Datapoint Sri Lankan Malay/Contact with other languages

In Kirinda, the most important language is still Shonam/Tamil, the source language for grammatical replication. For the vast majority of speakers, regardless of the community, there is no contact with the main lexifier language (vehicular Malay). A small urban minority have knowledge of modern Standard Malay, which was not the lexifier, and which is often learned imperfectly due to limited exposure. In Kirinda, contact with Tamil/Shonam is manifested in the strong tendancy to borrow lexical material from Tamil/Shonam. Nevertheless, interpersonal contact with Sinhala speakers is greater, due to the location of the village. For speakers in most other communities (but not the small remaining east coast communities), there is most contact with Sinhala. In urban professional families in the Colombo area, English is now a native language, and is therefore more important than Sinhala in those circles.

Values

A neighbouring language that is neither the main lexifier nor a major world language

Confidence:
Very certain