Sri Lankan English

A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English was launched at the British Council in Colombo on 27 November 2007. See below for details of how to purchase a copy.

... a very useful addition to our knowledge of English world-wide and a fine contribution to the literature of Sri Lanka.
Review by Richard W. Bailey
English World-Wide 31:3 (2010) 354-357


For more on Sri Lankan English:

Sri Lankan English: an appropriate model for the teaching of English in Sri Lanka?: paper presented at the 9th International Language and Development Conference, Colombo (17 Oct. 2011)

Sri Lankan English: a distinct South Asian variety: article published in the journal English Today in December 2009


External links:

A-Z of Sri Lankan English on the Groundviews website, together with other articles on the subject of Sri Lankan English.

eWAVE: the electronic version of the World Atlas of Varieties of English (open access database comparing the morphosyntactic features of 74 varieties of English): Sri Lankan English page


For more information on the book:

Sample pages: a pdf file containing selected extracts from the dictionary.

Foreword to the dictionary by Prof. Ryhana Raheem, Post Graduate Institute of English, Open University of Sri Lanka.

Speech given at the launch by Dr Dushyanthi Mendis, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Colombo.

Reviews, articles, etc.


Also on this website:

Updates and corrections: updates to the dictionary, corrections and new entries. This page is regularly updated. Please contact me if you have any suggestions or feedback which can be included.

An A-Z of Sri Lankan English: a collection of short articles which appeared in the travelsrilanka magazine and the SLELTA Quarterly. A new A-Z of Sri Lankan English is now featured on the Groundviews website, together with other articles on the subject of Sri Lankan English.

Dictionary of photographs: a collection of photographs, ordered alphabetically, showing many items which appear in the dictionary and which are characteristic of Sri Lankan life and culture.


How to purchase a copy:

The dictionary is available:

- in Sri Lanka (price Rs 1500): at Barefoot (Colombo and Galle Fort). Or contact me to order a copy direct.

- online (price Rs 1500 plus postage and packing): from www.pererahussein.com.