Sri Lankan Creole Malay
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A language of Sri Lanka
46,000 (Ansaldo and Lim 2006), decreasing.
Ampara, Baddulla, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Matara, Matale, Moneragala, and Nuwara Eliya districts, especially Badulla, Colombo, Hambantota, Kandy, and Kirinda urban areas.
6b (Threatened).
SOV; postpositions; case; adjectives and genitives precede noun heads.
Language shift taking place. Malay communities using either English [eng], Sinhala [sin], or Tamil [tam] favor Sri Lankan Creole Malay. Clear shift to English among youth in Colombo. Kirinda is the only vital community of Sri Lanka Malays who have youth who speak it as L1. There is also a desire to acquire Standard Malay [zsm] as a useful economic tool but still preserve Malay identity. Beginning to shift to Standard Malay even in Kirinda. Home, community. Some young people, all adults. All ages only in Kirinda; being lost by youth in every other community. Also use English [eng], Sinhala [sin], Standard Malay [zsm], Tamil [tam].
Latin script [Latn].
Malay vocabulary with grammatical structure based on Sri Lankan Moor Tamil. Muslim, traditional religion.