Professor D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke ‘Speak English Our Way’ is the catchy slogan, appealing to our patriotic instincts, adopted by the Presidential Task Force in English and IT to advertise the island-wide programme to teach Spoken English, using so-called Sri Lankan English. The basic question is whether the use of the so-called Sri Lankan English is to the social good.
English in Sri Lanka has not evolved to the required stage to be declared as a standard language. It should not be traced back to the era of Robert Knox or to the arrival of British in 1796, as has been done. It is wrong to say that it has an ancient history and that it is a native language in Sri Lanka. It should only be traced back to a period when there was a community of speakers of the so-called Sri Lankan English. This is of recent origin.
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