Sinhalese Wealth: Sinhala Alphabet

Sinhalese have a wealth inherited from birth.

It is Sinhala Language

It is one of the oldest living languages in the world with a clear spelling

It is also one of the oldest living languages in the world with a written history of two thousand five hundred years

A long history of over five thousand years and its own clear alphabet

Anyone who can pronounce Sinhala correctly will be able to pronounce any language in the world correctly.

Since Sri Lanka in a middle of the trading routes and relationships we had with our neighbor countries, it has evolved a lot.

Currently “International Organization for Standardization SINHALESE alphabet” have 61 letters.

18 vowels and 43 consonants

Let’s dig into more information,

In Sri Lanka we have divide it into 4 main categories

1. Pure Sinhala alphabet
2. Mixed Sinhala alphabet
3. National Institute of Education alphabet
4. International Organization for Standardization alphabet
5. Pure Sinhala alphabet (Unmixed Sinhala alphabet)

It seems that this alphabet is also known as “Elu alphabet” / Unmixed Sinhala alphabet in some places.

12 Vowels and 20 consonants Total: 32 Letters

12 vowels in Pure Sinhala alphabet

20 consonants in Pure Sinhala alphabet

2. Mixed Sinhala alphabet

The Pure Sinhala alphabet was not rich enough to spell Pali and Sanskrit words correctly.

Therefore, this Mixed Sinhala alphabet was first published in a grammar book, “A Comprehensive Grammar of the Sinhala Language”, written in 1891 by the scholar Abraham Mendis.

18 Vowels and 36 consonants Total: 54 Letters

18 vowels in Mixed Sinhala alphabet

36 consonants in Pure Sinhala alphabet

3. National Institute of Education alphabet

The alphabet adopted by the National Institute of Education in 1989. It contains 20 vowels and 40 consonants.

Total: 60 Letters

20 vowels in National Institute of Education alphabet

40 consonants in National Institute of Education alphabet

4. International Organization for Standardization Sinhala alphabet

18 Vowels and 43 consonants Total: 61 Letters

18 vowels

43 consonants

Finally, What is the correct Sinhala (Sinhalese) alphabet?

Answer is simple, International Organization for Standardization Sinhala alphabet is the one that currently recognized and we can use any of above to write Sinhala Language

Learn More about alphabets, Link 1:

Thank You, Channel D