Languages of Sri Lanka - wikipedia Languages of Sri Lanka Languages of Sri Lanka A road sign in Sinhalese, Tamil and English Official languages Sinhalese, Tamil Main foreign languages English Sign languages multiple sign languages Several languages are spoken in Sri Lanka within the Indo - European, Dravidian and Austronesian families. Sri Lanka accords official status to Sinhalese and Tamil. The languages spoken on the island nation are deeply influenced by the languages of neighbouring India, the Maldives and Malaysia. Arab settlers and the colonial powers of Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain have also influenced the development of modern languages in Sri Lanka. Ethnicity in Sri Lanka ( 2016 ) Sinhalese ( 74.9 % ) Tamil and others ( 25.1 % ) Contents 1 Languages 2 Languages of foreign influence 3 References 4 External links Languages As per 2016, the Sinhala language is mostly spoken by the Sinhalese people, who constitute approximately 74.9 % of the national population and total about 16.6 million. It uses the Sinhala abugida script, which is derived from the ancient Brahmi script. The Rodiya language, a dialect of Sinhala, is spoken by the low - caste community of chamodi veddhas. The Veddah people, totaling barely 2,500 in 2002, are thought to have once spoken a distinct language, possibly a creolized form of an earlier indigenous language. The Tamil language is spoken by Sri Lankan Tamils, as well as by Tamil migrants from the neighboring Indian state of Tamil Nadu and by most Sri Lankan Moors. Tamil speakers number around 4.7 million. There are more than 50,000 speakers of the Sri Lankan Creole Malay language, which is strongly influenced by the Malay language. Languages of foreign influence English, Sinhala and Tamil languages on a war grave memorial plate in Kandy. ( click to see full view of memorial plate ) English in Sri Lanka is fluently spoken by approximately 10 % of the population, and widely used for official and commercial purposes. It is the native language of approximately 74,000 people, mainly in urban areas. A handful of the 3,400 people of Portuguese descent speak Sri Lankan Portuguese creole. The Muslim community in Sri Lanka widely uses Arabic for religious purposes. Seldom used nowadays is Arwi, a written register of Tamil that uses the Arabic script and has extensive lexical influences from Arabic. References Jump up ^ `` South Asia : : SRI LANKA ''. CIA The World Factbook. Jump up ^ Veddah at Ethnologue ( 18th ed., 2015 ) Jump up ^ `` Sri Lanka -- language ''. Retrieved 20 June 2014. Jump up ^ Indo - Portuguese ( Sri Lanka ) at Ethnologue ( 18th ed., 2015 ) External links Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, Sri Lanka Department of Official Languages, Sri Lanka Ethnologue report for Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Country Studies Languages of Sri Lanka Official languages Sinhalese Tamil Semiofficial language English Others Malay Pali Portuguese Creole Vedda Gypsy Telugu Sri Lankan sign languages Formerly spoken and Extinct Arwi Ceylon Dutch Rodiya a liturgical language a dialect of Sinhala Major languages of South Asia Main articles Languages of India list by number of speakers scheduled Languages of Pakistan Languages of Bangladesh Languages of Bhutan Languages of the Maldives Languages of Nepal Languages of Sri Lanka Contemporary languages Austronesian Sri Lankan Creole Malay Dravidian Brahui Jeseri Kannada Malayalam Tamil Telugu Tulu Indo - Aryan Angika Assamese Bhojpuri Bengali Chakma Chittagonian Dhivehi Dogri Gujarati Hindi Hindko Kashmiri Konkani Kumaoni Magahi Mahal Maithili Marathi Nepali Odia Punjabi Sanskrit Saraiki Sindhi Sinhala Sylheti Rajasthani language Urdu Iranian Balochi Pashto Wakhi Isolates Great Andamanese Burushaski Nihali Kusunda Mon -- Khmer Khasi Nicobarese Munda Ho Korku Mundari Santali Sora Ongan Önge Jarawa Tibeto - Burman Ao Bodo Dzongkha Garo Hajong Meithei Mizo Nepal Bhasa Sikkimese Tenyidie Tibetan Tripuri European influence English Indian English Pakistani English Sri Lankan English French Portuguese Scripts Historical Indus ( Undeciphered ) Brahmi ( Abugida ) Kharosthi Brahmic Devanagari Bengali Gujarati Gurmukhī Malayalam Kannada Odia Ranjana Sinhala Tamil Telugu European Latin alphabet Arabic Arwi Nastaʿlīq Shahmukhi Arabi Malayalam Language activism Hela Havula Bengali Language Movement Sanskrit revival Pure Tamil movement Nepal Bhasa movement Punjabi Language Movement Urdu movement Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Languages_of_Sri_Lanka&oldid=861874110 '' Categories : Languages of Sri Lanka Hidden categories : Language articles citing Ethnologue 18 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Languages বাংলা Ελληνικά Français Русский සිංහල தமிழ் Edit links This page was last edited on 30 September 2018, at 17 : 31 ( UTC ). 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Question: what is the main language of sri lanka
Answer: Sinhalese