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English in Sri Lanka is fluently spoken by approximately 23.8% of the population, and widely used for official and commercial purposes. It is the native language of approximately 74,000 people, mainly in urban areas. A handful of the 3,400
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313:. Tamil speakers number around 5 million by making it the second largest language in Sri Lanka. There are more than 40,000 speakers of the
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have also influenced the development of modern languages in Sri Lanka. See below for the most-spoken languages of Sri Lanka.
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as a recognised language. The languages spoken on the island nation are deeply influenced by the various languages in
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The main languages spoken in Sri Lanka are
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English, Sinhala and Tamil languages on a war grave memorial plate in Kandy.
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Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on
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Ministry of
National Languages and Social Integration, Sri Lanka
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387:"Census of population and housing of Sri Lanka 2012, Table A32"
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392:. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka.
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293:people, totaling barely 2,500 in 2002, speak the
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185:families. Sri Lanka accords official status to
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1630:Meitei associate official language movement
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333:click to see full view of memorial plate
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32:A sign in Sinhala, Tamil and English
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1640:Meitei linguistic purism movement
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399:from the original on 2015-09-24.
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630:Recognized as a "link" language
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261:Native and indigenous languages
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583:Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole
346:Sri Lankan Portuguese creole
342:people of Portuguese descent
269:Trilingual sign in Sri Lanka
90:Sri Lankan Portuguese creole
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602:Formerly spoken and extinct
452:Indo-Portuguese (Sri Lanka)
321:Languages of foreign origin
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711:list by number of speakers
307:Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka
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122:Sri Lankan sign languages
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70:Sri Lankan Tamil dialects
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277:is mostly spoken by the
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677:languages of South Asia
462:(subscription required)
420:(subscription required)
1691:Languages of Sri Lanka
528:Languages of Sri Lanka
432:"Sri Lanka – language"
366:"Sri Lanka – language"
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305:and is also spoken by
283:Sinhala abugida script
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21:Languages of Sri Lanka
633:a liturgical language
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636:a dialect of Sinhala
301:is spoken by native
289:. About 300 of the
129:Keyboard layout
1660:Pure Tamil movement
1216:Southern Nicobarese
614:Ceylon Creole Dutch
1570:Prestige language-
1206:Central Nicobarese
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1592:Perso-Arabization
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460:(18th ed., 2015)
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303:Sri Lankan Tamils
273:As per 2016, the
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213:settlers and the
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1580:Englishisation
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1277:Sino-Tibetan
906:Chittagonian
752:Contemporary
742:
684:Languages of
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435:. Retrieved
426:
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381:
369:. Retrieved
360:
338:
332:
309:and by most
272:
183:Austronesian
168:
15:
1625:Hela Havula
1335:Nepal Bhasa
841:Bangladeshi
691:Afghanistan
247:Phabricator
223:Netherlands
173:within the
1533:Old Italic
1473:Devanagari
1398:Historical
1267:Portuguese
1084:Burushaski
1003:Rajasthani
926:Hindustani
873:Indo-Aryan
861:Sri Lankan
696:Bangladesh
457:Ethnologue
415:Ethnologue
352:References
317:language.
175:Indo-Aryan
65:Vernacular
1573:influence
1493:Malayalam
1455:Shahmukhi
1422:Kharosthi
1407:(Abugida)
1340:Sikkimese
1193:Nicobaric
856:Pakistani
803:Malayalam
785:Dravidian
754:languages
743:Sri Lanka
721:classical
716:scheduled
179:Dravidian
171:Sri Lanka
1685:Category
1613:Activism
1585:Hinglish
1488:Gurmukhi
1483:Gujarati
1450:Nastaliq
1345:Tenyidie
1300:Dzongkha
1117:Lyngngam
1076:Isolates
1013:Sanskrit
1008:Rangpuri
978:Maithili
953:Kashmiri
941:Hinglish
921:Gujarati
891:Bhojpuri
886:Assamese
851:Nepalese
828:Germanic
770:Aka-Jeru
738:Pakistan
728:Maldives
394:Archived
219:Portugal
143:Tamil 99
85:Minority
39:Official
1513:Sinhala
1508:Ranjana
1498:Kannada
1478:Bengali
1465:Brahmic
1391:Scripts
1373:Turkmen
1355:Tripuri
1350:Tibetan
1315:Ladakhi
1254:Romance
1221:Teressa
1178:Santali
1173:Mundari
1094:Kusunda
1051:Balochi
1043:Iranian
1033:Sylheti
1028:Sinhala
1018:Saraiki
998:Punjabi
983:Marathi
963:Kumaoni
958:Konkani
911:Dhivehi
896:Bengali
836:English
798:Kannada
542:Sinhala
437:20 June
371:20 June
249:and on
227:Britain
195:English
193:, with
187:Sinhala
110:English
105:Foreign
58:English
44:Sinhala
1557:Thaana
1523:Telugu
1432:Arabic
1405:Brahmi
1365:Turkic
1325:Meitei
1310:Hajong
1262:French
1244:Jarawa
1211:Chaura
1104:Khasic
1089:Nihali
1061:Pashto
1023:Sindhi
988:Nepali
968:Magahi
948:Hindko
901:Chakma
881:Angika
846:Indian
813:Telugu
793:Brahui
775:Aka-Bo
701:Bhutan
675:Major
619:Rodiya
556:Others
410:Veddah
344:speak
291:Veddah
221:, the
203:Europe
181:, and
135:QWERTY
117:Signed
1550:Other
1541:Latin
1518:Tamil
1416:Indus
1411:Greek
1378:Uzbek
1320:Limbu
1290:Balti
1231:Ongan
1168:Korku
1155:Munda
1112:Khasi
1066:Wakhi
973:Mahal
931:Hindi
916:Dogri
808:Tamil
733:Nepal
706:India
588:Vedda
547:Tamil
397:(PDF)
390:(PDF)
199:India
191:Tamil
94:Vedda
48:Tamil
1597:Urdu
1503:Odia
1445:Arwi
1330:Mizo
1305:Garo
1295:Bodo
1239:Önge
1183:Sora
1122:Pnar
1056:Dari
993:Odia
936:Urdu
818:Tulu
609:Arwi
578:Pali
439:2014
373:2014
225:and
211:Arab
205:and
189:and
98:Arwi
46:and
1201:Car
1127:War
454:at
412:at
217:of
1687::
1285:Ao
1163:Ho
348:.
209:.
201:,
177:,
141:,
137:,
96:,
92:,
76:,
72:,
668:e
661:t
654:v
520:e
513:t
506:v
441:.
375:.
335:)
331:(
253:.
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