Dialogue in and between Different Cultures - International ...

60 Neelakshi Chandrasena Premawardhena
Parents, teachers and elders are also shown respect through non-verbal
communication. For instance, students stand up when teachers arrive at a class.
Similar to the worshipping done in the temple in front of monks, parents, teachers
and elders are worshipped as a mark of respect. Also, children do not retort when
addressed by elders and teachers.
As discussed above, distance and mark of respect are maintained in the
speech community irrespective of age, social status or educational background of
the referent.
Similarly, as in many a language, different vocabulary is used for specific
situations and places in modern Sinhala apart from the associations with the
temple. For instance, Sri Lanka being an agricultural country, the next sacred
place for the Sinhalese Buddhist is the paddy field, rice and other associations
with harvesting. These are examples where different terminology is used and
customs are still observed nowadays – despite the developments in technology in
the 21 st century. “In the traditional Sinhala village two tracts of land are held
sacred; the temple and the threshing floor” (Disanayaka, 1993:11). 4
4. Transfer of socio-cultural aspects to a second language
The aspect of distance in society discussed in chapters (2) and (3) are also
reflected in the variety of English used in Sri Lanka 5 as the majority of the
speakers of Sri Lankan English (SLE) are Sinhala native speakers. Thus, one
needs a clear insight into the socio-cultural aspects of Modern Sinhala to
understand the terminology and unwritten rules in SLE. A number of loan words
from Sinhala and Pali and specific terms are used in reference to Buddha,
Buddhist monks, associations with Buddhism and temples as seen by the
examples given in Table 4.
English SLE
eat breakfast (in ref. to monks) partake hi:l da:na
eat lunch (in ref. to monks) partake da:na
drink (in ref. to monks) gilanpasa
keep flowers on the altar offer flowers
water the Bodhi tree holding a bodhi pooja
full moon day poya day
observe the five precepts observe pan sil
sermon dhamma sermon / dhamma desana
chant Buddhist stanzas chant pirith
4
The rituals and terms associated with the paddy fields, harvesting ceremonies etc. are discussed
in detail in Dissanayaka (1993).
5
See Gunasekara (2005) for further details on Sri Lankan English.