Sinhala (?????,
ISO 15919 si?hala, pronounced
['si???l?], sometimes referred by alternative spelling
Singhalese) is the language of the
Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of
Sri Lanka. It belongs to the
Indo-Aryan branch of the
Indo-European languages.
Sinhala is spoken by about 19 million people in Sri Lanka, about 16 million of whom are native speakers. It is one of the constitutionally-recognised official languages of Sri Lanka, along with Tamil. Sinhala has its own writing system (see Sinhala alphabet) which is an offspring of the Indian Brahmi script.
The oldest Sinhala inscriptions were written in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE; the oldest existing literary works date from the 9th century CE.
The closest relative of Sinhala is the language of the Maldives, Dhivehi.
