Social Sciences
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Item Subscription Libraries in Ceylon in the 19th Century: Special Reference to the Colombo Library, the Ceylon United Service Library and the Colombo Pettah Library(Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2013) Ranaweera, R.A.A.S.; Ranasinghe, PiyadasaThe contemporary library system in Sri Lanka systematically started with the establishment of “subscription libraries” during the early nineteenth century of the British governing period of Ceylon. These subscription libraries were established to fulfill the reading and recreational needs of the British Government and Army officers worked in Ceylon under the British Government. The library service extended to their family members as well. The aim of this study was to explore the subscription libraries functioned in the 19th century. The study mainly focused on the three prominent subscription libraries existed during the nineteenth century, namely the Colombo Library (1812), the Ceylon United Service Library (1813) and the Colombo Pettah Library (1829). These were the first set of subscription libraries established by the British in the Colombo city limit during the early years of their governing period in Ceylon. There was an annual grant received by these subscription libraries from the British Government in Ceylon. These grants were mainly used for the maintenance and functionality of libraries. Library users had to pay a small subscription fee for using the library. Qualitative research approach was adopted and study was mainly based on the secondary data. Secondary data were gathered from the secondary data sources such as “The Ceylon Calendar” The Ceylon Blue Book” and The Ferguson’s Directory”. Data was comparatively analyzed and arranged under the name of libraries. The study revealed that these three subscription libraries rendered a good service to its users throughout the 19th century. However, with the difficulties faced with regard to maintenance and functionality these libraries were amalgamated with other libraries to carry out a better library service to its patrons. As a result of the user demand for these three libraries, the government set up number of subscription libraries in the country covering main provinces such as Central, Southern and Northern by the end of the final quarter of the 19th century.Item Estate Tamil: A New Variety of Tamil(University of Kelaniya, 2005) Wijeratne, W.M.Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was under the British empire for about 150 years. The British brought about many changes. Linguistically, they are responsible for two major issues: firstly, they introduced English to Sri Lanka, secondly, they paved the path for the introduction of "Indian Tamil", a variety of Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu. In Sri Lanka, "Indian Tamil" has been spoken mainly by the labourers, brought to Sri Lanka by the British planters (or by their agents), and their descendents. This, variety of Tamil was also called "Coolie Tamil" (Tamil spoken by the Coolies/labourers) as the users were labourers paid on a daily basis (who were Indian migrants). It was also named as 'toottat tamiL' (Estate Tamil, hereafter ET) and ‘malait tamil' (tea plantation Tamil). In Sri Lanka, over several decades, ET evolved independently. Therefore, it differs from Sri Lankan Tamil (SLT), spoken in northern and eastern parts of the country, as well as Tamil spoken in (South) India. The differences occur at every level of the language: phonology, morphology and syntax. SLT differs from Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu (Indian Tamil) as it has retained several archaic features. Hence, obviously, IT contrasts with SLT. Yet, until recently ET and Tamil spoken in India were considered to be the same. As a result, the differences between ET and Indian Tamil were not noticed. Therefore, some considered these two varieties as the same. This paper is an attempt to exhibit some distinctive features in ET and show that ET and Indian Tamil are not identical. It discusses two main aspects of ET. First, it elaborates the sociolinguistic facts that caused the independent evolution of ET. Second, it discusses the distinctiveness of ET.