Archive for the ‘Language’

Top 20 posts on Sri Lanka over 2010

Small - Screen shot 2010-12-31 at 8.15.03 AM

Featuring satire, poetry, photography and video to critical commentary and analysis, Groundviews covered major political events and processes in Sri Lanka over 2010. The site’s comprehensive coverage of the first commemoration of the end of war in Sri Lanka resulted in the publication of a seminal book that has been critically acclaimed by academia. Coverage of the 18th Amendment to the constitution was sui generis – content featured on Groundviews was completely absent from the Sinhala mainstream media, and only briefly touched upon in most English mainstream media. Only Groundviews looked at the real cost and symbolic violence of celebrations welcoming the President’s second term in office. This site exclusively featured accurate accounts of testimony to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) by key witnesses, including those given by renowned diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala and former Secretary of Defence, Austin Fernando. Furthermore, particularly disturbing testimony to the LLRC, first published in the Tamil language print media, was translated to English and republished for a wider appreciation and greater…

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Governance, Rights and Reconciliation: The National Anthem and Other Disturbing News from Sri Lanka

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Original photo from Business Today The headline story of the Sunday Times of 12 December 2010 was deeply disturbing.  According to it the Cabinet has made a decision that henceforth the national anthem will only be sung in Sinhala.  Subsequent reports confirmed that the issue was discussed in cabinet but that no final decision had been taken. In the meantime the status quo was to be maintained. At a time when the principal challenge facing the country is to move beyond a post –war situation to a post-conflict one, where the sources of conflict are not sustained or reproduced and at a time in which much is made of the regime’s commitment to reconciliation by way of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission raising this issue at cabinet level, the lack of clarity with regard to what transpired and the suggestion that a decision may have been deferred, all constitute a chilling rebuke to efforts at reconciliation and a blatant,…

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O country, Thy National Anthem…

It was reported lately that an interesting issue came up at a recent cabinet meeting, namely, the National Anthem of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. It was also reported that the cabinet has established that the National Anthem will hereafter be sung exclusively in Sinhala. According to news reports published in the local and international media, several cabinet ministers opposed this measure, while others supported it. A brief news report published in a blog managed by an expatriate Sri Lankan journalist noted that despite press reports saying the contrary, a final decision on this issue is yet to be taken. What follows is an attempt at contributing to the ongoing debates/interactions on the National Anthem. Reading through the multitude of articles and reports on the issue, this writer was struck by a comment, apparently made by a cabinet minister. It was a point raised by the said minister to justify the fact that our National Anthem should only…

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Is the Tamil version of our national anthem a joke?

Recent media coverage in Sri Lanka has focussed on the confusion over the ban of the Tamil version of Sri Lanka’s national anthem. In media reports that need to be read in the context of the ignominy suffered by the President in England recently, it was suggested that the President had, “reportedly argued that no one of the other countries in the World had national anthem ‘in more than one language’. He also told the cabinet that the Tamil anthem is a limitation which undermines the unity amongst people in Sri Lanka.” This of course is blatantly wrong, as Indran Amirthanayagam noted on Groundviews. Sutirtho Patranobis from the Hindustan Times captures it well, “At a time when Rajapaksa’s been talking about a trilingual society — Sinhala, Tamil and English — the move could be interpreted as regressive. The lessons of history seemed to have been forgotten here; discrimination over language was one reason behind the civil war. If one nation, one anthem…

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A-Z of Sri Lankan English: G is for gode

Mahinda Rajapaksa makes no bones about his goday origins“ (Daily News 12/02/2010) The basic meaning of the Sinhala word gode (or goday) is rural, of the land, of the village, conjuring up traditional pastoral values such as those the President would like to be associated with. But more often in colloquial English-speaking contexts it is used with very different connotations. It can mean unrefined, unsophisticated, common, lower class with reference to people (She“s a bit gode, no?), or flashy, gaudy, tasteless, unfashionable with reference to things (wearing a gode dress). Perhaps the nearest equivalent in contemporary British English is the slang word naff. Isankya Kodithuwakku uses the word in The Banana Tree Crisis (the context is a mother observing her daughter with her hair braided and tied up with white ribbons, and wearing a half-sari and rubber slippers): “Benny, can you believe this is my daughter? Me so westernized and look at this gode girl.“ (The Banana Tree Crisis, page…

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A-Z of Sri Lankan English: F is for for

Before reading on, try this short test. Which of the following sentences do you consider to be grammatically correct? 1. They have over a thousand visitors for a month. 2. They get angry for the slightest thing. 3. Can you give this for Mohan? 4. We couldn’t sleep for the racket. 5. That was my third bath for the day. 6. I woke for the sound of the alarm. 7. He gave me a book for my birthday. 8. This area floods even for the slightest rain. 9. The A level exam has been put off for June. 10. They ripen quickly for the sun. Despite being couched in prescriptive terms (“grammatically correct”), there is no clearcut answer to the exercise. The sentences focus on the use of the preposition for. You will probably agree that no. 7 is correct, and that no. 3 is wrong (it should be: Can you give this to Mohan?). The others might cause more…

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Political Satire in Sri Lanka: When Making Fun is No Laughing Matter

Book cover - Wimalege Colama

Review of Wimalege Colama (Wimale’s Column), a collection of satirical columns by Wimalanath Weeraratne Sinhala; 232 pp; Author publication; September 2010 Political satire is nothing new: it has been around for as long as organised government trying to keep the wielders of power in check. Over the centuries, it has manifested in many oral, literary or theatrical traditions, some of it more enduring — such as Gulliver’s Travels and Animal Farm. And for over a century, political cartoonists have also been doing it with such brilliant economy of words. Together, these two groups probably inspire more nightmares in tyrants than anyone or anything else. Today, political satire has also emerged as a genre on the airwaves and in cyberspace, and partly compensates for the worldwide decline in serious and investigative journalism. Many mainstream media outlets have become too submissive and subservient to political and corporate powers. Those who still have the guts often lack the resources and staff to pursue…

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A-Z of Sri Lankan English: E is for Eelamist

The word Eelamist (as adjective or noun) refers to a person or organisation which supports the Tamil separatist cause in Sri Lanka. Like certain other -ist words (Zionist, Islamist, Loyalist), the word is loaded with political connotations – an article of faith for some, a term of abuse for others. But it is also used in serious political discourse, for example in these quotes from Groundviews: “Sri Lanka’s pressing security interest of neutralizing Eelamist activism abroad.” (from here) “If by ‘Tamil politicians’ Mr. Dayasiri is referring only to the Eelamist elements within the TNA,” (from here) “Groups supportive of the TGTE and Eelamist propaganda are getting increasingly vocal” (from here) I remember being surprised when I first saw a Tamil children’s alphabet book with a map of Sri Lanka labelled Eelam. But of course Eelam is the original Tamil word for the whole island, now referred to as Ilangei. Both words are derived from the same origin as the Sinhala…

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Content digest: Full coverage of the 18th Amendment, 1 – 9 September 2010

Groundviews was read well over 22,000 times from 1 – 9 September, when content and debates around the 18th Amendment to the constitution reached their peak. Over 170 comments were featured in the site during this week alone, totalling around 65,000 words. In addition to the content on the site, our Twitter feed posted well over one hundred and fifty updates during the course of the week. Content on Groundviews was republished or referred to by the Sunday Leader, the New York Times, Le Monde Diplomatique dozens of other local and international Twitter accounts of leading journalists and others, Livemint.com published by the Wall Street Journal in India and a range of other blogs and websites. Around one hundred highlights from our tweets anchored to the 18th amendment are now archived in four parts. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 A full list of content on the 18th Amendment published on Groundviews can be accessed by clicking here,…

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A-Z of Sri Lankan English: D is for deffa

Eyebrows were raised when I included the word deffa on the mirisgala website under “new entries”. And it’s true that it is stretching the point to claim that it qualifies as standard Sri Lankan English. But perhaps it also gives us an insight into the future of SLE. Deffa (or defa) is a word that is increasingly common in internet chatrooms etc. It is an abbreviation of the English word definitely, which is used in colloquial Sinhala as an alternative to the slightly formal anivareng. From Sinhala (via Singlish?) it has re-entered colloquial Sri Lankan English with the same meaning. Here are a few examples from the internet: He will defa help you out. dudes…we can all defa chip in a bit and raise 300000 bucks… there’s deffa a chance of retrieving stuff … we’ll deffa be there! Another word which has taken a similar route is shape, which has a far wider range of meanings in current colloquial SLE…

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A public apology to Michael Meyler

Michael Meyler is an innocent Britisher going about being innocent with respect to language and language politics, he would have us believe.  He is good hearted and generous.  This is why, we are made to understand, he writes an article titled ‘Sri Lankan English: the state of the debate’, where he says (generously) ‘the level of debate on the issue in the public forum remains simplistic’.  As such, he ‘welcomed’ (his words, not mine) my response (‘Sri Lankan English: another snooty English speakers’ project?’) in his subsequent response, ‘A snooty English speaker’s reply’, where he says (yes, Meyler’s descriptive, not mine) that I have presented my case ‘forcefully’ and that ‘it can only be a good thing for the state of the debate’.   I am sorry. In his response, Meyler confesses that he is on ‘dangerous ground’, being a non-Sri Lankan English speaker and a citizen of a former colonial power. He admits that he is a prime example of…

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A-Z of Sri Lankan English: C is for cousin brother

The terms cousin brother and cousin sister are not used in standard British English. Nowadays they are used in Sri Lanka to refer to any male cousin or female cousin respectively, but the origin of the term lies in the traditional distinction between cross cousins and parallel cousins. There are many different terms in both Sinhala and Tamil for aunts and uncles and cousins, and because English does not have equivalent terms, the Sinhala/Tamil words tend to be used in Sri Lankan English as well. This is my understanding of the system, though of course there are regional variations, and different families might have their own terms for particular family members. 1. Your mother’s elder sister is your loku amma (Sinhala)/ periyamma (Tamil). Your mother’s younger sister is your punchi amma (S)/ sinnamma (T) – or affectionately, punchi (S)/ sitti (T). Your father’s elder brother is your loku thaaththa (S)/ periyappa (T), and your father’s younger brother is your baappa…

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my teacher talks of a sri lankan english-poem ii

my teacher talks of a sri lankan english-poem ii (a responsive thing) by sumathy ooo, how sad that thing called a sri lankan-thing who thinging this thing of of englees or inglisss has no capacity, no? for funny funny joking thing in the morning, day, evening or night. only thing he, boyfriend, can find is thing that, thing this, and good old papa shakes peare, no great shakes but sitting on the fence of the globe, passing on this or that thing frommm eliza to james, accumulating primitively othello’s thing? of course, this is way above the ways of pearl, bin dalen or the pumpkin lovers of the fricative z, but write i, nevertheless, of the base indian, richer than all his tribe, this thing, no caring no, meyler’s injunction against poetry in the sri lankan that thing. Repost This Article

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Letter to the Editor of Sunday Observer: Racism and editorial incompetence

This letter was published in the Sunday Observer of 4 July 2010. In it Michael Meyler responds to Malinda Seneviratne’s recent articles in the Sunday Observer and the Lakbima. Dear Sir, I am writing in response to Malinda Seneviratne’s article “Language standards: whose version of our reality should we inhabit?” (Sunday Observer, 20 June 2010). My own article, “A Snooty English Speaker’s reply”, was published on www.groundviews.org in response to Malinda Seneviratne’s article “Sri Lankan English: another snooty English speakers’ project?” (Sunday Oberver, 23 May 2010). My article subsequently appeared in the Sunday Observer of 6 June 2010. It was published without my consent, with a different heading, with numerous typographical errors, and with a key half-sentence missing in the final paragraph. Most importantly, it was published without acknowledging Groundviews as the source. I wonder how such an editorial oversight could have happened? Aspects of Malinda Seneviratne’s subsequent replies, “Let’s dissect the ‘our’ of English ‘Our’ Way” (Lakbima, 13 June…

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B is for balls (and bowls)

In the article “The bowl-or-ball dilemma of rubbishing English standards” (Sunday Observer, 6/6/2010), Dilshan Boange adds his voice to the growing clamour of protest at the idea of speaking English “our way”. He recounts the anecdote of a friend who called an Indian hotel and “had to face a lingual jumble of a marginally intelligible dialogue from the hotel staffer”, concluding that the problem was that the Indian was talking English “their way”. If only everyone learnt to speak English properly, such situations would never arise. He goes on to discuss the pronunciation of the various ‘o’ sounds in English, and asks: “What happens when you ask for a ‘ball’ and are given a ‘bowl’?” It is difficult to think of an actual situation where this might happen in reality: Murali asks for the ball and Kumar throws him a bowl? Unlikely. Language is full of such potential theoretical pitfalls, but context is everything, and such misunderstandings (though they do…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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