Conference Presentations by Ganushka Randula
A talk given at the Omnibus Lecture Series organised by the Department of Linguistics, University... more A talk given at the Omnibus Lecture Series organised by the Department of Linguistics, University of Rochester, on the 08th of November 2024
This is probably one of the pioneering attempts to explore the structures and functions of Sinhal... more This is probably one of the pioneering attempts to explore the structures and functions of Sinhala leetspeak. This was presented at a research conference organised by the University of Rajarata.
This is the abstract volume of the 3rd International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, held... more This is the abstract volume of the 3rd International Conference on Linguistics in Sri Lanka, held in 2017.
Wmdê ks nka Ohl" m¾fha IK m;% s ldjl" iïuka ;% K m;% s ldjl" úu¾Yk m;% s ldjl fyda fjk;a hï ls is... more Wmdê ks nka Ohl" m¾fha IK m;% s ldjl" iïuka ;% K m;% s ldjl" úu¾Yk m;% s ldjl fyda fjk;a hï ls is idr.¾N Ydia ;% S h f,a Lkhl wka ;¾.; jk idrh ljf¾ oe hs ixla fIa mfhka oela ùu i|yd ,s hkq ,nk ixla Is ma ; f,a Lkh idrixla fIa mh kñ' idrdxYh (summary)" jia ;= idrh (synopsis)" idrh (précis) hk mo o fmdÿ jHjydrfha fï yd iudk w¾:fhka Ndú; jk kuq ÿ Ydia ;% S h f,a Lkhl yrh ye¢ka ùu i|yd idrixla fIa mh (abstract) hk moh fh §u iïu;h hs ' mßmd,k jd¾;dj, fhdokq ,nk wNs ldrl idrdxYh (executive summary) hkq idrixla fIa mhlg jvd ;rula iúia ;r jQ jls ' Ydia ;% S h f,a Lkhl wdrïNhg u idrixla fIa mhla fh §fï mrud¾:h jka fka tys wka ;¾.; iuia ;h ms <s n| meyeÈ,s woyila th ls heùug fmrd;= j u mdGlhd fj; iemehS u hs ' wNs kj m¾fha IKhla i|yd idys ;H úu¾Ykfha fhfok m¾fha Ilhl= g ;uka f.a la fIa ;% hg wod< mQ ¾j m¾fha IK (previous research) y÷kd.ekS u i|yd idrixla fIa mh muKla ls heùu m% udKj;a h' idrixla fIa mh ls heùfuka miq iïmQ ¾K f,a Lkh ls heúh hq ;= o keoa o hka k mdGlhdg ;S rKh l< yels h'
Cumaratunga Munidasa is admired as the first scholar to recognise the need of Sinhalese neologism... more Cumaratunga Munidasa is admired as the first scholar to recognise the need of Sinhalese neologisms capable of imparting modern scientific and technical knowledge in the twentieth century. Being the pioneer ideologist of the Sinhalese purist school, he is popularly known for his strong resistance to Sanskrit borrowings. Still, among the neologisms he coined before his ideological shift to extreme purism, a considerable number of neologisms of Sanskrit origin are found. This study attempts to examine the structural linguistic features of these neologisms formed by Cumaratunga employing Sanskrit roots. Accordingly, an adequate corpus of data was collected by referring to a number of books and articles written by Cumaratunga. Theories in structural linguistics were utilised for the data analysis. All the Sanskrit borrowings among Cumaratunga's neologisms can be broadly categorised into two typological classes as adopted borrowings and adapted borrowings. Adopted borrowings are foreign words introduced into a language without any phonemic alteration in their forms. Among these both complex words and compound words are found. Complex words are the morphological constructions formed by attaching affixes to root forms. These constructions contain both prefixal forms and suffixal forms. Compound words are the morphological constructions that contain more than one root form. Among these both two-root compounds and poly-root compounds are found. Adapted borrowings are foreign words induced into a target language with various formal alterations to assure compliance with its phonology. Vowel shortening, aspiration loss and dentalisation are the three main processes of phonological simplification operated in adapting Sanskrit borrowings. It has been observed that most of the neologisms coined by Cumaratunga employing Sanskrit roots are not original coinages, but loan translations which render meanings borrowed from English with forms borrowed from Sanskrit. Therefore in conclusion it can be stated that such neologisms are of bifurcated origin.
Neologisation is the act of coining and accompanying neologisms i.e., new words
to the lexicon of... more Neologisation is the act of coining and accompanying neologisms i.e., new words
to the lexicon of a language. Aelian de Silva (31st October 1926 - 22nd December 2015),
an electrical engineer by profession, was a neologist of the recent times who made a
significant contribution to the lexical development of the Sinhalese language. However,
his endeavours as a neologist have not yet been subjected to a commendable appreciation.
Therefore, this study was designed to explore the linguistic features of his neologisms
while focusing on the neologisation processes employed in coining them. An adequate
corpus of data was collected for examination by referring to the books and articles written
by Aelian de Silva. The data were analysed utilising the theories and methods of structural
linguistics. It was observed in the analysis that his contribution to the field of neologisation
is mainly two-fold. Firstly he has outlined five salient features that one should take into
consideration in coining Sinhalese technical terms. These are flexibility, brevity,
precision, comprehensibility, and pronounceability. Flexibility refers to the ability to yield
the whole derivational paradigm of the neologism. Brevity refers to the one to one
correspondence between the source and target forms. Precision is when the term conveys
the exact intended meaning and nothing more or less. Comprehensibility is the quality of
being intelligible to the average native speaker of the language. Pronounceablity is the
quality of being easily pronounceable. In order to conform to these five salient features,
Aelian de Silva always encouraged the use of indigenous roots in coining Sinhalese
neologisms as borrowed foreign roots fail to fully comply with the five salient features.
Secondly, Aelian de Silva has accompanied more than three thousand neologisms to the
lexicon of the modern Sinhalese language. Most of them appear in the glossary of his
masterpiece Technical Terms in Sinhala which was published in 2002. Interestingly, a
considerable number of the neologisms he coined have gained currency in many a
technical discipline like electrical engineering, petroleum industry, and television
industry. Thus, Aelian de Silva's contribution to the lexical development of the modern
Sinhalese language is a commendable service which deserves a proper appreciation
preceded by a strenuous research.
Keywords: foreign root, indigenous root, linguistic ideology, neologisation, technical
term
Slang is the non-standard words and phrases which are highly restricted to informal colloquial sp... more Slang is the non-standard words and phrases which are highly restricted to informal colloquial speech, and always used below the level of standard variety of a language. These are more common in speech than in writing. The term 'slanguage' is a blend of the two terms 'slang' and 'language', and it is being used by sociolinguists in referring to the colloquial variety of a language consisting of such non-standard words and phrases. However, Sinhalese Slanguage has not been the subject of adequate linguistic examination, owing to certain prejudices generally held in the speech community. This study recognises the salient morphological features of the word formation processes in Sinhalese Slanguage, concerning the origin and etymology of a number of slang terms as much as possible. Although it has been observed that there are various sub-varieties of Sinhalese Slanguage, this study collectively regards all such sub-varieties in the analysis, excluding vulgar slang and taboo words. Data, for this study, were collected mostly through participative observation and interviews. The few literary sources available were cited where required. It has been observed by the present author that Sinhalese Slanguage is morphologically distinctive from the standard language in terms of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and exclamations. Still, the absence of slangy adverbs is noteworthy. Arising from the observations made in this study, it is proper to state that affixations, acronyms, clippings, neologisms, eponyms, exocentric compounds, borrowings, and semantic shifts are the common word formation processes in Sinhalese Slanguage. Accordingly, it is clear that some word formation processes are abundant in Sinhalese Slanguage, whereas some other processes are totally absent. Further studies on Sinhalese Slanguage should be encouraged, for they reflect a significant sociolinguistic aspect of the contemporary language use, along with some features of the historical development of the Sinhalese language.
l¡ l¡ .kq Ia l rka ÿ, 1 ;re wl= re je< hkq ñY% is xy, j"ud,dfõ meje;s W!k;d 18la uÕ yrjd-.ekS u i... more l¡ l¡ .kq Ia l rka ÿ, 1 ;re wl= re je< hkq ñY% is xy, j"ud,dfõ meje;s W!k;d 18la uÕ yrjd-.ekS u i|yd l= udr;= x. uq ks odi úis ka ks ¾ñ; j"ud,dfjls ¡ 1940 § y÷ka jd-fok ,o ;re wl= re jef<ys Ndú;h yd Wmfhda .S ;d ms <s n| j m% udKj;a úoa j;a wjOdkhla fuf;la fhduq ù ke;¡ zñks ia uq fjls ka keÕs h yels ´kE u y~la ,s hd-mE yels Z wka ;¾cd;s l j"ud,djla f,i ie,eflk ;re wl= re je< yd tys kQ ;k Wmfhda .S ;djla úuY_ khg ,la ls Íu;a " wm% lg úIh lreKla jk fï flfrys úoa j;a wjOdkh fhduq le/ùu;a fuu wOHhkfha wNs fm% a ;d¾: hs ¡ ;re wl= re je< /.;a ziq niZ iÕrd fuys § m% d:ñl uQ ,dY% h úh¡ tys Ndú;h y÷ka jd-fok zis xy, wl= rZ keue;s lD;s h m% Odk;u ‰;S hs l uQ ,dY% h f,i mßYS ,kh leß‚¡ wCIr ud,dfjl ;s ìh hq ;= Wmßu ms ßueia fuka yd úoHd;a ul mokfuls ka hq la ; j ;re wl= re jef<ys ixfla ; rEm ie,eiq ï fldg ;s fí¡ fuys l| ,l= Kq yd wkq ,l= Kq hkq fjka ixfla ; ‰úO fõ¡ l| ,l= Kq w;r ia jr ixfla ; 12ls ¦ uQ ,s l jH[a ck ixfla ; 07ls ¡ wkq ,l= Kq hgf;a f.d¿" keyeis " uymK" È.= yd Wiq ï hk ,l= Kq 05 oela fõ¡ tu wkq ,l= Kq fh §fuka l| ,l= Kq j, f>da I" kdis lH" uydm% dK yd §>_ wE ia jrEm ,o yels h¡ is h¨ u l| ,l= Kq iuÕ iurEmS j wkq ,l= Kq fhfok neúka hï wCIrfhl WÉpdrKh tys reúka u ye¢ks h yels ¡ idïm% odhs l j" ud,dfõ fkd ;= nq Kq ixjD; ^uq L& wZYíoh yd *ZYíoh ola jk ixfla ; hq .,fhla o óg we;= <;s ¡ wkd.;fha § nig wjYH úh yels z wCIrh jeks ´kE u kjdCIrhla ilid-.; yels jk mßÈ" W;a m;a ;s ia :dk wkq j tla tla j._ hg wkkH uQ ,s l ixfla ;fhl mokï j ;oa j._ hka ys is h¨ j" rEm ks ujd we;¡ iudk WÉpdrKfhls ka hq ;a we;eï wl= re hq ., ks rEmKh ls Íu i|yd tla ixfla ;h ne.s ka fhdod we;a f;a b;d ms ßueiq ïj;a f,is ks ¡ fukhs ka wju uQ ,s l ,l= Kq ixLHdjla Ndú;fhka Yío .Kkdjla ks rEmKh l< yels nj iy wCIr rEm weiq ßka u WÉpdrKh;a o; yels ùu ;re wl= re jef<ys úfYa IFj fjhs ¡ fuu úfYa IFjhka i,ld-ne,S fï § fmkS -hkq fha úl,A m j"ud,djla f,ie ¥rl:k flá m‚úv h;= re mq jrej i|yd id¾:l j ;re wl= re wdfoa Y l< yels nfjls ¡ túg ¥rl:khg o;a ; leúh hq ;a f;a ia jr 12la " jH[a ck 07la iy wkq ,l= Kq 05la yeis /ùu ms <s n| j mu‚¡ ´kE u nfil wl= re lrkh i|yd tu ixfla ; 24 m% udKj;a h¡ frda udkq lrKfhka f;dr j is xy, flá m‚úv heùug ñka wjldYh ie,efia ¡ m% uq L mo( úoHd;a ul moku" ms ßueiq ïj;a " úl,A m j"ud,dj" flá m‚úv
Classical Sinhalese scholar plus polyglot, grammarian, commentator, writer, poet, journalist, o... more Classical Sinhalese scholar plus polyglot, grammarian, commentator, writer, poet, journalist, orator and teacher.
Cumaratunga Munidasa was one of the greatest classical Sinhalese scholars of the recent times, re... more Cumaratunga Munidasa was one of the greatest classical Sinhalese scholars of the recent times, remembered over years owing to the remarkable service rendered by him in a number of disciplines. He is admired by many as the first individual to recognise the need of new Sinhalese technical terms capable of imparting the knowledge of modern technical and scientific concepts introduced to the Sinhalese speech community during the past century. Still, no commendable attempt has been made to examine his role as a neologist. Therefore this study attempts to undertake the task. An adequate corpus of data was collected for examination by referring to a number of books and paper articles written by Cumaratunga. It was observed that he had followed many a morphological processes in coining neologisms, which reflect a number of salient features that one should take into consideration in coining Sinhalese technical terms. Since a great mass of neologisms coined by Cumaratnga have gained currency in the day-today discourses, further studies should be encouraged, concerning the morphological processes and standards maintained by him as a neologist.
Talks by Ganushka Randula
Sahitya Sambhashana - 6, 2024
The synopsis of a talk given by K. K. G. Randula as the 6th talk of the Sahitya Sambhashana serie... more The synopsis of a talk given by K. K. G. Randula as the 6th talk of the Sahitya Sambhashana series organised by the Department of Cultural Affairs on the 23rd June 2024 at 4 pm at the National Archives Auditorium, Colombo 7.
This is the unabridged English translation of the State Literary Oration - 2023.
Abstracts: Undergraduate Research Conference on Linguistics, 2016
Papers by Ganushka Randula
Sahityaya Literary Volume, 2023
Randula, K. K. G. (2023). “A Phonological and Graphological Examination of Ajith Thilakasena’s Re... more Randula, K. K. G. (2023). “A Phonological and Graphological Examination of Ajith Thilakasena’s Reforms in Sinhala Graphisation” in Krishantha Fedricks & Kaushalya Perera (eds.), Sāhityaya: Literary Volume – 2023. Colombo: State Literary Advisory Board. pp. 85-102
Cumaratunga Munidasa (25 th July 1887 02 nd March 1944) is admired as the first scholar to recogn... more Cumaratunga Munidasa (25 th July 1887 02 nd March 1944) is admired as the first scholar to recognise the need of Sinhalese neologisms capable of imparting modern scientific and technical knowledge in the twentieth century. Being the pioneer ideologist of the Sinhalese purist school, he is popularly known for his strong resistance to Sanskrit borrowings. Still, among the neologisms he coined before his ideological shift to extreme purism, a considerable number of neologisms of Sanskrit origin are found. This study attempts to examine the structural linguistic features of these neologisms formed by Cumaratunga employing Sanskrit roots. Accordingly, an adequate corpus of data was collected by referring to a number of books and articles written by Cumaratunga. Theories in structural linguistics were utilised for the data analysis. All the Sanskrit borrowings among Cumaratunga’s neologisms can be broadly categorised into two typological classes as adopted borrowings and adapted borrowing...
Neologisation is the act of coining and accompanying neologisms i.e., new words to the lexicon of... more Neologisation is the act of coining and accompanying neologisms i.e., new words to the lexicon of a language. Aelian de Silva (31 st October 1926 22 nd December 2015), an electrical engineer by profession, was a neologist of the recent times who made a significant contribution to the lexical development of the Sinhalese language. However, his endeavours as a neologist have not yet been subjected to a commendable appreciation. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the linguistic features of his neologisms while focusing on the neologisation processes employed in coining them. An adequate corpus of data was collected for examination by referring to the books and articles written by Aelian de Silva. The data were analysed utilising the theories and methods of structural linguistics. It was observed in the analysis that his contribution to the field of neologisation is mainly two-fold. Firstly he has outlined five salient features that one should take into consideration in coini...
Lexical borrowing is a commonplace word-formation process in many a languages of the contemporary... more Lexical borrowing is a commonplace word-formation process in many a languages of the contemporary world. Phono-Semantic Matching (henceforth PSM) is an important but hitherto neglected process of camouflaged lexical borrowing. This process employs preexistent Target Language (henceforth TL) forms to coin new words (henceforth neologisms) that phonetically and semantically resemble the original Source Language (henceforth SL) words. Thus, it is clear that PSM is something more than mere lexical borrowing. This paper presents the findings of a research conducted to explore PSMs in the Sinhalese language. The research was executed in three steps. The first was the collection of PSMs. During the library research a considerable number of PSMs were found among neologisms coined by Cumaratunga Munidasa. Most of them appeared in his journal 'Subasa' published from 10 th July 1939 to 16 th February 1942. Thus, it was made the key sample of data for the research. The second step was the analytic classification of PSMs. Documentation of the findings became the third step. This paper presents a general introduction to the concept of PSM in section 2, along with a classification of PSMs in the Sinhalese language in section 3 below. 2. Neologisation & Phono-semantic Matching (PSM) A neologism is a new word introduced into a language. P. H. Matthews (1997:261) defines it as a new word which has entered language by whatever process, and has gained some currency in its speech community. The act of forming neologisms in a language is traditionally referred to as 'Word-formation'. Here, the term 'Neologisation' is preferred over the traditional term 'Word-formation'. Thus, all possible ways and processes of forming neologisms are known as neologisation processes. Before examining the features of PSM as a neologisation process, it is proper to present a taxonomy of the sources of neologisation that will help in positioning PSM in the system. Yair Sapir (2003:61-62) observes four sources of neologisms as follows: a. Zero Source (ex nihilio) Neologisms from this source are not based on any pre-existent lexical material. Some brand names like Google, Yahoo are form this source.
The term piyewi (prəkṛti) appearing in traditional Sinhalese grammars refers to an element operat... more The term piyewi (prəkṛti) appearing in traditional Sinhalese grammars refers to an element operating within word structure. It is a morphological extraction which has not been properly defined in any of the traditional Sinhalese grammars. Therefore attempts have been made by some modern Sinhalese linguists to define pijewi (prəkṛti) with the light of morphology. However, the piyewis (prəkṛti) extracted by modern linguists are totally different from the piyewis (prəkṛti) extracted by traditional grammarians. This difference of the forms has resulted in much debate among Sinhalese scholars. The study was designed to identify the most appropriate morphological extraction which best suits the structural analysis of the Sinhalese words. Data for the study were collected from a number of grammatical works and linguistic works. It was observed that modern linguists have employed three slightly different morphological concepts as root, stem, and base in their morphological analyses. Just as...
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Conference Presentations by Ganushka Randula
to the lexicon of a language. Aelian de Silva (31st October 1926 - 22nd December 2015),
an electrical engineer by profession, was a neologist of the recent times who made a
significant contribution to the lexical development of the Sinhalese language. However,
his endeavours as a neologist have not yet been subjected to a commendable appreciation.
Therefore, this study was designed to explore the linguistic features of his neologisms
while focusing on the neologisation processes employed in coining them. An adequate
corpus of data was collected for examination by referring to the books and articles written
by Aelian de Silva. The data were analysed utilising the theories and methods of structural
linguistics. It was observed in the analysis that his contribution to the field of neologisation
is mainly two-fold. Firstly he has outlined five salient features that one should take into
consideration in coining Sinhalese technical terms. These are flexibility, brevity,
precision, comprehensibility, and pronounceability. Flexibility refers to the ability to yield
the whole derivational paradigm of the neologism. Brevity refers to the one to one
correspondence between the source and target forms. Precision is when the term conveys
the exact intended meaning and nothing more or less. Comprehensibility is the quality of
being intelligible to the average native speaker of the language. Pronounceablity is the
quality of being easily pronounceable. In order to conform to these five salient features,
Aelian de Silva always encouraged the use of indigenous roots in coining Sinhalese
neologisms as borrowed foreign roots fail to fully comply with the five salient features.
Secondly, Aelian de Silva has accompanied more than three thousand neologisms to the
lexicon of the modern Sinhalese language. Most of them appear in the glossary of his
masterpiece Technical Terms in Sinhala which was published in 2002. Interestingly, a
considerable number of the neologisms he coined have gained currency in many a
technical discipline like electrical engineering, petroleum industry, and television
industry. Thus, Aelian de Silva's contribution to the lexical development of the modern
Sinhalese language is a commendable service which deserves a proper appreciation
preceded by a strenuous research.
Keywords: foreign root, indigenous root, linguistic ideology, neologisation, technical
term
Talks by Ganushka Randula
Papers by Ganushka Randula
to the lexicon of a language. Aelian de Silva (31st October 1926 - 22nd December 2015),
an electrical engineer by profession, was a neologist of the recent times who made a
significant contribution to the lexical development of the Sinhalese language. However,
his endeavours as a neologist have not yet been subjected to a commendable appreciation.
Therefore, this study was designed to explore the linguistic features of his neologisms
while focusing on the neologisation processes employed in coining them. An adequate
corpus of data was collected for examination by referring to the books and articles written
by Aelian de Silva. The data were analysed utilising the theories and methods of structural
linguistics. It was observed in the analysis that his contribution to the field of neologisation
is mainly two-fold. Firstly he has outlined five salient features that one should take into
consideration in coining Sinhalese technical terms. These are flexibility, brevity,
precision, comprehensibility, and pronounceability. Flexibility refers to the ability to yield
the whole derivational paradigm of the neologism. Brevity refers to the one to one
correspondence between the source and target forms. Precision is when the term conveys
the exact intended meaning and nothing more or less. Comprehensibility is the quality of
being intelligible to the average native speaker of the language. Pronounceablity is the
quality of being easily pronounceable. In order to conform to these five salient features,
Aelian de Silva always encouraged the use of indigenous roots in coining Sinhalese
neologisms as borrowed foreign roots fail to fully comply with the five salient features.
Secondly, Aelian de Silva has accompanied more than three thousand neologisms to the
lexicon of the modern Sinhalese language. Most of them appear in the glossary of his
masterpiece Technical Terms in Sinhala which was published in 2002. Interestingly, a
considerable number of the neologisms he coined have gained currency in many a
technical discipline like electrical engineering, petroleum industry, and television
industry. Thus, Aelian de Silva's contribution to the lexical development of the modern
Sinhalese language is a commendable service which deserves a proper appreciation
preceded by a strenuous research.
Keywords: foreign root, indigenous root, linguistic ideology, neologisation, technical
term