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Veddas ((シンハラ語:වැද්දා) (:ˈvædːaː), (タミル語:வேடுவர்) ''Vēṭuvar'') are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka. They, amongst other self-identified native communities such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas, are accorded indigenous status. They speak Sinhali and Tamil instead due to their indigenous language having been extinct. According to the genesis chronicle of the Sinhala people, the Mahavamsa ("''Great Chronicle''"), written in the 5th century CE, the Pulindas believed to refer to Veddas are descended from Prince Vijaya (6th–5th century BCE), the founding father of the nation, through Kuveni, a woman of the indigenous ''Yakkha'' he married. The ''Mahavansa'' relates that following the repudiation of Kuveni by Vijaya, in favour of a Kshatriya-caste princess from Pandya, their two children, a boy and a girl, departed to the region of ''Sumanakuta'' (Adam's Peak in the Ratnapura District), where they multiplied, giving rise to the Veddas. Anthropologists such as the Seligmanns (''The Veddas'' 1911) believed the Veddas to be identical with the ''Yakkha''. Veddas are also mentioned in Robert Knox's history of his captivity by the King of Kandy in the 17th century. Knox described them as "wild men", but also said there was a "tamer sort", and that the latter sometimes served in the king's army.〔Knox, Robert () (1981). An Historical Relation of Ceylon. Tisara Prakasakayo Ltd (page 195).〕 The Ratnapura District, which is part of the Sabaragamuwa Province, is known to have been inhabited by the Veddas in the distant past. This has been shown by scholars like Nandadeva Wijesekera (Veddhas in transition 1964). The very name ''Sabaragamuwa'' is believed to have meant the village of the ''Sabaras'' or "forest barbarians". Such place-names as ''Vedda-gala'' (Vedda Rock), ''Vedda-ela'' (Vedda Canal) and ''Vedi-kanda'' (Vedda Mountain) in the Ratnapura District also bear testimony to this. As ''Wijesekera'' observes, a strong Vedda element is discernible in the population of ''Vedda-gala'' and its environs. ==Language== (詳細はVedda language. Today it is used primarily by the interior Veddas of Dambana. Communities, such as Coast Veddas and Anuradhapura Veddas, that do not identify themselves strictly as Veddas also use Vedda language in part for communication during hunting and or for religious chants. When a systematic field study was conducted in 1959 it was determined that the language was confined to the older generation of Veddas from Dambana. In 1990s self-identifying Veddas knew few words and phrases in the Vedda language, but there were individuals who knew the language comprehensively. Initially there was considerable debate amongst linguists as to whether Vedda is a dialect of Sinhalese or an independent language. Later studies indicate that it diverged from its parent stock in the 10th century and became a Creole and a stable independent language by the 13th century, under the influence of Sinhalese. 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. Veddas that have adopted Sinhala are found primarily in the southeastern part of the country, especially in the vicinity of Bintenne in Uva District. There are also Veddas that have adopted Sinhala who live in Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province.〔Brow, James (1978). Vedda Villages of Anuradhapura. University of Washington Press.〕 Another group, often termed East Coast Veddas, is found in coastal areas of the Eastern Province, between Batticaloa and Trincomalee. These Veddas have adopted Tamil as their mother tongue.〔(Sri Lanka's coastal Vedda indigenous communities )〕〔(East Coast Veddas )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vedda people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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