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Vedda language
View on Wikipedia| Vedda | |
|---|---|
| වැදි | |
| Native to | Sri Lanka |
| Region | Uva Province |
| Ethnicity | 2,500 Vedda (2002)[1] |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 300)[2] |
Isolate (Sinhala creole?)
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ved |
| Glottolog | vedd1240 |
| ELP | Veddah |
 The refuge of the Vedda language(s) in Malaya Rata or Central Highlands until the fall of Dry zone civilization starting in the 9th century, also the crucible of later Vedda Creole development from 10th to 12th century[3] | |
 Vedda is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Vedda (Veddah: [ʋæd̪ːə]) is an endangered language that is used by the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. Additionally, communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas who do not strictly identify as Veddas also use words from the Vedda language in part for communication during hunting and/or for religious chants, throughout the island.
When a systematic field study was conducted in 1959, the language was confined to the older generation of Veddas from Dambana. In the 1990s, self-identifying Veddas knew few words and phrases in Vedda, but there were individuals who knew the language comprehensively. Initially there was considerable debate amongst linguists as to whether Vedda is a dialect of Sinhalese or an independent language. Later studies indicate that the language spoken by today's Veddas is a creole which evolved from ancient times, when the Veddas came into contact with the early Sinhalese, from whom they increasingly borrowed words and synthetic features, yielding the cumulative effect that Vedda resembles Sinhalese in many particulars, but its grammatical core remains intact.[4]
The parent Vedda language(s) is of unknown linguistic origins, while Sinhalese is part of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. Phonologically, Vedda is distinguished from Sinhalese by the higher frequency of palatal sounds [c] and [ɟ]. The effect is also heightened by the addition of inanimate suffixes. Morphologically, the Vedda word classes are nouns, verbs and invariables, with unique gender distinctions in animate nouns. It has reduced and simplified many forms of Sinhalese such as second person pronouns and denotations of negative meanings. Instead of borrowing new words from Sinhalese or other languages, Vedda creates combinations of words from a limited lexical stock. Vedda maintains many archaic Sinhalese terms from the 10th to 12th centuries, as a relict of its close contact with Sinhalese, while retaining a number of unique words that cannot be derived from Sinhalese. Vedda has exerted a substratum influence in the formation of Sinhalese. This is evident by the presence of both lexical and structural elements in Sinhalese which cannot be traced to either Indo-Aryan or neighboring Dravidian languages.
History
[edit]It is unknown which languages were spoken in Sri Lanka before it was settled by Prakrit-speaking immigrants in the 5th century BCE. The term Vedda is a Dravidian word and stems from the Tamil word vēṭu meaning 'hunting', vēṭaṉ 'hunter'.[5][6][7] Cognate terms (such as bēḍar, bēḍa "hunter" in Kannada, vyadh (व्यध्) in Sanskrit language) are used throughout South India to describe hunter-gatherers.[8] Sri Lanka has had other hunter-gathering peoples such as the Rodiya and Kinnaraya.[9][10]
The earliest account of Vedda was written by Ryklof Van Goens (1663–1675), who served as a Director General of the Dutch East India Company in Sri Lanka. He wrote that the Veddas' language was much closer to Sinhalese than to Tamil.[11] Robert Knox, an Englishman held captive by a Kandyan king, wrote in 1681 that the wild and settled Veddas spoke the language of the Sinhalese people. The Portuguese friar Fernão de Queiroz, who wrote a nuanced description of Vedda in 1686, reported that the language was not mutually intelligible with other native languages.[12] Robert Percival wrote in 1803 that the Veddas, although seemingly speaking a broken dialect of Sinhalese, amongst themselves spoke a language that was known only to them.[13] But John Davies in 1831 wrote that the Veddas spoke a language that was understood by the Sinhalese except for a few words. These discrepancies in observations were clarified by Charles Pridham, who wrote in 1848 that the Veddas knew a form of Sinhalese that they were able to use in talking to outsiders, but to themselves they spoke in a language that, although influenced by Sinhalese and Tamil, was understood only by them.[14]
The first systematic attempt at studying the Vedda language was undertaken by Hugh Neville, an English civil servant in British Ceylon. He founded The Taprobanian, a quarterly journal devoted to the study of everything Ceylonese. He speculated, based on etymological studies, that Vedda is based on an Old Sinhalese form called Hela.[15] His views were followed by Henry Parker, another English civil servant and the author of Ancient Ceylon (1909), who wrote that most Vedda words were borrowed from Sinhalese, but he also noted words of unique origin, which he assigned to the original language of the Veddas.[16] The second most important study was made in 1935 by Wilhem Geiger, who also sounded the alarm that Vedda would be soon extinct and needed to be studied in detail.[17] One of the linguists to heed that call was Manniku W. Sugathapala De Silva who did a comprehensive study of the language in 1959 as a PhD thesis, which he published as a book:[18] according to him, the language was restricted to the older generation of people from the Dambana region, with the younger generation shifting to Sinhalese, whereas Coast Veddas were speaking a dialect of Sri Lankan Tamil that is used in the region. During religious festivals, people who enter a trance or spirit possession sometimes use a mixed language that contains words from Vedda.[19][note 1] Veddas of the Anuradhapura region speak in Sinhalese, but use Vedda words to denote animals during hunting trips.[9][note 2]
Classification
[edit]Dialect, creole or independent language
[edit]The Vedda community or the indigenous population of Sri Lanka is said to have inhabited the island prior to the arrival of the Aryans in the 5th century BCE and after the collapse of the dry zone civilization in the 15th century, they have extended their settlements once more in the North Central, Uva and Eastern regions. However, with the entering of the colonization schemes to the island after the 19th century, the Vedda population has shrunk to the Vedi rata or Maha vedi rata.[20] Subsequently, the Vedda language was subjected to hybridisation depending on the geographical locality of the community. For instance, the language of the Veddas[21] living in the North Central and Uva regions was affected by Sinhala, while the language of the coastal Veddas in the East was influenced by the Tamil language. However, there are still many arguments regarding the origin of the Vedda language. Ariesen Ahubudu calls the Vedda language a "dialect of Sinhala", saying that it is a creole language variety derived from Sinhala. According to him, "Veddas belong to the post Vijayan period and they use a language which has its origins in the Sinhala language."[22] He further explains this with an etymological explanation of the term vadi, that evolved from dava, meaning 'forest, timber'. This became davi, meaning 'those who live in the forest', which later transformed into vadi.
Creole based on Sinhalese
[edit]The language contact that might have occurred between the Aryan immigrants and the aboriginal inhabitants could have led either to a language shift or to the crystallization of a new language through the creation of a pidgin.[23] The first instance could have been in effect in relation to the members of the Vedda community who were absorbed into the new settlements, while in the second instance the occasional contact of the Veddas with the new settlers would have resulted in the crystallization of a new language instead of the original Vedda language. The term creole[24] refers to a linguistic medium which has crystallized in a situation of language contact and the process of this crystallization begins as a pidgin.[23] A pidgin[24] becomes a creole when it is spoken natively by an entire speech community, whose ancestors have been geographically displaced through which a rupture is created in their relationship with their original language. Such situations were often the consequences of slavery and trade that occurred from the 17th to the 19th centuries owing to the process of colonization. As far as the Vedda community is concerned, although the features of a creole are visible in terms of phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon, a number of distinctions have been identified between the Vedda language and the classic creolization[23] which occurred during the colonial period. Here it is also important to acknowledge the existence of many issues in relation to the process of creolization that remain unresolved in the domain of linguistics. Therefore, the classification of the Vedda language either as a dialect or as a creole becomes a difficult task, although it is clear that in the current context the Vedda language is not an independent language of its own. However based on recent studies conducted on the Vedda community, it has been revealed that the Vedda language is on the verge of facing extinction since the younger generation is keen on using Sinhala or Tamil as their first language, being influenced by the dominant language of the region of residence due to an array of reasons including fragmentation of settlements, economic policies, national education structure and political factors of the country.[21]
Phonology
[edit]| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | c | k | |
| voiced | b | d | ɖ | ɟ | ɡ | ||
| prenasalised | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶯɖ | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | ʋ | l | j | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | ||
| Close | i | iː | u | uː | |
| Mid | e | eː | ə | o | oː |
| Open | æ | æː | a | aː | |
Although in phonemic inventory Vedda is very similar to Sinhalese, in phonotactics it is very dissimilar to Sinhalese. The usage of palatal plosives ([c] and [ɟ]) is very high in Vedda. Some comparisons:[26]
| English | Sinhalese | Vedda |
|---|---|---|
| earlier | issara | iccara |
This effect is heightened by the addition of inanimate suffixes such as pojja, gejja or raacca. These suffixes are used in tandem with borrowings from Sinhalese.[26]
| English | Sinhalese | Vedda |
|---|---|---|
| weight | bara | barapojja |
| eye | asa | ajjejja |
| head | isa | ijjejja |
| water | watura/diya | diyaracca |
These transformations are very similar to what is seen in other Creole languages like Melanesian Pidgin English and Jamaican English Creole.[27] The preponderance of the palatal affricates is explained as a remainder from days when the original Vedda language had a high frequency of such phonemes.[28]
Grammar
[edit]In Sinhalese, indicative sentences are negated by adding a negative particle to the emphatic form of the verb, whereas in Vedda, the negative particle is added to the infinitive. In Sinhalese, all indicative sentences whether negative or affirmative, exhibit two tenses – past and non past, but in Vedda a three-term tense system is used in affirmative sentences, but not in negative. Sinhalese pronouns have number distinction, but Vedda does not have number distinction. The Vedda verbal and nominal inflexions are similar to Sinhalese but are not identical. Vedda also exhibits a gender classification in inanimate and animate nouns.[4]
Morphology
[edit]Formerly distinct Vedda nouns have two types of suffixes, one for animate and another for inanimate.
Animate nouns
[edit]The animate suffixes are –atto for personal pronouns and –laatto for all other animate nouns and –pojja and –raaccaa for personified nouns. Examples are
- deyyalaatto ('god')
- pannilaatto ('worm')
- meeatto ('I' or 'we')
- irapojja ('sun')
- giniraaccaa ('fire')
These suffixes are also used in singular and plural forms based on the verbal and non-verbal context.
- botakandaa nam puccakaduvaa huura meeatto ('Sir, I killed the elephant though')
- meeattanne kiriamilaatto kalaapojjen mangaccana kota eeattanne badapojje kakulek randaala indatibaala tibenava ('When our great-grandmother was walking in the forest there was a child conceived in that one's womb.')
The dependence on verbal (and non-verbal) context for semantic specification, which is accomplished by inflectional devices by natural languages is an indication of a contact language.
Certain words that appear to be from original Vedda language do not have these suffixes; also, animate nouns also have gender distinctions, with small animals treated as feminine (i marker) and larger ones masculine (a marker).
- botakanda ('elephant')
- kankunaa ('deer')
- karia ('bear')
- hatera ('bear')
- okma ('buffalo')
- kandaarni ('bee')
- mundi ('monitor lizard')
- potti ('bee')
- makini ('spider')
- ikini ('louse')[4]
Inanimate nouns
[edit]Inanimate nouns use suffixes such as –rukula and –danda with nouns denoting body parts and other suffixes such as -pojja, -tana, and -gejja. Suffixes are used when the words are borrowed from Sinhalese.
- ayrukula ('eye')
- ugurudanda ('throat')
- veedipojja ('street')
- kirigejja ('coconut')
- kavitana ('verse')
- giniracca ('fire')[29]
There are number of forms that are from the original Vedda language that lack suffixes such as
- galrakki ('axe')
- caalava ('pot')
- bucca ('bush')[4]
Vedda inanimate nouns are formed by borrowing Sinhalese adjectives and adding a suffix. Kavi is the Sinhalese adjective for the noun Kaviya, whereas the Vedda noun is kavi-tana, where tana is a suffix.
Pronouns
[edit]Examples of pronouns are meeatto ('I'), topan ('you'), eyaba ('there'), koyba ('where?'). Compared to Sinhalese, which requires five forms[clarification needed] to address people based on status, Vedda uses one (topan) irrespective of status. These pronouns are also used in both singular and plural denotations.
| Sinhalese singular | Sinhalese plural | Vedda singular/plural[30][31] |
|---|---|---|
| obavahanse | obavahanselaa | topan |
| ohe | ohelaa | topan |
| tamuse | tamuselaa | topan |
| oya | oyalaa | topan |
| umba | umbala | topan |
| tho | thopi | topan |
Numerals
[edit]These are found in definite and indefinite forms, for example ekama 'one' (def.) and ekamak 'once' (indef.) They count ekamay, dekamay and tunamay. Vedda also reduces the number formations found in Sinhalese.
| English | Sinhalese | Vedda[32] |
|---|---|---|
| two persons | dennek | dekamak |
| two things | dekak | dekamak |
| twice | deparak | dekamak |
Negation
[edit]Another example of simplification in Vedda is the minimisation of negative meanings found in Sinhalese:[33]
| English | Sinhalese | Vedda |
|---|---|---|
| no | naa | koduy |
| don't | epaa | koduy |
| can't | baa | koduy |
| not | nemee | koduy |
| if not | nattaN | koduy |
| unable | bari | koduy |
Lexicon
[edit]Many Vedda words are directly borrowed from Sinhalese or Tamil via Sinhalese while maintaining words that are not derivable from Sinhalese or its cognate languages from the Indo-Aryan language group. Vedda also exhibits a propensity for paraphrases and it coins words from its limited lexical stock rather than borrowing words from other languages including Sinhalese. For example:[34]
| Sinhalese | Vedda | English |
|---|---|---|
| nava | maadiyanganalle dandDukacca ('vehicle of the ocean') | ship |
| vassa | uDatanin mandovena diyaracca ('water falling from above') | rain |
| tuvakkuva (loan from Turkish tüfek, 'rifle') | puccakazDana yamake ('shooting thing') | gun |
| upadinava | baDapojjen mangaccanvaa ('to come from the belly') | to be born |
| padura | vaterena yamake ('sleeping thing') | bed |
| pansala (loan from English) | kurukurugaccana ulpojja ('spike making a "kuru-kuru" sound') | pencil |
Archaic terms
[edit]Vedda maintains in its lexicon archaic Sinhalese words that are no longer in daily usage. These archaic words are attested from classical Sinhalese prose from the 10th century until the 13th century, the purported period of close contact between the original Vedda language(s) and Old Sinhala leading to the development of the creole. Some examples are:
- devla in Vedda means 'sky', but in a 10th-century Sinhalese exegetical work called Dhampia Atuva Getapadaya, it is used in the meaning of 'cloud'.
- diyamaccca in Vedda meaning 'fish' is similar to diyamas found in a 10th-century monastic work called Sikhavalanda.
- manda in Vedda means 'near' or 'with'. This word is attested in the 12th-century eulogy called Butsarana.
- koomantana meaning 'wearing apparel' is similar to the Sinhalese word konama found in the 13th century work Ummagga Jatakaya; alternatively komanam in Tamil is a 'loincloth', a cloth worn by early Veddas.[35]
According to research at the turn of the 20th century by British anthropologists Charles and Brenda Seligman, the use of archaic Sinhalese words in Vedda may have arisen from the need to communicate freely in the presence of Sinhalese speakers without being understood. They claimed that this need encouraged the development of a code internal to the Vedda language that included archaic Sinhalese words (as well as mispronounced and invented words) in order to intentionally obfuscate meaning.[36]
Substratum influence in Sinhalese
[edit]According to Geiger and Gair, Sinhalese has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages. Some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of parent stock of the Vedda language.[37] Sinhalese has many words that are only found in Sinhalese or it is shared between Sinhalese and Vedda and cannot be etymologically derived from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Common examples are kola in Sinhalese and Vedda for 'leaf' (although others suggest a Dravidian origin for this word.[38][39][40]), dola in Sinhalese for 'pig' and 'offering' in Vedda. Other common words are rera for 'wild duck' and gala for 'stones' in toponyms found throughout the island (although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin).[41][42][43] There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhalese such as oluva for 'head', kakula for 'leg', bella for 'neck' and kalava for 'thighs' that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka.[44] The author of the oldest Sinhalese grammar, Sidatsangarava, written in the 13th century has recognized a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhalese. It lists naramba ('to see') and kolamba ('ford' or 'harbour') as belonging to an indigenous source. Kolamba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo.[45][46]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Vedars or Coast Veddas consider themselves and are considered by the Sri Lankan Tamils as a caste (kulam or jati in Tamil), rather than an ethnic group. Nevertheless there is considerable debate amongst Vedars and their Tamil neighbors to their status within the caste system, Vedars claiming very high status and their neighbors assigned somewhat lower status. Vedars use the Sri Lankan Tamil dialect peculiar to that region called Batticaloa Tamil dialect in their day to day conversations. Vedar children also study in that language in schools. But during religious (sadangu in Tamil) ceremonies, those who are possessed by spirits speak in a mixed language that they call Vedar Sinkalam ('Vedar Sinhala') or Vedar Bhasai ('Vedar language') which is the Vedda language of the interior Vedas. Vedar Sinkalam is mixed with many Tamil words, as people no longer know the language. At some point in the past that the people were bilingual in Vedda and Tamil, but that is no longer the case.
- ^ In the late 1800s, Veddas of Anuradhapura did not identify themselves as Veddas to Parker and other British ethnologists. They self identified themselves as Vanniyas or people of the forest. But to James Brow an anthropologists who studied them in the 1970s they readily identified themselves as Veddas. Parker recorded number of hunting terms used by the Vanniyas that were similar to what the Veddas of Bintanne region used.
References
[edit]- ^ Vedda language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
- ^ Dharmadasa 1974, p. 96.
- ^ a b c d Van Driem 2002, p. 229–230.
- ^ "Vedda". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
- ^ "வேடன் | அகராதி". Tamil Dictionary. University of Madras. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
- ^ Boyle 2004, p. [page needed].
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 217.
- ^ a b Van Driem 2002, p. 242.
- ^ International Labour Office 1953, p. 190.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 218.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 222.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 219.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 223.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 225.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 226.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 227.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, pp. 227–228.
- ^ Samarasinghe 1990, p. 73.
- ^ Premakumara, De Silva (2011). "Struggle for Survival: Case of Veddas Culture in Sri Lanka". SAARC Culture. 2. Colombo: SAARC Cultural Centre: 127–174.
- ^ a b De Silva & Punchihewa 2011.
- ^ "Vedda language - A regional dialect of Sinhala". WWW Virtual Library. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- ^ a b c Dharmadasa 1974.
- ^ a b Holm 2000, p. [page needed].
- ^ a b Weerasekara, R.A.D. Priyanka (August 2020). "The Linguistic Study of the Contemporary Context of Vedda Language with Special Reference to Dambana, Sri Lanka". International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science. 4 (8): 737–741.
- ^ a b Samarasinghe 1990, p. 87.
- ^ Dharmadasa 1974, p. 81.
- ^ Dharmadasa 1974, p. 82.
- ^ Samarasinghe 1990, p. 88.
- ^ Samarasinghe 1990, p. 89.
- ^ Samarasinghe 1990, p. 94.
- ^ Samarasinghe 1990, p. 92.
- ^ Dharmadasa 1974, p. 88.
- ^ Samarasinghe 1990, p. 96.
- ^ Dharmadasa 1974, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Seligman & Seligman 1911, pp. 384–385.
- ^ Gair 1998, p. 4.
- ^ M.H. Peter Silva, Influence of Dravida on Sinhalese, University of Oxford. Faculty of Oriental Studies 1961, Thesis (D.Phil.) p. 152
- ^ University of Madras Tamil Lexicon, "குழை kuḻai".
- ^ TamilNet, Know the Etymology: 334, Place Name of the Day: 23 March 2014, "Kola-munna, Anguna-kola-pelessa".
- ^ "kal (kaṟ-, kaṉ-)". A Dravidian Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on Feb 2, 2022.
- ^ Tuttle, Edwin H. "Dravidian Researches". The American Journal of Philology, vol. 50, no. 2, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1929, pp. 138–55, doi:10.2307/290412.
- ^ Van Driem 2002, p. 230.
- ^ Indrapala 2007, p. 45.
- ^ Indrapala 2007, p. 70.
- ^ Gair 1998, p. 5.
Cited literature
[edit]- Boyle, Richard (2004). Knox's Words: A Study of the Words of Sri Lankan Origin Or Association First Used in English Literature by Robert Knox and Recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary. Visidunu Publication. ISBN 9789559170679.
- De Silva, Premakumara; Punchihewa, Asitha (August 2011). "Socio- Anthropological Research Project on Vedda Community in Sri Lanka". Retrieved 2019-04-10.
- Holm, John A. (2000). An introduction to pidgin and creoles. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0511039850. OCLC 56409399.
- Indrapala, Karthigesu (2007). The evolution of an ethnic identity: The Tamils in Sri Lanka C. 300 BCE to C. 1200 CE. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa. ISBN 978-955-1266-72-1.
- International Labour Office (1953). Indigenous peoples: living and working conditions of aboriginal populations. Geneva: International Labour Office. LCCN l54000004.
- Dharmadasa, K.N.O (February 1974). "The Creolization of an Aboriginal language:The case of Vedda in Sri Lanka (Ceylon)". Anthropological Linguistics. 16 (2). Indiana University: 79–106. ISSN 0003-5483. JSTOR 30029514.
- Samarasinghe, S. W. R. de A (1990). The Vanishing aborigines : Sri Lanka's Veddas in transition. International Centre for Ethnic Studies in association with NORAD and Vikas Pub. House. ISBN 978-0-7069-5298-8.
- Gair, James (1998). Studies in South Asian Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509521-0.
- Van Driem, George (Jan 15, 2002). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-10390-0.
- Blundell, David (2006). "Revisiting cultural heritage in Sri Lanka: The Vedda (Vanniyaletto)". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. 26. Australian National University: 163–167. doi:10.7152/bippa.v26i0.12006.
- Seligman, C.G.; Seligman, B.Z. (1911). The Veddas. Cambridge University Press.
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Vedda language
View on GrokipediaClassification and Linguistic Status
Debates on Dialect, Creole, or Independent Language
Linguists debate whether the Vedda language constitutes a distinct independent language, a creole derived from contact between an aboriginal substrate and Sinhalese, or merely a dialect of Sinhalese influenced by prolonged assimilation.[1][3] The challenge arises from its endangered status, with contemporary speech forms heavily intermixed with Sinhalese lexicon and grammar, leaving fragmentary evidence of any original structure.[8] International standards such as ISO 639-3 (code: ved) and Glottolog (vedd1240) recognize Vedda as a separate entity, though classified by some databases under Indo-European > Indic due to substrate influences, and noted as extinct or nearly so in pure form.[8] Proponents of the dialect hypothesis argue that Vedda speech represents a regional variant of Sinhalese, particularly akin to "Binthenne Basa," shaped by geographic isolation and cultural integration rather than fundamental divergence.[1] Evidence includes substantial vocabulary overlap with colloquial Sinhalese, attributed to centuries of bilingualism and intermarriage among Vedda communities, with no robust markers of independent evolution beyond minor phonological simplifications linked to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.[1] This view, echoed in multiple Sri Lankan linguistic studies, posits that claims of separation overstate residual non-Indo-Aryan terms, which could stem from borrowing rather than inheritance.[1] The creole hypothesis, advanced notably by K. N. O. Dharmadasa in 1974, holds that modern Vedda emerged through creolization of an aboriginal language substrate with Sinhalese superstrate, driven by socio-cultural contact following Sinhalese settlement around the 5th century BCE. Dharmadasa cites simplified morphology, reduced inflection, and hybrid lexicon as hallmarks of creole formation, analogous to other contact languages, though without a documented pidgin precursor.[9] Critics counter that such features lack historical attestation of abrupt sociolinguistic rupture, instead reflecting gradual assimilation without true creolization, as Vedda speakers maintained community endogamy longer than typical creole scenarios.[1] Advocates for independent language status emphasize archaeological and genetic evidence positioning Vedda speakers as Sri Lanka's pre-Aryan inhabitants, with the original tongue likely an isolate unaligned with Indo-Aryan or Dravidian families.[3] A 2024 genetic study reinforces this by describing Vedda as a linguistic isolate persisting fragmentarily as lexical substrate in Sinhalese-Vedda hybrids, showing no affinity with genetically proximate Indian tribal languages despite shared ancestry.[3] Non-Indo-Aryan vocabulary items, such as terms for local flora and fauna, and syntactic residues suggest a pre-contact core, though data scarcity from assimilation limits reconstruction; this perspective challenges dialect or creole labels by highlighting substrate persistence over superstrate dominance.[1][3]Empirical Evidence from Phonology, Grammar, and Lexicon
Vedda phonology closely mirrors that of colloquial Sinhalese, featuring a similar phonemic inventory but with notable preferences for palatal affricates such as /c/ and /ɟ/, which frequently substitute for Sinhalese /s/ and occur at higher frequencies than in Middle Sinhala. This elevated palatalization, including velar palatalization before front vowels, indicates retention of substrate features from a pre-Sinhala Vedda variety rather than innovation within Sinhalese dialectology, supporting creolization during intensive contact between the 10th and 16th centuries.[10] Grammatically, Vedda retains Sinhalese's head-final configurational syntax, including restrictions on certain word orders and focus/wh-movement within a focused head position, yet displays creole-like simplifications such as the coalescence of dative and locative cases and the repurposing of morphological suffixes as classifiers (e.g., /pojja/ derived from Sinhalese /podda/ 'a little' functioning classificatorily). Periphrastic constructions replace some Sinhalese lexical items (e.g., descriptive phrases for 'rain' instead of /vaṭa/), and negation markers exhibit unique multifunctional roles absent in standard Sinhalese, evidencing reduced morphological complexity from substrate interference while preserving core syntactic alignment. These traits, documented through generative analysis of texts, argue against Vedda as a mere regional dialect and toward a creolized system resistant to full Sinhalese assimilation.[10][11] The lexicon predominantly comprises Sinhalese-derived vocabulary, but empirical inventories reveal archaic retentions obsolete in modern Sinhalese (e.g., preserved Middle Sinhala forms) alongside substrate-derived unique terms not traceable to Indo-Aryan sources, comprising a minority but core set linked to indigenous concepts like hunting and flora. Simplifications in nominal forms (e.g., /gonad/ from Sinhalese /gonaː/ 'bull') and classifier usage further underscore creole formation, where a lost pre-contact Vedda substrate contributed non-cognate elements amid dominant Sinhalese superstrate influence, as evidenced by comparative text analyses yielding over 70% lexical overlap with archaic Sinhalese but persistent non-assimilated outliers.[10]Genetic and Demographic Correlates
Genetic studies indicate that the Vedda population has undergone significant genetic drift, resulting in a distinct profile with limited admixture from neighboring Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil groups, as evidenced by high-resolution autosomal and mitogenomic analyses of 35 Vedda individuals.[12] This relative isolation, despite proximity, aligns with patterns expected for a linguistic isolate, where reduced gene flow minimizes opportunities for linguistic convergence into a dialect continuum with Indo-Aryan languages like Sinhala. However, mitochondrial DNA surveys of 271 Sri Lankan ethnic individuals, including Vedda, reveal elevated frequencies of unique haplogroups such as R30 and U1 in Vedda (comprising about two-thirds of their mtDNA), alongside shared lineages with Sinhalese, pointing to selective maternal gene flow rather than wholesale genetic replacement.[13] Autosomal data further link Vedda ancestry to Indian tribal populations, including Austroasiatic-speaking groups like the Santhal and Juang, without evident linguistic parallels, underscoring that genetic proximity does not necessitate language affiliation and supporting Vedda's non-Indo-European roots.[12] Demographically, the Vedda community numbers fewer than 3,000 individuals, concentrated in eastern and central Sri Lanka, with extensive assimilation into Sinhalese society through intermarriage and relocation, leading to near-total language shift.[14] Historical census data from 1953 recorded about 800 Vedda language speakers, but recent assessments describe it as moribund, with fluent usage confined to a handful of elderly individuals in isolated hamlets like Dambana, and no intergenerational transmission in most families.[15] This demographic bottleneck correlates with the language's heavy Sinhala lexicon (over 70% in documented varieties) and simplified grammar, potentially indicating creolization or substrate influence rather than retention of an independent system, though genetic evidence tempers interpretations of full dialectal derivation by highlighting pre-assimilation distinctiveness.[15] The small speaker base also limits empirical testing of isolate claims, as surviving varieties reflect post-contact hybridization more than proto-Vedda structure.Historical Development
Origins and Early Documentation
The Vedda language, spoken by the indigenous Vedda (or Wanniyala-Aetto) people of Sri Lanka, is posited to originate from a pre-Indo-Aryan linguistic substrate predating the arrival of Sinhalese settlers around the 5th century BCE. Archaeological and genetic evidence indicates Vedda ancestry traces back tens of thousands of years, potentially to 30,000 years ago, supporting the view of the language as a remnant of ancient hunter-gatherer speech forms uninfluenced by later Indo-European migrations. Historical chronicles such as the Mahavamsa, compiled in the 5th century CE, describe encounters between arriving Indo-Aryan prince Vijaya (circa 543 BCE) and indigenous Yakkha groups, interpreted by some scholars as reflecting Vedda-like populations whose language formed a substrate layer in evolving Sinhalese dialects.[16][3][12] Linguistically, the Vedda language's origins remain debated, with no clear affiliation to known families beyond possible isolate status or creolized elements from archaic Dravidian or Austroasiatic influences, though empirical lexicon analysis shows unique substrate vocabulary persisting in Sinhalese. Unlike Indo-Aryan Sinhalese, Vedda retains non-borrowed terms for local flora, fauna, and kinship, suggesting continuity from a distinct ancestral tongue rather than derivation. Genetic studies of Vedda populations reveal limited admixture with Sinhalese until recent centuries, correlating with linguistic isolation and drift, which preserved archaic features until documentation.[17][3] The earliest European documentation of the Vedda language appears in 17th-century colonial records. Rijckloff van Goens, Dutch governor of Ceylon, noted Vedda speech forms in 1675, describing them as distinct from Sinhalese and Tamil. This was followed by Fernão de Queyroz's The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon (circa 1687), which included observations of Vedda linguistic traits during Portuguese administration, marking the first written attestations of vocabulary and phrases. These accounts, though brief and observer-biased toward exoticism, provide baseline data on phonology and lexicon before extensive Sinhalization. Systematic linguistic study emerged in the 19th century, with British colonial ethnographers collecting specimens, but pre-20th-century records remain fragmentary due to Vedda oral traditions and societal marginalization.[18][18]Assimilation and Decline in the Modern Era
The Vedda language experienced accelerated assimilation and decline throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, primarily through intermarriage with Sinhalese communities and the adoption of Sinhala as the dominant medium of communication, education, and economic interaction.[19][20] Linguistic assimilation has been exacerbated by urbanization and displacement from traditional forest habitats, leading to increased integration with majority Sinhalese populations and the disuse of Vedda dialects in daily life.[21] By the early 21st century, the Vedda population itself had diminished to an estimated 5,000–10,000 individuals, with language shift contributing significantly to this cultural erosion alongside factors like habitat loss and modernization.[20] Post-independence policies in Sri Lanka, including the promotion of Sinhala as the official language following 1948 and intensified modernization efforts, further marginalized Vedda speech by prioritizing national linguistic unity over indigenous preservation.[22] Intergenerational transmission has nearly ceased, with children exhibiting poor fluency and preferring Sinhala for schooling and social mobility; surveys in Vedda villages indicate that 70% of respondents report high proficiency in Sinhala compared to their native tongue.[6][5] In locations like Dambana, a designated Vedda settlement established in the 2000s for cultural retention, efforts to revive usage persist, yet economic incentives tied to tourism have paradoxically reinforced Sinhala dominance while highlighting the language's value only as a performative heritage element.[19][23] The original pure form of the Vedda language is reported as effectively extinct by the early 2020s, surviving only in fragmented, Sinhala-influenced dialects among isolated elders, with no institutional support for documentation or revival until sporadic anthropological interventions in the late 20th century.[22][21] This decline reflects broader patterns of indigenous language loss under globalization and state-driven assimilation, where Vedda communities increasingly view Sinhala fluency as essential for survival amid habitat encroachment and limited access to resources.[6][22]Phonological Features
Consonant and Vowel Systems
The consonant inventory of the Vedda language closely resembles that of colloquial Sinhalese but is distinguished by the elevated frequency of palatal affricates, particularly the voiceless palatal affricate /c/ (often realized as [tɕ] or [c͡ç]) and the voiced palatal affricate /ɟ/, which occur more prominently than in Sinhalese and contribute to its phonological profile.[16] Early documentation from field studies among Vedda communities notes systematic substitutions, such as the replacement of Sinhalese sibilants /s/ with palatal affricates akin to /tʃ/ or /c/, yielding forms like "icha" for Sinhalese "isa" ('head') and "gayi" for "gas" ('tree'), imparting a characteristically harsh quality to speech.[24] These shifts, observed in dialects such as those of the Bintenne Veddas, reflect substrate influences or contact-induced innovations rather than a wholly independent system, with no evidence of unique retroflex or aspirated consonants beyond Sinhalese norms.[25] Documentation on the vowel system remains limited, with available descriptions indicating alignment with Sinhalese's phonemic contrasts of short and long vowels across qualities such as /i e æ a ə o u/ and their lengthened counterparts, without reported innovations like additional central or diphthongal elements.[24] Transliterations in early records employ Italianate vowel values (e.g., /a/ as in father, /e/ as in bed), suggesting phonetic realizations comparable to Sinhalese, potentially with regional accentual variations that enhance guttural tones in ritual or emphatic speech.[16] Comprehensive phonemic inventories are absent in extant studies, likely due to the language's creolized status and ongoing assimilation, underscoring the need for further empirical recording amid its endangerment.[1]Prosody and Phonetic Distinctions from Sinhalese
The Vedda language displays several phonetic distinctions from Sinhalese, particularly in consonant realization and distributional patterns. A prominent feature is the substitution of the Sinhalese sibilant /s/ with the palatal affricate /tʃ/ (as in "ch" sounds), observed in early ethnographic recordings of Vedda speech.[25] This shift contributes to a perceptibly "softer" or more palatalized auditory profile in Vedda compared to the sharper sibilants typical of Sinhalese dialects. Furthermore, palatal consonants such as /c/ and /ɟ/ occur with notably higher frequency in Vedda, enhancing phonetic divergence even as the core consonant inventory overlaps substantially with Sinhalese.[16] Vowel phonology in Vedda closely parallels Sinhalese, with both languages sharing a system of seven basic vowel qualities (/i, iː, u, uː, e, æ, ɑ, ɔ, o/), lacking phonemic length contrasts in some contexts due to assimilation processes.[16] However, differences arise in phonotactics and sound distribution; Vedda exhibits reduced gemination (lengthened consonants) and simplified syllable structures relative to Sinhalese, reflecting historical phonological restructuring from prolonged contact and substrate influences.[11] These alterations mark Vedda as distinct from colloquial Sinhalese varieties, despite overall inventory similarities.[16] Prosodic features, including intonation, stress, and rhythm, remain underexplored in Vedda due to limited empirical data and the language's endangerment. Available analyses indicate that Vedda prosody adheres broadly to Sinhalese patterns—such as penultimate stress tendencies and mora-based timing—but with potential simplifications in rhythmic complexity arising from morphological reduction and creolization-like processes.[11] No phonemic tone or pitch accent is attested, aligning with Sinhalese's non-tonal prosody, though anecdotal reports suggest a more monotonic or substrate-influenced intonation contour in traditional Vedda narratives, warranting further acoustic studies.[1]Grammatical Structure
Morphology and Word Formation
The morphology of the Vedda language is characterized by a simplified system compared to Sinhala, featuring three main word classes: nouns, verbs, and invariables such as particles.[16] This reduction in morphological complexity, including fewer inflections and derivational processes, stems from its historical role as a concise lexicon suited to hunter-gatherer needs rather than creolization alone.[1] Nouns are categorized by animacy, with animate nouns showing gender distinctions: masculine forms typically end in -a and feminine in -i, mirroring Sinhala patterns (e.g., derivations from base stems adapted for human referents).[16] Inanimate nouns lack such marking and often remain undifferentiated for number, contributing to overall parsimony. Animate and inanimate classes influence agreement in limited contexts, primarily through postpositional markers rather than extensive case suffixes.[11] Verbal morphology is fusional but attenuated, with tense, aspect, and volition-involition distinctions conveyed via a small set of suffixes and auxiliaries like karanava (do, volitive) and venava (is, involitive), appended to roots that preserve core Sinhala-like stems.[11] Derivational word formation relies minimally on affixation, favoring compounding of native roots with Sinhala borrowings for nouns denoting tools or abstract concepts, while archaic non-Indo-Aryan elements persist in basic vocabulary without productive morphological rules.[1] Comprehensive analyses, such as those by De Silva (1972), document these features through fieldwork in interior communities, highlighting retention of pre-Sinhala substrate influences amid assimilation.[11]Nominal Categories and Agreement
The nominal system of the Vedda language distinguishes animacy, with unique gender markings applied to animate nouns, often following patterns where feminine forms are derived from masculine bases by suffix substitution, such as replacing -a with -i, mirroring archaic Sinhalese derivations.[16] Number is not obligatorily inflected but may be expressed via the suffix -pojja on nouns for plurality, supplemented by contextual indicators or quantifiers like "all" in indefinite contexts.[11] Case categories include nominative (often zero-marked), accusative (contextually determined), and dative (marked by -ta), as in Vannila-aeththan-ta ("to the old man").[11] Nominals further encode definiteness, classified as definite or indefinite forms, which influence phrase structure but show simplification compared to Sinhalese.[11] Honorifics, such as aeththo, may attach to animate nouns for respect, adding a social category without altering core inflection.[11] Agreement is highly restricted: adjectives do not inflect for gender, number, or case to match nouns, and verbs exhibit no phi-feature agreement (lacking gender or number marking), reflecting Vedda's morphological reduction from prolonged Sinhalese contact.[11] Limited concord appears in modal or focus contexts, such as the suffix -e on verbs aligning with nominal emphasis (e.g., mando-kar-e "do thus"), or first-person subject agreement in optative forms like kavilla-nnam.[11] This paucity of agreement underscores Vedda's departure from Indo-Aryan complexity, prioritizing analytic structures over synthetic ones.[11]Verbal System and Syntax
The verbal system of the Vedda language features a limited lexicon of approximately 23 verbs, reflecting its simplified morphology compared to surrounding Indo-Aryan languages like Sinhala.[4] High-frequency verbs such as mando-kara (meaning "did" or "do") and mando-una (meaning "was" or "is") dominate usage, often serving periphrastic functions with the prefix mando- to convey actions.[4] Verbs inflect for tense, as in pataarinava (present) and pataaeriya (past), and aspect, marked by suffixes like -la for perfective (e.g., pataera-la).[4] Additional distinctions include volitive (e.g., mando-karanava) versus involitive (e.g., mando-venava) forms, indicating speaker intent or involuntariness.[4] Tense marking appears in examples like present kaevillanava ("I see") and past kaevilleva ("I saw"), while moods encompass indicative, imperative, interrogative, hortative, conditional, subjunctive, and permissive constructions.[4] Agreement is minimal, lacking full phi-features (person, number, gender); verbs show limited alignment with first-person nominative subjects in volitive-optative forms (e.g., kavilla-nnam "let me see") and may take -e suffixes for focus or modal emphasis.[4] Polysemy is common, with single verbs carrying multiple meanings derived from context, aligning with the language's three primary word classes: nouns, verbs, and invariables.[16] Syntactically, Vedda exhibits a primary subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, akin to Sinhala, though subject-verb-object (SVO) and object-subject-verb (OSV) variants occur due to scrambling, while verb-initial orders (VSO, VOS, OVS) are unattested.[4] Clause structure follows a head-final, left-branching hierarchy: CP > IP > VP, with phrases like NPs, VPs, AdjPs, and PPs consistently head-final (e.g., Kelae-poj-je minigajjo "elephant's child").[4] An example SOV clause is Poramola aeththo botakandala aethth-ek aehirukula-ta mando-kara ("Poramola's father took the wild pig to the forest").[4] The language is configurational despite flexibility, with pro-drop permitted and focus/wh-elements hosted in a dedicated Focus Head, lacking an articulated CP/TP periphery; head ordering proceeds as FORCE > FOCUS > TP > MODAL > VP.[4] Negation employs the single postposed marker kodoi, which appears sentence-finally and doubles as a modal for inability (e.g., Mee aeththa depitullanthena kaevillanna kodoi "This father cannot see the lamp").[4] Question formation includes yes-no queries with the suffix -da and wh-questions using mon-ekaa-da ("what") plus -e for focus (e.g., Mon-ekaa-da botakanda-va aehirukula-ta mando-karagathth-e? "What did the wild pig do in the forest?").[4] These features parallel Sinhala's head-final traits but diverge in restricting certain word orders and using fewer negation markers.[4]Pronouns, Numerals, and Negation
The Vedda language exhibits significant simplification in its pronominal system compared to Sinhala, its primary lexical source, lacking distinctions in number, gender, and honorifics that characterize Sinhala pronouns. Personal pronouns are formed by adding the animate suffix -atto to nominal bases borrowed from Sinhala, as in meeatto for the first person, encompassing both singular 'I' and plural 'we' without formal differentiation. This reduction aligns with creolization patterns observed in contact languages, where functional load is minimized through context reliance rather than morphological marking. Interrogative pronouns, such as mon-eka-da for 'what' (literally 'which one inanimate-question'), follow similar derivational patterns from Sinhala roots but adapt to Vedda's syntactic constraints.[26][11]| Numeral | Vedda Form | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ekama, ekamay | Derived from Sinhala eka with emphatic suffix -ma(y) |
| 2 | dekama | Used invariantly for counting or qualifying nouns, unlike Sinhala's context-specific variants |
| 3 | tunama | - |
| 4 | hatarama | - |
| 5 | pahama | Base for higher compounds |
| 6 | hayamay; formerly pahamay tava ekamay ('five more one') | Evidence of base-5 subsystem |
| 7 | hatamay; formerly pahamay tava dekamay | Base-5 derivation |
| 8 | aṭamay | - |
| 9 | namayamay | - |
| 10 | dahayamay; formerly pahamay tava pahamay ('five more five') | - |
| 20 | vissamay | - |
| 100 | siiyamay | - |
Lexicon and Vocabulary
Core and Archaic Vocabulary
The core vocabulary of the Vedda language includes fundamental nouns and verbs tied to daily survival, social relations, and perception, as documented in syntactic analyses of speech from remaining communities. These terms often feature honorific suffixes like -o or case markers, distinguishing them from Sinhala equivalents through phonological and morphological simplicity. For instance, aeththo refers to a "person" or "honored person," extended in compounds such as kaekulala aeththo ("child" or "honored child") and vannila aeththo ("Vedda" or "honored Vedda").[4] Body parts and sustenance items represent archaic layers, potentially retaining pre-contact forms; aehirukula-ta denotes "to the eye" in dative case, while depitullan-thena specifies "rice" in instrumental form. Verbal roots emphasize action and cognition, with mando-kara meaning "did" or "performed an action," mando-una as "was" or "happened," and kaevillaeva for "ate" in past tense. The polysemous verb hithlaanava covers "know," "like," "love," or modal "can," reflecting lexical economy in an endangered isolate.[4] Functional words underpin basic syntax: negation via kodoi ("not"), interrogative mon-ekaa-da ("who" or "which one"), and indefinites like koibavath ("anywhere"), koi davas pojjakavath ("never"), and mon-ekakvath ("anything"). These elements, collected from Dambana-area speakers, suggest retention of archaic structures amid creolization, though corpora remain small and influenced by Sinhala substrate effects.[4]| Category | Vedda Term | English Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Nouns (animate) | aeththo | person/honored person[4] |
| Body part | aehirukula-ta | to the eye (dative)[4] |
| Food | depitullan-thena | rice (instrumental)[4] |
| Verbs | kaevillaeva | ate (past)[4] |
| Negation | kodoi | not[4] |
| Interrogative | mon-ekaa-da | who/which one[4] |