Vedda language

Common card · No. 404580

Vedda (Veddah: [ʋæd̪ːə]) is an endangered language that is used by the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. Additionally, communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas who do not strictly identify as Veddas also use words from the Vedda language in part for communication during hunting and/or for religious chants, throughout the island. According to Ethnologue, Vedda is an Indo-European language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch, but some linguists consider it a language isolate that is not related to either Dravidian or Indo-European. When a systematic field study was conducted in 1959, the language was confined to the older generation of Veddas from Dambana. In the 1990s, self-identifying Veddas knew few words and phrases in Vedda, but there were individuals who knew the language comprehensively. Initially there was considerable debate amongst linguists as to whether Vedda is a dialect of Sinhala or an independent language. Later studies indicate that the language spoken...

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