Page "Vedda people" Paragraph 7

The parent Vedda language ( s ) is of unknown genetic origins, while Sinhalese is of the Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European languages.

Phonologically it is distinguished from Sinhalese by the higher frequency of palatal sounds C and J.

The effect is also heightened by the addition of inanimate suffixes.

Morphologically Vedda language word class is divided into nouns, verbs and invariables with unique gender distinctions in animate nouns.

Per its Creole tradition, it has reduced and simplified many forms of Sinhalese such as second person pronouns and denotations of negative meanings.

Instead borrowing new words from Sinhalese Vedda created combinations of words from a limited lexical stock.

Vedda also maintains many archaic Sinhalese terms prior to the 10th to 12th centuries, as a relict of its close contact with Sinhalese.

Vedda also retains a number of unique words that cannot be derived from Sinhalese.

Conversely, Sinhalese has also borrowed from the original Vedda language, words and grammatical structures, differentiating it from its related Indo-Aryan languages.

Vedda has exerted a substratum influence in the formation of Sinhalese.