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Master stroke by Sinhala commentators
By Carlton Samarajiwa
There was a time when it was thought that it would never be possible to give cricket commentaries in Sinhala. This is why the achievements reached over the years by our cricket commentators led by Premasara Epasinghe, in his amiable voice and authoritative tone, to commentate in Sinhala on the English game of cricket can be considered admirable.

Listen to the radio in these days of Sri Lanka vs England test cricket and you will hear in the Sinhala "visthara prachaara" a wide range of appropriate, sensible and cleverly crafted Sinhala equivalents of the lingo of cricket: kadulu (wickets), pandu vaaraya (over), lakunu (runs), ilakkaya (target), daevee giya (bowled), paada aavaranaya (lbw), kadulu thrithvayak (hat trick), pithi karuva (batsman), pandu yavanna (bowler), udapanduvak raekagannava (catch), nilakunu panduvaaraya (maiden over), thana thilla (wicket), pandu rakinava (fielding), maeda inna (middle stump), paa inna (leg stump), sabandathaavayak (partnership) and "prabala illeemak" (a confident "Howzzat?").

These Sinhala terms, among many others, coined to convey the features and elements of an alien game reflect a linguistic sensibility that has stretched the Sinhala language into the service of "the game of flannelled fools" that somehow holds Sri Lankans, irrespective of class or education, in thrall.

The listener is also captivated by the manner in which the Sinhala commentators, through their intonation and articulation, capture the tempo and the excitement of the game, as for example, when catches or wickets are taken or the chagrin over missed catches and other lapses on the field or at the wicket.

The unique jargon of cricket has also necessitated the Sinhalization of English terms. We hear such words as "wickettuva" (for wicket) and "overaya" for "over", where a suffix is added to the English word. This kind of "suffixation" comes in handy as in paensalaya, typewriteraya and computeraya, which sound more pleasing to the ear than the suffix "eka" in, for example, "bus eka", "car eka", "wicket eka" and "run rate eka", which sound banal.

It is also interesting to note that several concepts and expressions that are part of cricket have perforce to fall back on the English idiom because they seem to defy translation into Sinhala. The case of motor mechanics is a similar instance of the failure of Sinhala to absorb much of its English lexicon.

The Swabasha Department glossaries gave Sinhala equivalents for English scientific and technical terms but not all of them came to stay. English terms such as spark plug, brakes, cylinder, clutch and carburettor are irreplaceable. Who would ever use the Sinhala "sarvaloka puuttuwa" for "universal joint"? Over this term "sarvaloka puuttuwa", incidentally, there has been some controversy. The term given in the Swabasha Department glossary is "dasatha muuttuwa".

It was the Silumina under the editorship of the late Meemana Prematilake that first used the term "sarvaloka puuttuwa" over 35 years ago. It was probably meant as a joke, but the joke was repeated over and over again to ridicule the efforts of the Swabasha Department to come to terms with the dethronement of English as the official language.

As with the motor vehicles that have come into our country with a vengeance, so with the game of cricket many English words and terms seem to be irreplaceable and indispensable. And, our Sinhala cricket commentators have therefore to rely on the English "bails", "off stump", "leg break". "seamer" and "mid wicket" and the various field positions such as "third man", "deep fine leg", "deep extra cover" "long on", "long off", "short fine leg", "silly point", "gully", "backward square leg", "square leg", "mid wicket", "cover point", and also "night watchman" and "pinch hitter".

Smart "bilingualisms" have also come into vogue perhaps because full Sinhala equivalents are hard to coin. Thus we have parts of the field described as "mid wicket kalaapaya" and "third man kalaapaya", and shots and strokes as "pull paharak", "drive paharak", "off drive paharak", "sweep pahararak" and a "cover drive paharak". We also hear of "glance kireemak" and "slip keedakaya".

Though a defensive shot is called monolingually "aarakshaka paharak", a flawed delivery is referred to bilingually as a "wide panduvak" while "no ball" finds its agreeable Sinhala equivalent in "nipanduvak". "Leg break panduvak", "full toss panduvak" and "inswinger panduvak" are among other bilingual expressions we are accustomed to hear in Sinhala commentaries.

Boundaries are "hatharey paharaval" while "hayey paharak" is a "sixer", the "Singlish term" we use to describe the ball that "takes an aerial route", as Ranjit Fernando would say, to sail over the boundary.

"Hela" purists, of course, will object to this hybridization. However, what is the Sinhala name for "cricket"? It's "cricket kreedava", although for some games Sinhala names have been created such as "dael pandu", "paa pandu" and "paesi pandu".The Sinhala expressions that our clever commentators have coined and use copiously in their "visthara prachaara" of time-consuming cricket matches played over five long days show how our language has been and can be pressed into service to describe an alien game that has now become a part of national life.

"Kaasiye vaasiya" is a smooth (like a "daarsaneeya paharak") and alliterative Sinhala version of "the toss of a coin", and "gilihee giyaa" and "daeveeyamak" are elegant cries of joy or despair - depending on which team you are a fan of - at a missed "udapanduva" or the fall of a "kadulla".

This seems to be a fascinating aspect of our Sinhala, to which Robert Knox paid a high compliment when he wrote in his An Historical Relation of Ceylon, "Their language is Copious, Smooth, Elegant and Courtly, according as the People that speak it are." Premasara Epasinghe and other Sinhala commentators in his team are among such "People".

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