The Language tamer !

Amalshan GUNERATHNE

Possessed with an intellectual capability that extends beyond boundaries, he has sweated hard to feed an entire generation with new knowledge and wisdom. Driven by unquenchable thirst for knowledge, he has researched and unearthed numerous fascinating revelations relating to the fields of linguistics, history and culture.

“There is no point in reproducing the works that have already been done. You should always look forward to add new knowledge to world,” he says.

With the acumen that he has gathered, he has composed close to two hundred books on the subjects that he has studied. No grandiloquent words are needed to express the unparalleled services that he has done to nourish the intellectual taste buds of local youth. Grooming young minds and feeding them with his intellectual wisdom, he has served as a lecturer in University of Colombo for over 40 years. One of the great intellectuals of our day, Professor J B Disanayaka is the ‘Encounter of the Week’.

Q: How do you define a linguist?

A: Linguist is a person who studies language scientifically. Linguistics is the study of human language on a scientific basis.

Q: How important was ‘language’ for human evolution?

A: Language separates humans from animals. Humans started to move away from other animals because they discovered the human language. Because of language they were able to create a new culture and a civilization. I believe human language is the greatest invention of human kind. If not for the language we wouldn’t have been able to build anything.

Q: Sinhala alphabet is said to possess unique features which you can’t find in other languages, how rich is our language when compared to the other languages that exist in the world?

A: Every language is rich. You can’t compare languages in that manner. It is not fair to compare one language to another and say that one language is rich and the other is not. Whether it is English, Mongolian or Thai, each language has certain features which are common to every language. Those common features are called linguistic universals. Every language becomes distinct from others because of certain unique feature that each language possesses. There are certain features, which are intrinsic to each language. Yes, Sinhala alphabet does possess certain consonants and vowels that are unique to its own. But it doesn’t mean that one language should be considered as richer than the other.

Q: You have written many books on various subjects, what motivated you to pursue writing extensively for such a long period of time?

A: I believe that main purpose of a professor is to do research and add new knowledge to the world. There is no point in reproducing the works that have already been done. True, you have your profession and you get paid for it accordingly. But I believe as a professor, it is our duty to unearth new knowledge, sharing already existing knowledge with students alone is not good enough. You shouldn’t try to duplicate yourself.

Q: Some call history as a ‘dead’ subject. As a writer of many books with great historical value, how do you respond to such comments? How important is it to record history in such manner?

A: History is not dead. I am writing the final chapters of my latest book, ‘Sinhala- Saga of an Island Language’. There, I am saying that Sinhalese were among the super-league of nations to which belong Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Rome and China. We had exceptional mathematical and linguistic knowledge. Mathematically we were among the super nations. All these reservoirs, canals, structures are build using mathematics. How can that be called as dead? We built structures like pyramids. True, the glory days of past are gone and things have changed. But .when things change we should look to record them, so that the next generation would know how it used to be.

Q: As a lecturer who taught at the faculty of Arts, can you comment on the value of the Arts degree, do you think that arts degree caters to the demands of contemporary market trends?

A: We are not training them for a particular job as such. Arts subjects give a broad understanding of the world. It creates individuals who can think straight. Anyone who can think straight and argue straight can do any job. Medicine or engineering degrees restrict students to a particular field. But Art subjects do not do that, it widens their thinking scope and make knowledgeable individuals.

Q: Your thoughts on exam-oriented education system?

A: Yes often people cram up their study content and get ‘A’ passes. They parrot their study-notes, reproduce that on exam paper and get ‘A’ passes. But that ‘A’ pass is a very inferior one. And sometimes those are the ones that enter university where as real talented people miss out. These days, students study only the amount that they need to get through exams. They know answers to particular questions that they are going to get for exams, nothing more.

They consider all other information irrelevant. Their knowledge is very superficial. And that is why the country is in a mess, because so called educated people in our country don’t have a deeper understanding of the subjects that they have studied.

Q: Do you feel that with the advent of computer and the Internet, young people are shying away from books?

A: If they have books, they will still read. First you must provide them with books. I don’t think the Internet or computer has had an adverse effect on the reading habit. They have E-Books which they can use to satisfy their reading desires.