Sinhala Vowel Letters
In Sinhala, vowels are called ස්වර අකුරු (svara akuru). There are 14 main vowels in Sinhala, each characterized by its distinct sound. Additionally, Sinhala includes four traditional vowels—ඍ (r), ඎ (rr), ඏ (l), and ඐ (ll)—bringing the total number of vowels to 18.
Unlike in English, Sinhala vowels can exist as independent vowels (stand-alone letters) or as dependent vowels (diacritical marks attached to consonants). Dependent vowels modify consonants and cannot stand alone.
For example, අ in අග්නි (agni), meaning "fire," is an independent vowel. When the consonant ක (ka) combines with the vowel ආ (aa), it forms කා (kaa), where " ා" is the dependent vowel mark for "aa".
Independent Vowels:
Dependent Vowels:
Sinhala Consonant Letters
In Sinhala, consonants are called ව්යාඤ්ජන අකුරු (vyāñjana akuru). There are 36 modern consonants in Sinhala. Additionally, Sinhala includes 5 extra consonants that are primarily used in classical, religious, or Sanskrit-derived words. This brings the total number of consonants in Sinhala to 41.
- Velar Consonants (කණ්ඨය ව්යාඤ්ජන / kaṇṭhaya vyāñjana): ක, ඛ, ග, ඝ, ඞ (ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa) — produced from the throat.
- Palatal Consonants (මූර්ධනිය ව්යාඤ්ජන / mūrdhaniya vyāñjana): ච, ඡ, ජ, ඣ, ඤ (ca, cha, ja, jha, ña) — produced from the palate.
- Retroflex Consonants (දන්තමූර්ධන ව්යාඤ්ජන / dantamūrdhana vyāñjana): ට, ඨ, ඩ, ඪ, ඳ, ඞ (ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa) — produced by curling the tongue backward.
- Dental Consonants (දන්ත ව්යාඤ්ජන / danta vyāñjana): ත, ථ, ද, ධ, න (ta, tha, da, dha, na) — produced by placing the tongue against the teeth.
- Labial Consonants (උෂ්ඨ ව්යාඤ්ජන / uṣṭha vyāñjana): ප, ඵ, බ, භ, ම (pa, pha, ba, bha, ma) — produced with the lips.
- Semi-vowel Consonants (අවසථි ව්යාඤ්ජන / avasathi vyāñjana): ය, ර, ල, ව (ya, ra, la, va) — produced with a less distinct sound, often acting like vowels.
- Sibilants (ස සංග්රහ ව්යාඤ්ජන / sa sangraha vyāñjana): ශ, ෂ, ස, හ (sha, ṣa, sa, ha) — produced with a hissing or hushing sound.
- Additional Consonants (Classical, Religious, or Sanskrit-derived Usage): ඬ, ඵ, ඞ, ෳ, ෴ (ṇḍa, pha, ṅa, ṟa, ṣa) — used in Sanskrit-derived words or classical contexts.
Below are all the consonants used in Sinhala.
Sinhala Special Character Letters
Sinhala also uses diacritic marks to indicate variations in vowel sounds and additional symbols like:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
References:
- [1] Unicode Consortium. "Sinhala". The Unicode Standard, Version 15.0. Retrieved from https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0D80.pdf
- [2] Constitution of Sri Lanka. "Chapter IV - Language". Retrieved from https://www.parliament.lk/files/ca/Constitution%20of%20Sri%20Lanka%20(Bilingual).pdf
- [3] Government of Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics. "Census of Population and Housing 2012". Retrieved from http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/Pages/Activities/Reports/FinalReport/FinalReportE.pdf
Sambhu Raj Singh · 
