Languages of India

Re:Languages of India by billfruit on Wednesday June 05, 2019 @04:13PM (#20108640)

A bit strange that Sinhala is classified as Indo-European rather than as Dravidian, as one might think from geography.

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Re:Languages of India by najarvg on Wednesday June 05, 2019 @05:19PM (#20109283)

I initially found that strange too given that there is a distinct Sri Lankan Tamil dialect (Jaffna, Batticaloa versions etc) but it looks like Sinhala came in as an original Indo-Eurpoean language and mingled with surrounding languages to borrow some words etc. Here are some opinionated commentaries on that:

http://www.applet-magic.com/sinhaleselan.htm

http://www.island.lk/2003/11/05/featur02.html

Would love to see an authoritative source confirming these.

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Re:Languages of India by jvsg on Thursday June 06, 2019 @12:13AM (#20111526)

The sinhalese people of Sri Lanka are Indo-European, not dravidian. IIRC they came from Modern day Bengal.

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Re:Languages of India by billfruit on Thursday June 06, 2019 @10:36AM (#20114920)

But Sinhalese culture,food etc is closer to Dravidian.

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