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Sinhala (සිංහල, ISO 15919: siṁhala, pronounced -siˈsiŋɦələ, sometimes referred by alternative spelling Singhalese), also known as Helabasa, is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese people, who make up the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, numbering about 15 million. Sinhala is also spoken by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 3 million. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. Sinhala is the official and national language of Sri Lanka. Sinhala has its own writing system (see Sinhala alphabet) which is a member of the Brahmic family of scripts, and a descendant of the ancient Indian Brahmi script. The oldest Indian Prakrit inscriptions found are from the 6th century BCE, on pottery; the oldest existing literary works date from the 9th century CE. The closest relative of Sinhala is the language of the Maldives and Minicoy Island (India), Dhivehi. |