The Dynamics of Meaning: Towards the Evaluation of Diachronic Semantic Drift in Sinhala Language

Language evolution plays a vital role in enabling humans to adapt to societal changes across generations. As we explore the fascinating process of language evolution, we find that words can shift in meaning for a variety of reasons, including cultural influences like technological advancements, as well as regular linguistic phenomena such as subjectification. The Sinhala language possesses a rich and diverse literary heritage that has developed over the course of several millennia, with its origins tracing back to between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. This language has undergone significant evolution and transformation throughout its history, resulting in the form of modern Sinhala that we engage with today. The concept of semantic drift refers to a change in the meaning of certain words for a variety of reasons and in different contexts. In technical terms, it involves a shift in a word's position within the embedding space. Semantic drift is primarily identified in diachronic studies, highlighting the evolution of meaning over time. A well-known example is the transformation of the word "gay," which has shifted in meaning from cheerful to homosexual over the years.