Page 90 - RASAS 2025

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10 Ruhuna Arts Student’s Annual Sessions (RASAS) -2025

The Sociological Difference, Social Impact, and Acceptance of Sri Lanka’s
English Writers when Compared to Sri Lanka’s Native Language Writers

M.A.S.S. Silva
Department of English and Linguistics, University of Ruhuna
sunelusilva@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

A writer in any country attains these aspects of reputation over time: social reach, acceptance, impact and

reciprocated recognition. In my research, the key argument is, ‘The Sri Lankan English writers have a limited
accessibility to these aspects, compared to the Sinhala writers’, highlighting my research problem, why that
occurs. Answering that, I assured it does not happen solely because they write in the country’s second language

English, but due to the socioeconomic linguistic disparities in the country. Accordingly, this research
determines the question: ‘Is this limitation only because they use English, which is not as familiar in our society

as Sinhala?’ To examine this premise, the study employs a mixed-methods approach; combining a comparative
analysis of readers’ data with a textual analysis of the works of Sri Lankan Sinhala writer Mahagama Sekara
and English writer Shyam Selvadurai. A comparative analysis was conducted using data collected from an
audience survey and archival records. The survey consisted of 150 local readers and their responses for both

open-ended and closed-ended questions about the authors and their two prominent texts, Thunmanhandiya and
Funny Boy, focusing on awareness, familiarity, reading frequency and willingness to purchase the texts. The

archival records indicated that Mahagama Sekara, and Thunmanhandiya have gained academic recognition
over time, rather than Shyam and his Funny Boy. The textual analysis employed an in-depth examination of
the language, subject matter, illustrations, figurative language, characters, themes and stylistic features of both

texts. Thunmanhandiya which recounts Sekara’s childhood through Sirisena, is set in a small Sri Lankan
village, revealing the gradually juxtaposing life journeys of the villagers, Abilin and Sirisena. Conversely,

Funny Boy is based on the life of one Sri Lankan upper-class Tamil boy Arjie, from a Colombo background,
outlining modern themes on nationalism and homosexuality. Accumulated data revealed that the local English
writers are less impactful, not merely because they write in English, but their “English proficiency, tied to elite

education, creates a class-based divide in literary production” in Sri Lanka (Perera, 2015). Ultimately, I
conclude by recommending the promotion of bilingual writing, translation, accessibility, and language
education in Sri Laka’s Sinhala readership.

Keywords: Analysis, Class, Literature, Recognition, Textual

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