiency levels in all four skills and to motivate them to improve their levels of English in order to uplift their employability. This paper discusses the performance at the University Test on English Language (UTEL) in writing skills, conducted in 2014 by the universities in Sri Lanka. A common writing test was administered to the target group to gauge the proficiency level in writing skill. The objective of the study is to find the common mistakes found in the performance in writing tests and to present an overviewon the writing test performance of ESL learners’ performances in two writing tasks.Sixty answer scripts from threedifferent universities were utilized asdata for the study. The answer scripts were corrected based on UTEL bench marking scales or descriptors and graded. Quantitative methodology was utilized to analyze the data. Thegeneral mistakes in their performances in writing test were analyzed. The findings show that the participants have made similar mistakes in writing the two tasks irrespective of their universities.The study has an implication of applying the suggestions in making better performance in writing skills at the UTELin order to enable the target group to obtain proficiency in writing skills.
A comparative study of the modern and Buddhist time management systems (with reference to the Buddha’s Daily Routine)
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Pathirana, R.M.
Time Management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. The Buddha is an ideal ensample for leaders who are in the management field. Buddha’s time management is useful for modern aspects of management and for every person in the society to manage their lives. This research paper reveals those facts with reference to Buddha’s daily routine. The Buddha performed his duties systematically in accordance with a prearranged plan. His whole day was divided into five parts which were namely; the forenoon session, the afternoon session, the first watch, the middle watch and the last watch. The Buddha slept only for one hour at night. For two solid hours at noon and at dawn he pervaded the whole world with thoughts of Metta – loving kindness. The Buddha tirelessly worked in this manner till his eightieth year. He displayed that time is very important to the success of people and taught us to save time. We can include it to modern management theories. If a person wants to achieve his goals, he must work on time without being sluggish. Most researchers do not focus attention on Buddhist time management. The main focus of this research is heavily based on selected literary sources that include the Tripitaka: Sanyutthanikāya, Deeghanikāya, Dhammapadapāli etc.).
Theatre or anti-theatre: An analysis of characteristics in absurd theatre and its classification as theatre
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Rajapaksha, U.D.
Absurdism or Absurd theory is a prominent offspring of the Second World War. The genre explores the futile and existentialist nature of human life, the breaking down of all logic and communication in a godless universe. Many European authors were influenced by this experimental movement during the post war era, thus resulting in an absurdist fiction. Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckettbrought this movement into the limelight. All these authorstook great care to distance themselves from all conventional forms of theatre.The characteristics of absurd theatre differ from conventional theatre to such an extent, that the playwrights themselves referred to their works as “anti-theatre”. These works are considered to be anti-thematic, anti-ideologic and anti-realist. Thus, the focus of the research is to explore the anti-theatrical characteristics in Ionesco’s “Cantatrice Chauve” (The Bold Soprano) in comparison to conventional theatre, and the possibility of it being justified as an actualform of theatre. This study seeks to answer three major questions; What defines conventional theatre? What defines absurd theatre? Can absurd theatre be considered as “theatre”?Thus the research intends to identify the characteristics of the conventional theatre and those of the absurd theatre in order to make a comparison. Furthermore, the research will ascertain the possibility of absurd theatre being categorized as real theatre. Hypothetically speaking, absurd theatre, with its anti-theatrical characteristics, cannot be considered as “theatre”.Initially, in a qualitative approach, the researcher will identify the characteristics of both conventional and absurd theatre. The title, theme, characters, events, action, stage settings, stage directions and structure of the two forms will be closely observed and analyzed. Secondly, the research will include a detailed analysis of Eugene Ionesco’s “Bold Soprano” (La Cantatrice Chauve). Absurdist literature has appealed to the researcher’s interest due to its novel and refreshing nature. This new school of thought represents a shift in the European ideologies. Thus the research would be an exploration of the collision between these old and new ideologies.
Social Background of Hindi Short Stories of the Malwanchal province
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Qureshi, S.
The advent of Hindi short stories in the Indian society can be traced back to before 20th century. During the 1980’s many writers contributed creative writings for short stories but they were confused between long and short stories. The tradition of Hindi short stories can be seen from century’s process and have now come to a very powerful stage. During 1980s different type of short story writings came in to society such as Hithoperdesh and Panchathanthra these short stories were carrying quotes and messages with imaginative descriptions. At the end of the 20th century many changes came in to Hindi short story literature and the keen interest of short stories slowly went down and also not many writers kept continue writing short stories, however writers were born in every decade to precede the interest of short stories among our people.In today’s machinery busy life is full of stories and story literature brings the area that explains the feelings, emotions, problems of modern culture and the similarities and differentiations of Indian society and nation.Short story plays a very vital role in explaining problems in our society and the writers try to point out the causes of problems very efficiently. Short stories have its own power to shake the minds of people and force them in to a deep thinking of the consequence of problems in our society. By each and every word these writers ask to lead people’s mind with thoughtful ideas.Among all different types of literature short story plays a vital role in society and it has power to explain people’s tendency with thoughtful ideas and limited words which provide a greater meaning to the society.This particular research will be conducted as a study of the social background of Hindi short stories of Malwanchal province.
Responsibility of media for the change of traditional food and eating habits
(Department of English, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Dhammarathana Thero, B.; Mendis, N.; de Saram, H.
The research focuses on Sri Lankan food and eating habits. Today the food have been changed due to various reasons and media is one effective factor for this change. Today television and magazines are filled with plenty of advertisements and most of them are concerned with food. They point out the positive side of that product and how that product is helpful to the consumer. They highlight the simple, quick and easiness of that product to use. Today media, that is mainly television and magazines or newspapers have given major place to advertisements and among them the advertisements on instant food compel the people to buy it. It is proposed to undertake the following approach as methodology in order to meet the research objectives. This research will consist of two primary stages. First stage consists of content analysis of primary and secondary sources and the second stage is a qualitative research by means of interviews. Information were gathered from the students, lecturers and few families in countryside and city. Through the information the conclusion was that media is highly effective for the change of traditional food and eating habits mainly in the cities than the villages.
Language Policy and Politics
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Rajapakshe, R.M.W.
Language the most sophisticated invention of man, is a tool used to fulfill main requirements of the people inclusive of communication. Thus language is not a problem. However, when it is used as a medium of instruction in public administration, judiciary and in education in multi lingual countries, it sometimes becomes a problem. Language planning emerges when such problem arise. Could actually language be planned? Physical phenomenon like rivers, forests, mountains can be probed and planned. As language is a physical phenomenon, a tool, it can be planned. However there are differences between other objects. Firstly, language is a secondary invention of man. Secondly, it is strictly associated with religion and culture and therefore is a complicated physical phenomena. In the process of language planning, planners have to face various difficulties created by patriotic national movements and politicians. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the difficulties faced in the process of Language Planning in relation to the Sri Lankan context and the proposals to overcome them.
The influence of magical realism in the novels of Mohan Raj Madavala
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Lasika, S.R.
A major propensity that could be seen in the field of universal novels during the decades of 1960's and 70's was a mere exploration of alternative remodeling configurations which transgress the remodeling forms of realism. In particular, the objective and psychogenic convolutions of the existing social-political realities that could be comprehended better and a popular form of reconstruction which emerged as an approach of remodeling them in a complex form was magical realism. Magical realism was introduced as a concept by the German Literary critic Frank Rove, and was popularized in world literature particularly through Latin American writers. Western writers developed their creations incorporating the concept of magical realism generating it as an effective intersection between illusion and realism. When investigating into how Sinhala novels were influenced by magical realism, it becomes apparent from interviews with critics that their attention has been drawn to novels compiled by Mohan Raj Madawala who entered the field of writing recently. The impression of most literary critics is that novelists in our country experiment with magical realism in their creations without understanding the exact meaning of the genre. Their view is that they use illusion or magic divorced from realism without any base. However, it becomes clear that this opinion is incorrect while conducting this study on novels namely Magam Soliya, Loveena and Adaraneeya Victoria written by Mohan Raj Madawala. This study examines the features of magical realism in these three novels. In this research, it became evident that certain illusory phenomena subjected to the supposition of Madawala are completely divorced from socio-political realities. It is expected to associate the novels of Mohan Raj Madawala and the other works enabling to identify magical realism as a concept.
The Bewitchment of the Humanities
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Gunasekera, M.
The Keynote Address of the International Conference of the Humanities 2015 deals with the dynamics and pitfalls of research in the vast area of the Humanities. Beginning with its origin in Philosophy, the study of language, in Wittgenstein’s terms, has led to a form of bewitchment of our intelligence. This research paper traces the links of language study with the Social Sciences, Humanities and Cognitive Sciences and concludes with the dilemmas of research in the 21st century.
Present Tense in Jaffna Tamil and Sinhala: A Contrastive Study
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Senthuran, S.
While Tamil and Sinhala are the major linguistic groups in SriLanka society, they belong to the Dravidian and Indo-Aryan language families respectively. Contrastive studies in linguistics, particularly in the areas of morphology and syntax in grammatical studies, are of importance. While morphology consists of both noun and verb morphology, the latter is the focus of this study. Verb morphology expresses the internal structure of the verbs, with tenses playing a main role. Although tenses express the time distinctions in all languages through verb forms, the structures of verbs differ from language to language. Morphologically there are three different tenses in Jaffna Tamil, the present tense, the past tense, and the future tense. The perfect tense and progressive forms are mostly found in Literary Tamil. Jaffna spoken Tamil does not have a one to one correlation with different tenses. The present tense is often used instead of the future tense in spoken Tamil. In spoken Sinhala there are two main tenses, the past and the non-past. The non-past tense includes present and future tenses. There are also perfect, progressive, past and present emphatic forms. The Tamil data represent the researcher’s own dialect, the Jaffna spoken Tamil, and the Sinhala data represent standard Spoken Sinhala. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the similarities and the dissimilarities of the past tense in the spoken form of these two languages. This study employs contrastive and descriptive methodology.
ද්විතීය භාෂාවක් ලෙස හින්දි භාෂා අධ්‍යයනයේ දී සිංහල මාතෘ භාෂකයන් මුහුණ පන ධ්වනි ආශ්‍රිත ගැටලු
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Perera, W.U.P.
Re-Building American Self-identity through the “Muslim Other”:A Study of Positioning the Muslim as the “Terrorist” in Post 9/11 American Cinema
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Pathberiya, P.A.N.
September 11 2001 was the date that the United States of America was plunged into a state of cataclysm. Given the magnitude of the September 11 attacks, a noticeable emergence of a distinctive cinematic category, centered on this attack and its consequences and affiliations, is discernible in the post September 11 era. In this particular context, a considerable number of post–September eleven American films are observed to bedepicting the Muslim as a “violent other”. This study focuses on three such films from American cinema; The Kingdom (2007) by Peter Berg, Body of Lies (2008) by Ridley Scott and Traitor (2008) by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. The intended outcome of the study, through a meticulous analysis of the above cinematic works, is to discover the socio-political reasons and rationales behind the ideological distortions of the image of the Muslims in the abovementioned cinematic works. While this discourse is mainly substantiated by Edward Said’s theoretical study of Orientalism, it highlights how the previous ethno-religious identity of “the Muslim” is now re-structured through a political identity; the “terrorist other”. In the global political arena, having the United States’ identity of “supremacy and authority” jeopardized after September 11, these cinematic works stand – even though they are fantasies – as a “fictional remedy” or a “ideological foundation” of re-building the globally lost self-identity of America. Thus, the new ideology perceives the Muslim through cultural and religious components, which are a blend with a negative undertone. In contrast to the “vehement Muslim other”, America is depicted as the “savior” nation with the overarching idea that the humanity, peace and order are the “American’s Burden”. Further observations through a theoretical scope reveal how America subtly engages in a task of politically re-mapping and re-defining the world in relation to the “terrorist others”.
ඊජිප්තු ශිෂ්ටාචාරයේ ශීර්ෂ පලදනා
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Jayasena, B.H.L.D.; Subhashini, K.; Lakmali, N.
බුදු දහම පිළිබඳ දෙවැනි ජුවාම් පාවුලු පාප්තුමන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශය සධාර්මිකද? අන්තරාගමික සංවාදයට එහි බලපෑම කුමක්ද?
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Wijesekara, Y.T.P.
Buddhist Philosophical perspective of human food ethics
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Piyasiri, S.
Foodis one of the major needs of humans as well as of other beings. In the Buddhist doctrine, it is described as“sabbhesatthaᾱharaṭhṭhitha”, all the beings depend on food, and “gigajjhᾱparamᾱrogᾱ”, hunger is the biggest illness. The Buddha held the view that the consumption of food is essential to eliminate the pain caused by hunger. Buddhism has a plethora of teachings related to food ethics. The Vinayapitaka consists of most of such teachings, elucidating the rules followed by the Buddha and other Buddhist monks vis-à-vis consumption of food. Ᾱhᾱrasutta of saṃyuttanikayaexplains that human beings nourish themselves both physically and mentally through references to Kabalikahara, (physicality) phassa,(sense impression) manosancetana (volition) and manoviῆῆana (consciousness). Though people often tend to emphasize the importance of food for physical nourishment, according to Buddhist teachings, a healthy life requires food for nourishment of which a quarter is physical, and the remaining three-quarters is mental. Buddhism stands out among other religions with its elaboration on food ethics. This paper discusses the spiritual basis for Buddhist food ethics focusing on how these Buddhist food ethics contribute to spirituality and improvement of the layman’s life which encounters social problems of various natures.