Symposia & Conferences
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Item A Study on the Influence of the English Language on the Formation of Compound Words in the Sinhalese Language.(The Third International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, ICLSL 2017. Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Sameera, M. A. G. J.A Compound word is formed by shortening a few words into one word. It is done to make the language precise in practical usage. The author of ‘Sidath Sangarawa’ has introduced five methods of creating Sinhala Compound words. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of the English Language on the formation of compound words in Sinhalese language. Therefore, the research problem in this study is to identify how the compound words in Sinhalese Language are formed with the influence of English words. When considering the history of Sinhalese Language, it is evident that the Eastern and the Western Languages have influenced Sinhalese Language. Therefore, the study is based on the hypothesis that new compound words formed by English words are results of Language contact. In this study, the compound words of contemporary Sinhalese that were formed by English words were collected initially. Then they were analyzed and classified, and the formation of Sinhala Compound words with the influence of English words were analysed. For this purpose, both primary and secondary sources were used from the library. In that process six methods of Sinhalese compound formation were identified including; English-Sinhala mixed compounds, Sinhala-English mixed compounds, English-English compounds, Sinhala-Sinhala compounds which were translated from English, compounds that were not used as one word, but as compounds in Sinhala and that were used as a single word in English but used as a compound in Sinhala. It was observed that these compounds are more common in speech than in writing. The tendency at present to use 'Singlish' is also a result of this tendency. It was confirmed that the number of English compounds at present has increased when compared to the time that English was first introduced to the country. It could be concluded that the process of borrowing which was a result of language contact was the cause for this linguistic tendency.Item A Comparative Study between English Version of Facebook and its Sinhalese Translated Version: Suggestions for Improvement.(International Conference on the Humanities (ICH), 2017 Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2017) Keerthiwansha, N. W. B. S.Facebook has become one of the most prominent social media applications in the world. At present, it has opened up the translation application to every user in order to translate Facebook into every major language on earth and the users can contribute to the translation of their particular native language. This is an attempt to be more user-friendly by offering Facebook in the users respective native languages. Consequently, Facebook has been translated into Sinhalese, which is helpful to the users who are not competent in English.Thus, this study intends to compare the English version of Facebook with the Sinhalese translation to measure the quality of translation and to suggest further improvements. The first forty common phrases appear in Facebook were chosen and compared with their Sinhalese translation with specific focus on word-for-word translations and transliteration. Later they were categorized under unidiomatic translations and meaningful translations. In addition, 40 users were chosen from University of Kelaniya to record their language preference when using Facebook. The analysis indicated that 95% of Facebook terms are word-for-word translations, for instance “home” is translated as ksjyk which is the direct equivalent for ‘Home’ in Sinhalese. 5% are transliterations, for instance “Cookies” is translated into Sinhalese as l=lSia. Among the selected samples, 50% are unidiomatic translations, for example “pages feed” has been translated as msgqfmdaIlh and 50% are meaningful translations, for instance “details about you” has been translated into Sinhalese as Tn .ekúia;r. In addition, it was identified that gender difference is not shown in the Sinhalese translated sentences. Meanwhile, user preferences indicated that 77% does not require Sinhalese translated version, 18% had attempted to use it but stopped because the Sinhalese version was unfamiliar, and only 5% are using the Sinhalese translated version. In conclusion, having Facebook in Sinhalese is an opportunity to establish Sri Lankan identity in social media; however, it is vital to increase the usage of the Sinhalese version. Thus, it is essential to revise the Sinhalese version of Facebook to develop a more natural and familiar translated version that will automatically increase the number of users having Facebook in Sinhalese.Item The Impact of Tamil Lexicon on the Sinhalese Language(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Bandara, H.M.S.M.; Pathmasiri, P.S.S.; de Silva, Y.G.H.S.Sinhalese and Tamillanguages are used as official languages in Sri Lanka. It is apparent that both these languages have had a great amount of influence on each other. Linguistics borrowing into both languages can be identified as a phoneme for this constant influence. This research discusses the usage ofTamilloan words in Sinhalese language. Data were compiled by observing the speech of Sinhalese native speakers and written documents. According to the findings of this study, it was found out that some of these Tamil loan words have replaced their corresponding Sinhalese words. Further, it is pointed out that in addition to be borrowed, some Tamil words have come to Sinhalese as derived words. According to it is discovered that a great number of Tamil borrowings are used in the Sinhalese language and their origin may not be apparent.Item The Difficulties Related to Cases Encountered by Sinhalese Native Speakers in Learning Tamil as a Second Language(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Yomali, G.; Dissananyake, S.; Jayathissa, H.Many Sinhalese native speakers learn Tamil as a second language. However speakers of Sinhalese language often make mistakes while learning Tamil. The aim of the research is to bring into discussion the problem faced by Sinhalese native speaker in learning Tamil in relation to the differences in cases. Case is special grammatical category whose value reflect the grammatical functions performed by noun or pronoun in a phrase, clause or sentence. Data were collected by analysing Tamil-Sinhalese translation carried out by second year students of university of Kelaniya reading translation. Further Tamil Grammar books were used as in order to gather further data. Speakers of Sinhalese language often make mistakes while learning Tamil especially on Dative marker, Referential ease marker, instrumental case marker and Sociative case marker etc. The Dative case marker is "ukku", in spoken Tamil where as in in Sinhalese it is "ta". The Referential ease marker is "ittei", in spoken Tamil where as in in Sinhalese it is "laga, gen". The Sociative case marker is "oodei", in spoken Tarnil where as in in Sinhalese it is "ekka". The instrumental case marker is "aalei", in spoken Tamil where as in in Sinhalese it is "gen, ta". Those cases are not corresponding in Tamil and Sinhalese languages. Therefore it will be difficult to learn Tamil as a second language. To overcome this problem it will explain the similarities and the differences between these two languages. Native speakers don't have profound knowledge about case inflexion fail to speak the language fluently. Therefore cases should be inquired and improving knowledge thorough this. It is observed that it would help to understand the difficulties that Sinhalese students face while forming a Tamil sentence.Item Weaknesses of Google Translation; A Study Based on Sinhalese and English Languages(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Wijesinghe, A.; Kaluarachchi, S.S.; Weerangani, S.The process of translating words or text from one language into another is known as translation. It communicates the meaning of a source language text into a target language. It is used for legal, official, literary works ... etc. Nowadays there is a popular systematic service for translation called "Google Translation". Being an easier and quicker method than manual translation, Google Translation plays a major role in the translation field. It is a multilingual statistical machine translation service provided by Google to translate texts or speeches from one language to another. The aim of this study is to identifY the problems that can be seen in this translation service and the study is based on translating from Sinhalese to English and vice versa. Data were collected by analysing a set of Sinhalese and English sentences translated using the service. When translating trom Sinhalese into English, errors are seen in sentence structures, major reason for which is the structural differences between the two languages. The syntactic structure of the Sinhalese language is SOY, whereas the structure of English is SVO. It is apparent that this structural difference cannot always be properly comprehended by this program. Furthermore, it is identified that synonyms, homonyms and homophones used in the Sinhalese language cannot be properly translated using this service. The diglossic characters of the Sinhalcse language is yet another aspect which creates problems in "Google Translate". Translating a complex sentence with a main clause and a subordinate clause also appears problematic since identifYing the subordinate clause is not easy for the program. Accordingly, this study points out that in order to provide a better service, these issues have to be properly addressed.Item Tenses in Tamil and Sinhalese in Written Language(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Maithripalal, H.K.D.P.B.; Mallawaarachchi, M.A.S.P.K.; Kaushalya, A.S.R.Tarnil and Sinhalese are the major languages in Sri Lanka. Sinhalese belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and Tamil belongs to the Dravidian language family. Tenses play a main role in a language. Tenses express the time distinctions through all languages. The main purpose of this paper is to bring out the similarities and the dissimilarities between tense in the Sinhalese language and Tamillanguage. The data were gathered by books. Thus the present research aims to discuss the similarities and dissimilarities between written Tarnil and Sinhalese tenses. Sinhalese has two main tenses. They are Past Tense and NonPast Tense. Non- Past Tense includes Present Tense and Future Tense. But Tamil language has three main tenses. They are Past Tense, Present Tense and Future Tense. Verbs in Sinhalese and Tamil languages conjugate according to person (I st person, 2nd person, 3rd person), number (singular, plural) and gender (male, female).When verbs conjugate in Tamillanguage it differs according to human and non - human being. This is different from Sinhalese language, because main categories are living things and non - living things in Sinhalese language. Therefore in Sinhalese language, animals and human beings consider as a one category. But in Tamil language animal and human beings are consider as two categories. Accordingly a number of similarities and dissimilarities between tenses in the two language are identified. Further it has been discovered that these dissimilarities create difficulties for second language learners.Item Issues Faced by the Third Year Undergraduate Students in Practicing Interpretation for Translation Methods(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Keerthiwansha, N.W.B.S.Interpretation is the process of converting an expression delivered in source language into a comparable meaning in a target language either simultaneously in real time or consecutively when the speaker pauses after completing one or two sentences. "Interpretation" is a compulsory subject unit for the third year undergraduates who are reading translation methods in university of Kelaniya Sri Lanka. The unit is being taught for two semesters and the skill of interpretation is tested by a practical session. It covers Sinhalese to English interpretation and vice versa, and the lecture hours cover the theory components and conduct practice sessions by interpreting the Hansard reports. By this study, it was expected to find out the most prominent issues encountered by the undergraduates practicing interpretation. Therefore, a questionnaire was provided to the third year undergraduates who are currently studying interpretation to make a list of issues according to the responses recorded on the questionnaire. Meanwhile, five undergraduate students studying interpretation were interviewed to record their individual issues and they were given few sentences to interpret to identify the issues they face when interpreting these particular sentences. The results indicated that for many undergraduate students, it is difficult to interpret a long and complex statement with speed, while, some have expressed certain difficulties in interpreting technical words, and several students have mentioned difficulty in memorising complex sentences. Significantly, the different sentence structure between Sinhalese and English has created several confusions when interpreting complex sentences. Moreover, homonyms seem to confuse them when a sentence with the same word with different contextual meanings is given to interpret. As a consequence, students tend to have a lesser interest in choosing interpretation as their career path. Thus, possible suggestions were made for the identified issues to assist the students to practice interpretation more effectively and increase the number of students who are interested in becoming interpreters in the futUre.Item A Comparative Analysis on Cases in Sinhalese and Tamil Languages(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Hearth, H.M.N.D.; Ranathunga, R.A.U.M.; Amarasooriya, Y.W.S.N.The Sinhalese language which belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and the Tamil language which belongs to the Dravidian language family have been co-existing and interacting in different social situations and contexts for a long time. As pointed out by linguists, a large number of differences as well as similarities can be seen between the two languages. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively analyse the differences in cases between the two languages. Primary data were collected through self-observation and analysing a given set of sentences translated from Sinhalese into Tamil by students reading translation studies at the University of Kelaniya. The books 'Pe:chchuth Thamilukku Arimuham' and 'Pe:chhuth Thamilum Eluththuth Thamilum' by S. J. Yogaraja and online lessons were used as secondary resources. A case is a form of a noun, adjective or pronoun that expresses a semantic relation of a word to the other words in a sentence. In this study it was observed that the Sinhalese speakers who do not have clear knowledge on the case inflection of the Tamil language find it difficult to write or speak fluently in Tami!. On the other hand, since one case suffix in Tamil represents several suffixes of Sinhalese, various problems occur in translation. Therefore, the failure to identify the differences in cases can result in defective translations. According to above findings, a number of dissimilarities regarding cases can be identified between both languages. Further, it is noteworthy that they cause difficulties in learning Tamil as a second language and translation.Item Future Tense in Spoken Tamil and Spoken Sinhalese: A Comparative Analysis(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Subramaniam, A.Syntax differs from language to language. The second language learners find it hard to understand the syntax of the language they learn when it differs from the syntax of their mother tongue. Thus the similarities and differences of Tamil and Sinhalese languages in the future tense are being analysed through this study. One of the main similarities found out through this comparative study is that both Tamil and Sinhalese languages have a similar subdivision in Future tense: they are the „will‟ future, future perfect and future Continuous. On the other hand in Tamil, particles are being used to differentiate the future tense, where as verb suffixes and affixes are used in Sinhalese and further the present form is often used to refer to Future tense in Sinhalese. In Tamil, the Future verbs will take various forms as per to Case, Gender, Number and person. Nevertheless in Sinhalese a common verb form is used irrespective of the case, gender and number. The knowledge in the future function of these languages will give a clear idea to the learners and teachers of these languages and it will ease the teaching and learning process of these languages. The research area is limited to the tenses which are being used in the spoken context of the Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhalese. The data for this study were obtained from books, articles, websites, and discussions.Item Using Sinhalese in Teaching German as a Foreign Language for the Undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Lansakara, L.H.M.D.S.The study focuses on the controversy, revolving around the teachers‟ use of the mother tongue (MT) in foreign language (FL) teaching. Specifically, this report concentrates on the examination of German teachers‟ and learners‟ attitudes and methods of employing Sinhalese in teaching German language. Theoretical studies highlight that the MT should be fused by teachers in FL classrooms in resulting a productivity in acquiring a second language or a foreign language. The current study was conducted among the German language teachers and thirty randomly selected students who follow German language as a main subject, representing the three specific course levels of BA degree program conducted by the University of Kelaniya. The research tools were two particular questionnaires designed specifically for the purpose of the study, aiming the German teachers and the students selected. Additionally, the efficiency and the productivity of using Sinhalese in teaching German in the classrooms were examined through keen observations of the students‟ level of understanding and progress in acquiring the language as required. Hence, it becomes a qualitative data analysis. The findings reveal that the teachers‟ as well as the students‟ overall attitude towards the use of Sinhalese in German language classrooms is positive, however with limits; the teachers report that they use Sinhalese for teaching as well as for the classroom management while the students convey that the explanations in Sinhalese support them in understanding the German grammar and language facts better. This understanding will be followed by a comparison between the two particular languages (MT and FL) as well. The findings of this study will be useful in enhancing the quality of the acquisition of foreign languages with a base of using mother tongue and it will open up to approach the theories of applied linguistics in second language acquisition.