Sri Lanka

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Sinhala

[sin] 1 (National). Statutory national language (1987, Constitution (amended), Article 18). 17,000,000 in Sri Lanka, all users. L1 users: 15,000,000 in Sri Lanka (2019). L2 users: 2,000,000 (1997). Total users in all countries: 17,504,670 (as L1: 15,504,670; as L2: 2,000,000).

Tamil

[tam] 1 (National). Statutory national language (1987, Constitution (amended), Articles 22(1), 24(1)), concentrated in North and East provinces; also in local administration and courts elsewhere. 5,540,000 in Sri Lanka (2019).

3 (Wider communication)

English

[eng] 3 (Wider communication). De facto national working language, used in government. 5,212,500 in Sri Lanka, all users. L1 users: 12,500 in Sri Lanka (2019). L2 users: 5,200,000 (2019).

6a (Vigorous)

Sri Lankan Sign Language

[sqs] 6a* (Vigorous). 73,300 (2008 WFD). Approximately 0.35% of the general population.

6b (Threatened)

Indo-Portuguese

[idb] 6b* (Threatened). 2,220 in Sri Lanka (2011 J. Leclerc). No monolinguals. Ethnic population: 3,410.

Sri Lankan Malay Creole

[sci] 6b (Threatened). 57,400 (2019), decreasing.

8b (Nearly extinct)

Veddah

[ved] 8b (Nearly extinct). Ethnic population: 2,500 (2002).

Unestablished

Bengali

[ben] Unestablished. 20,700 in Sri Lanka (2019).

Gujarati

[guj] Unestablished. 109,000 in Sri Lanka (2019).

Hindi

[hin] Unestablished. 41,300 in Sri Lanka (2019).

Malayalam

[mal] Unestablished. 713,000 in Sri Lanka (2019).

Telugu

[tel] Unestablished. 230,000 in Sri Lanka (2019).

Sri Lanka

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