304 km away
The Tamil of northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Often described as more conservative than Indian Tamil, retaining several features lost in the Chennai variety.
Sinhala
Also known as: Sinhalese
An Indo-Aryan language and the majority language of Sri Lanka, descended from settlers from northern India in the 1st millennium BCE. Geographically far removed from its closest Indo-Aryan relatives.
Shareable facts
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Frequently asked questions
What language is Sinhala?
Sinhala is a dialect of the Sinhala language.
Where is Sinhala spoken?
Sinhala is primarily spoken in Sri Lanka.
Which region is Sinhala associated with?
Sinhala is part of the South Asia region on DialectAtlas.
Is Sinhala known by other names?
Yes — Sinhala is also referred to as Sinhalese.
Nearby dialects
See on the atlas →384 km away
The Tamil of Madurai and the broader southern Tamil Nadu region. Carries a distinctive lexicon and intonation widely featured in Tamil cinema.
685 km away
The Chennai-area variety of Tamil that forms the basis of the modern spoken standard. Tamil itself has one of the longest continuous literary traditions in the world.
765 km away
An Indo-Aryan language and the official language of the Maldives. Closest living relative of Sinhala, with which it shares a 12th-century separation date.
1,069 km away
The Telugu of the coastal Andhra region around Vijayawada. Forms the basis of the literary standard and of much of Telugu cinema.
1,172 km away
The Telugu of Telangana, centred on Hyderabad. Distinguished from Coastal Telugu in lexicon and shaped by long contact with Dakhini Urdu.