Bridging Dialects: Analysis of the Lexical Distinctions Between Sri Lankan and Standard British English

The impact of a clear-cut division between Sri Lankan English (SLE) and Standard British English (SBE) has not been fully addressed yet, due to its complex procedure. Therefore, the research problem is the lack of a clear distinction between SLE and SBE. The objective of this study is to determine whether there is a clear-cut way to distinguish between SLE and SBE, and whether either condition has any impact on the other. Moreover, "A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English", written by Meyler (2007), is a significant piece of work with a vast vocabulary of Sinhala, SLE and SBE. There are 03 research questions to find answers in the methodology of the study: (1) How does Meyler (2007) define SLE? (2) What conclusions could be made by analyzing the context of the immense vocabulary lists in the Sinhala words and the SLE words? (3) Is there a clear-cut separation between SLE and SBE? Analyzing "A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English", written by Meyler (2007), and finding answers to the three research questions was completed by applying the Desk Research approach to Meyler's (2007) "A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English". (1) Meyler (2007) define SLE as the language spoken and understood by those Sri Lankans who speak English as their first language, and /or who are bilingual in English, Sinhala or Tamil. (2) Around 25000 Sinhala (with phonetic transcriptions) and BSE words in this Dictionary have been described with clear pictures of them and with in-depth descriptions. 3) The results showed there is a clear-cut separation between SLE and SBE, and there is no impact between them. These results and relevant recommendations can be addressed to the relevant SLE syllabus designers and curriculum designers who engage with schools and universities, making teaching SLE and SBE more fruitful.