Sri Lanka

Primary tabs

Sinhala

[sin] 1 (National). Statutory national language (1987, Constitution (as amended), Article 18). 15,500,000 in Sri Lanka (2007). Population total all countries: 15,577,690.

Tamil

[tam] 1 (National). Statutory national language (1987, Constitution (as amended), Articles 22(1),24(1)), concentrated in North and East provinces; also in local administration and courts elsewhere. 3,770,000 in Sri Lanka (2007).

3 (Wider communication)

English

[eng] 3 (Wider communication). De facto national working language, used in government. 10,000 in Sri Lanka (Crystal 2003).

4 (Educational)

Sri Lankan Creole Malay

[sci] 4 (Educational). 46,000 (Ansaldo and Lim 2006), decreasing.

6a (Vigorous)

Sri Lankan Sign Language

[sqs] 6a (Vigorous). 12,800 deaf persons (Van Cleve 1986).

6b (Threatened)

Indo-Portuguese

[idb] 6b (Threatened). 30 in Sri Lanka (1992 P. Baker). No monolinguals. Ethnic population: 3,410.