Challenges to Spoken Sri Lankan Tamil in the Post-war Period.

Abstract

Sri Lanka has unique variety of spoken Tamil, which is different from Indian Tamil. Comparing with Indian-Tamil, Sri Lankan Tamil has several unique qualities. Sri Lankan Tamil is spoken in several areas in Sri Lanka such as Jaffna, Killinochi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa and Colombo. During the war period, the dynamics of the Tamil community and the living patterns of the population were observed to be stagnant. In that period, the relationship between the Tamil community and the other communities was limited. It was not possible for ordinary people to get knowledge of technology. In the post-war period, Sri Lankan spoken Tamil lost its unique qualities. The post-war social and economic changes have changed the Sri Lankan Tamil Speech. A community, which had little technical knowledge, is suddenly exposed to modern technologies; it has influenced the language. In this context, there is a need to examine the real state of the Sri Lankan Tamil as a language in the social, economic and cultural arenas. The primary source of information to this study was field based data collection technique. The researcher employed qualitative data collection techniques: direct observation, participative observation, semi structured interviews and Case studies. Descriptive Research methodology and Historical Research methodology are used for this research. The study ended up with number of interesting findings. This study attempts to highlight the Challenges facing contemporary spoken Sri Lankan Tamil and it provides evidence to protect the Sri Lankan Spoken Tamil.