22-793: Veera Chudamani ( Sinhala : වීර චූඩාමනී ) is a national honour for bravery awarded in Sri Lanka . It is awarded " for acts of bravery of the highest order ". It is conventionally used as a title or prefix to the awardee's name. Veera Chudamani ranks lower than Deshabandu . Awardees include: This Sri Lanka –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sinhala language Sinhala ( / ˈ s ɪ n h ə l ə , ˈ s ɪ ŋ ə l ə / SIN -hə-lə, SING -ə-lə ; Sinhala: සිංහල , siṁhala , [ˈsiŋɦələ] ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( / ˌ s ɪ n ( h ) ə ˈ l iː z , ˌ s ɪ ŋ ( ɡ ) ə ˈ l iː z / SIN -(h)ə- LEEZ , SING -(g)ə- LEEZ ),
44-662: A Dravidian origin for this word. ), dola for pig in Vedda and offering in Sinhala. Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones (in toponyms used throughout the island, although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin). There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhala, such as olluva for head, kakula for leg, bella for neck and kalava for thighs, that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka. The oldest Sinhala grammar, Sidatsan̆garavā , written in
66-815: A language originated from Gaudi or Magadhi Prakrit . He was principal of Bogra Azizul Huq College from 1944 to 1948. He then returned to the University of Dhaka, serving as head of the Bangla Department and dean of the Faculty of Arts. He taught part-time at the Law Department (1922–25) and the International Relations Department as a teacher of French (1953–55). He worked as head of the Bangla and Sanskrit Department of
88-779: A period of prior bilingualism: "The earliest type of contact in Sri Lanka, not considering the aboriginal Vedda languages, was that which occurred between South Dravidian and Sinhala. It seems plausible to assume prolonged contact between these two populations as well as a high degree of bilingualism. This explains why Sinhala looks deeply South Dravidian for an Indo-Aryan language. There is corroboration in genetic findings." In addition to many Tamil loanwords , several phonetic and grammatical features also present in neighbouring Dravidian languages set modern spoken Sinhala apart from its Northern Indo-Aryan relatives. These features are evidence of close interactions with Dravidian speakers. Some of
110-909: A school named 'Dr. Shahidullah Gyanpith' in Hazi Osman Goni Road, Alu bazaar (Old Dhaka) and a research library named ’Dr. Shahidullah Memorial Library and Language Research Center’ in Senpara Parbata, Mirpur-10, Dhaka. Another of his sons Abul Bayan M. Naqiyyullah (M.S) studied in George Washington University in Washington DC, USA and settled in Cairo, Egypt after serving as a pathologist in Saudi Arabia. Another of Shahidullah's sons, A.K.M. Bashirullah – known popularly by his alias Murtaja Baseer –
132-463: Is a conspicuous example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia . Sinhala ( Siṁhala ) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan ( Eḷu ) word is Sīhala . The name is a derivative of siṁha , the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island. According to
154-599: Is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka , who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script , which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India. Sinhala
176-663: Is considered one of the most stylish and foremost painters in Bangladesh. Shahidullah was made Professor Emeritus by the University of Dhaka (1967) for his lifetime contribution in research on language and literature. He was also awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1967 for his academic contribution to language and literature. In 1980, the Government of Bangladesh awarded him
198-484: Is divided into four epochs: The most important phonetic developments of Sinhala include: According to Wilhelm Geiger , an example of a possible Western feature in Sinhala is the retention of initial /v/ which developed into /b/ in the Eastern languages (e.g. Sanskrit viṁśati "twenty", Sinhala visi- , Hindi bīs ). This is disputed by Muhammad Shahidullah who says that Sinhala Prakrit branched off from
220-412: Is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, alongside Tamil . Along with Pali , it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. Early forms of the Sinhala language are attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions, still retaining long vowels and aspirated consonants, is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi , a regional associate of
242-729: The Middle Indian Prakrits that had been used during the time of the Buddha . The most closely related languages are the Vedda language (an endangered, indigenous creole still spoken by a minority of Sri Lankans, mixing Sinhala with an isolate of unknown origin and from which Old Sinhala borrowed various aspects into its main Indo-Aryan substrate), and the Maldivian language . It has two main varieties, written and spoken, and
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#1732784016661264-587: The UNESCO National Commission of Ceylon According to Wilhelm Geiger , Sinhala has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages. Some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of the parent stock of the Vedda language . Sinhala has many words that are only found in Sinhala, or shared between Sinhala and Vedda and not etymologically derivable from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Possible examples include kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda (although others suggest
286-464: The 13th century CE, recognised a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. The grammar lists naram̆ba (to see) and koḷom̆ba (fort or harbour) as belonging to an indigenous source. Koḷom̆ba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo . The consistent left branching syntax and the loss of aspirated stops in Sinhala is attributed to a probable South Dravidian substratum effect. This has been explained by
308-716: The Eastern Prakrits prior to this change. He cites the edicts of Ashoka , no copy of which shows this sound change. An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular (instead of Western -o ) in Sinhalese Prakrit. There are several cases of vocabulary doublets , one example being the words mæssā ("fly") and mækkā ("flea"), which both correspond to Sanskrit makṣikā but stem from two regionally different Prakrit words macchiā (Western Prakrits) and makkhikā (as in Eastern Prakrits like Pali ). In 1815,
330-921: The University of Rajshahi (1955–58). He served as an editor for the Islami Bishwakosh project for a while. Muhammad Shahidullah's mastery of different languages was extraordinary and outstanding. He was fluent in 24 languages and had an outstanding knowledge of 18 languages. Some of the notable languages are Bengali , Urdu , Persian , Arabic , English , French, Assamese , Oriya , Maithili , Hindi , Punjabi , Gujarati , Marathi , Kashmiri , Nepali , Sinhala , Tibetan , Sindhi , Sanskrit , Pali etc. Shahidullah has seven sons and two daughters. Children: Mohammad Raziullah, Mohammad Safiyullah, Mohammad Waliullah, A K Mohammad Zakiyullah, Mohammad Taqiullah, Mohammad Naqiullah, Mohammad Bashirullah, Mohzuza Haque (born Khatun), Masrura Haque (born Khatun). His third son A.K.M. Zakiyullah established
352-681: The chronicle Mahāvaṃsa , written in Pali, Prince Vijaya of the Vanga Kingdom and his entourage merged in Sri Lanka with later settlers from the Pandya kingdom . In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India, including additional migration from the Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), as well as Kalinga and Magadha . This influx led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits. The development of Sinhala
374-623: The dialects of the Charyapada . He was the first Bengali Muslim to receive this doctorate degree. He was also a murid (disciple) of Mohammad Abu Bakr Siddique , the inaugural Pir of Furfura , from whom he received mystic education and khilafah (spiritual succession). Shahidullah began his career by teaching in Jessore Zila School in 1908. After working as the headmaster of Sitakunda High School for some time in 1914, he practiced law at Bashirhat in 24 Parganas. In 1915 he
396-543: The features that may be traced to Dravidian influence are: ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නවා dannavā know ඒක අලුත් කියලා මම දන්නවා ēka aḷut kiyalā mama dannavā it new having-said I know "I know that it is new." ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new ද da Q කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නේ Muhammad Shahidullah Muhammad Shahidullah ( Bengali : মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ ; 10 July 1885 – 13 July 1969)
418-607: The island of Ceylon came under British rule . During the career of Christopher Reynolds as a Sinhalese lecturer at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London , he extensively researched the Sinhalese language and its pre-1815 literature. The Sri Lankan government awarded him the Sri Lanka Ranjana medal for his work. He wrote the 377-page An anthology of Sinhalese literature up to 1815 , selected by
440-574: Was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer. In 2004, he was ranked number 16 in BBC 's poll of the Greatest Bengali of all time . Shahidullah was born on 10 July 1885 to a Bengali Muslim family in the village of Peyara in the erstwhile Bengal Presidency 's 24 Parganas district. His father, Mafizuddin Ahmed, was the guardian of a mazar , and his mother, Marguba Khatun,
462-730: Was a housewife. Shahidullah passed his school final Entrance exam in 1904 from Howrah Zilla School . In 1906, he passed the FA exam from Presidency College in Kolkata . He received the Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Sanskrit in 1910 from City College, Kolkata , and Masters of Arts degree in 1912 in comparative philology from the University of Calcutta . He earned his PhD degree from Sorbonne University in 1928 for his research on
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#1732784016661484-454: Was elected as vice-chairman of the town's municipality. He was Sharatchandra Lahiri Research Fellow (1919–21) under Dinesh Chandra Sen at the University of Calcutta and joined the University of Dhaka as a lecturer in 1921 in Sanskrit and Bangla. During his period at the University of Dhaka he did research on the origins of the Bengali language. In 1925, he presented his thesis that Bangla as
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