New Dictionary of Sri Lankan English
Comparing Sri Lankan usage with that of the British:
Sachitra Mahendra
He speaks English with a crystal clear accent, typically uncommon for
a native speaker. The British-born Michael Meyler has been an English
language teacher in Sri Lanka for 23 years; first posted at Colombo
International School and then at British Council, Colombo since 1995.
Over the period of 23 years, Michael has not been just another
Britisher teaching his native language. Towering over-six-feet Michael
worked through the night to see how his native language gets on with
that of a land far away from his motherland. The subject kept on
exciting him ever since he first set foot here in 1985: Sri Lankan
English (SLE).
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Michael Meyler. Pictures by Ruwan de Silva |
SLE makes sense if you have read English at a Sri Lankan university;
almost every Sri Lankan university offers lectures on SLE for students
reading English for their degrees.
What is Sri Lankan English? Meyler explains: "Sri Lankan English is
the language spoken and understood by those Sri Lankans who speak
English as their first language, and/or who are bilingual in English and
Sinhala or Tamil."
Is Sri Lankan English so important? It seems simple. When you share
with somebody a story about your cousin sister, not female cousin,
attended the funeral house, not the funeral, with Cutex, not nail
polish, heavily painted on her fingers, you are in for Sri Lankan
English. Cousin sister, funeral house, Cutex, - the list goes on - all
these are not used in British Standard English (BSE), but are
distinctively featured in SLE.
English - because it is an international language - has a large
number of dialects: eight dialects in Asian region and nine dialects in
India alone. SLE is one of the Asian dialects of English and obviously
it made Michael mad about the subject. He has been eavesdropping on
conversations, collecting newspaper cuttings, reading Sri Lankan English
authors and jotting down words on the backs of envelopes.
However the task was not that easy. It took him well over 20 years to
see his efforts in print form: A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English.
Sri Lankan English however is not only about words. Studying Sri
Lankan English means studying its history, both colonial and
post-colonial. Prof. Manique Gunasekara in her The Post-Colonial
Identity of Sri Lankan English (2004) explores the social and historical
roots of Sri Lankan English.
Prof. Gunasekara's book is a rare asset for an SLE student,
especially because of its annexed glossary of SLE terms. Meyler's
compilation seems the offshoot of Prof. Gunasekara's initiative.
If you take Michael as a language student, he has that knack of
picking up languages swiftly. In fact he enjoys studying languages. Not
only English, but he can handle languages like French and German as
well.
He saw a shortage of books written on Sri Lankan English, and it
turned out that Michael should try out on a compilation. If Richard
Boyle could make a basic list of Sri Lankan English words as used by
Robert Knox (Words by Knox by Richard Boyle; 2004), why not Michael
Meyler give it a try?
"My major task was reading Sri Lankan English novels. Sri Lankan
authors have varying styles, because they live in varying environments.
I have basically divided them into three categories."
The three categories: Sri Lankans born and bred locally, Sri Lankans
born but bred abroad, Sri Lankans born and bred both abroad. There are
exceptions too like in the case of Ashok Ferrey, who was brought up in
many lands, mainly Africa and Britain, apart from Sri Lanka.
The likes of Tissa Abeysekara, Lal Medawattegedara and late Nihal de
Silva come under the first category. Romesh Gunasekara and Shyam
Selvadurai are born, bred for some time in Sri Lanka and took wings in
their adult life. Michelle de Kretser and Michael Ondaatje are more
likely outsiders.
"Tissa Abeysekara's category loves using Sri Lankan idioms more than
other categories. Shyam Selvadurai's sounds more Canadian English,
because he spent most of his adult life there. The third category hardly
has the touch of common Sri Lankan community."
"Some, probably many, Sri Lankans write complicated long sentences
full of hard words. Comparatively speaking, British and Americans write
much simpler English. I am talking about the modern language."
However, R L Trask, an American born British Professor of English, in
his Mind the Gaffe has listed a number of ambiguities even a native
speaker would make, especially in European writing. The ambiguities
include long sentences with sloppy words.
"I would not say British and Americans have totally kept away from
it, they make ambiguities now and then. But this is largely seen among
many Sri Lankan English writing. They construct complicated sentences.
Sometimes it must be because they want to display a scholarly look on
their writing." Michael says with a grin.
With his British Council teaching experience, Michael says Sri Lankan
students have no problem with vocabulary.
"A student comes to a class already equipped with basic vocabulary.
Words like car, bus, pantry and fridge are already in day-to-day Sinhala
conversation. Their major problems are grammar and speech fluency."
Michael has mentioned a special word of thanks to his assistants -
Editors - Vivimarie VanderPoorten and Dinali Fernando. Both, lecturers
in English, have played a major role in research on Sri Lankan English,
hence they are authorities on the subject.
VanderPoorten was recently awarded with 2007 Gratien prize for her
poetry collection nothing prepares you.
Michael's expertise on Sri Lankan English is now becoming history; he
has started concentrating on colloquial Sinhalese!
"I am not conversant in Sinhalese. I can read akuru, but hardly
gather any meaning. But I think I can get something done in Sri Lanka
with my 'colloquial Sinhala'. I have started teaching colloquial Sinhala
to foreigners as well." Probably it signals Michael's next job set in
motion: A Dictionary of Colloquial Sinhalese!
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Who is the dictionary for?
"The dictionary should be of interest to any one with a general
interest in Sri Lanka and/or in the English language. Specifically, it
is intended for the following groups:
1. Learners and teachers of English in Sri Lanka, who need to be
aware of the differences between SLE and standard British English. By
avoiding linguistic jargon, I have attempted to make the dictionary
accessible to learners of English as well as native speakers.
2. Sri Lankan and foreign linguists and academics interested in the
increasingly popular field of international varieties of English.
Dictionaries have been produced of Indian English, South African
English, New Zealand English and so on, but as far as I know, no one has
yet attempted to compile a dictionary of Sri Lankan English.
3. Foreigners living in Sri Lanka, for whom the dictionary will serve
as a glossary of the language they hear around them, an introduction to
aspects of the country's culture, and as a souvenir of their stay here."
A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English
Compiled by Michael Meyler
Edited by Dinali Fernando and Vivimarie VanderPoorten
Illustrated by Anura Srinath
michaelm@sltnet.lk, www.mirisgala.net
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Sri Lankan English trivia
Cynosure - rarely used in BSE
Long cut - only 'short cut' is used in BSE
Copy book - dated in BSE. Instead 'Exercise book'
Every nook and corner - Every nook and cranny in BSE
Countrywide - nationwide in BSE
Campus - usually means the university buildings in European context.
Lady's fingers - Okra in BSE.
Fed up of - fed up with in BSE
***
Features of Sri Lankan English
1. Words and expressions
2. Grammatical features
3. Verbs
4. Nouns, articles, prepositions, adverbs,
5. Word order
6. Colloquial features
7. Pronunciation
8. Vowels
9. Consonants
10. Stress
11. Connected speech
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