Dialogue in and between Different Cultures - International ...

The Impact of Socio-Cultural Aspects on Language in a Changing World 61
statue Buddha image
statue in sleeping/resting position reclining Buddha (image)
offer a gift (in ref. to monks) offer a pirikara
Table 4: Associations with Buddhism in Sri Lankan English
The da:na or the midday meal offered by laymen to the monks is also referred to
as ‘alms giving’ or ‘alms giving ceremony’ in Sri Lankan English. Furthermore,
when referring to Buddhist monks in formal Sinhala, the honorific -himi is added
to the name. Similarly, in Sri Lankan English the following is used: Ven.
(venerable) + Name + Thero.
In respect to laymen and the social distance expressed in language, the
Sinhala tradition of using honorifics ‘Sir’, ‘Madam’ or ‘Miss’ in reference to
teachers and kinship terms in reference to strangers is also evident in SLE.
Although one never hears of strangers being referred to as aunties and uncles,
akkis (“elder sister”, pl.) and ayyas (“elder brother”, pl.) among native speakers of
English, the cultural values transferred from Sinhala are thus evident in the Sri
Lankan variety of English.
5. Conclusion
As Disanayaka (1993:128) observes, “Owing to exigencies of contemporary
economic, political, social and technological life, the monk and the peasant can no
longer interact the way they did in the days of yore.”. However, a society adapts
to new changes while continuing the traditions handed down from the past
generations.
In this paper, the chapters (2), (3) and (4) presented an analysis of authentic
data from modern Sinhala that clearly indicates the still existent demarcations in
the social hierarchy. The first rung in the hierarchy is occupied by Buddha,
Buddhist monks and the associations with Buddhist temple and Buddhism. The
distance between the monk and the layman, temple and the village/house are
clearly indicated in the language. Parents, teachers and elders occupying the next
highest position in the social hierarchy, command respect, and pronominal
reference is avoided in both 2 nd and 3 rd person reference. Thus kinship terms and
honorifics are often used instead of personal pronouns. Further, kinship terms
used in reference to strangers reflect a sense of belonging. Heavy use of zero
anaphora in place of second and third person is also evident, especially when one
is not certain which reference device is to be used. The informal term of 2 nd
person pronoun oyaa is avoided more often than not, other than with peers or
when older address the young.
The data included spoken discourse of young adults as well as older
generations. The observations made during the analysis are that no significant