සීගිරි පද්‍යවල විධි ක්‍රියාව පිළිබඳ පදිම විචාරාත්මක අධ්‍යයනයක් - Imperative Verbs in Sigiri Graffiti: A Morphological Study

The Sigiri Graffiti can be regarded as a highly valuable written source in Sinhala literature. These poems were composed by visitors to Sigiriya from various parts of the country during the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries AD. Notably, they display linguistic features from the Middle Sinhala period as well as traces of earlier stages of the language. The main objective of this research was to examine the grammatical structure of imperative verbs, which belong to the category of finite verbs found in the Sigiri Graffiti. Accordingly, the research problem addressed the grammatical form and structure of the imperative verbs used in the Sigiri poems. This study adopted a qualitative research approach. The work Sigiri Graffiti by Senarath Paranavitana (1956) was used as the primary secondary source, while additional references such as Sinhala grammars, linguistic studies, research papers, and academic journals were consulted for theoretical support. Data were compiled from the secondary source and analysed using morphological theories in linguistics. The data were categorised into several areas: identification of imperative verb roots, development of imperative forms through suffixation, inflectional patterns, and other distinctive grammatical features. The study further examined the use and evolution of suffixes and their relevance to modern Sinhala dialects.
This research is significant for understanding the structure of imperative verbs in the Sigiri Graffiti, tracing their connection to contemporary Sinhala, and identifying the evolutionary characteristics of the Sinhala language. The study concludes that imperative forms in present-day Sinhala retain several distinctive features inherited from earlier stages of the language.