The language planning situation in Sri Lanka

Abstract

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.