This monograph examines the language planning situation in Sri Lanka with particular
emphasis on the planning of Sinhala as an official language of the country. It explores
the historical, social, ideological and political processes, changes in language policy
decisions, as well as the complexities of the language policy and planning situation in
the country. After a general account of the language profile of Sri Lanka, the sections
that follow examine both status and corpus planning that have occurred in Sri Lanka
since the country became independent in 1948. This monograph investigates the
spread of Sinhala in education, literacy and the media and the role of English in the
wider context. The final section describes some important recent developments in
language planning in Sri Lanka and suggests some ideas for continuing research on
language policy planning. This monograph demonstrates the linguistic, political and
ethnic character of language planning in a South Asian post-colonial setting.