The Borrowing Process
Dutch loanwords in Sinhala rarely appear in the same form as the original word. Usually, a word has undergone some kind of modification to fit into the Sinhala phonological or morphological system (e.g. balk becomes bālkaya because Sinhala inanimate nouns (see grammatical gender) need to end with /a/, in order to be declineable).
These are the main ways Dutch words are incorporated into the Sinhala lexicon with different endings:
- With an /aya/ or /uva/ added to Dutch words ending in consonants (e.g. raam > rāmuva).
- With a /ya/ added to words ending in /a/ or /e/ or /i/ (e.g. bakje > bakkiya).
- With the animate ending /yā/ added to Dutch words signifying living beings or (e.g. tolk > tōlkayā).
- Initiak /s/ preceeding a consonant usually forms an additional syllable (e.g school > iskōlaya).
Read more about this topic: Dutch Loanwords In Sinhala
Famous quotes containing the words borrowing and/or process:
“Well-borrowed and well-returned, then borrowing again will not be spurned.”
—Chinese proverb.
Rhyme.
“You can read the best experts on child care. You can listen to those who have been there. You can take a whole childbirth and child-care course without missing a lesson. But you won’t really know a thing about yourselves and each other as parents, or your baby as a child, until you have her in your arms. That’s the moment when the lifelong process of bringing up a child into the fold of the family begins.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)