A note before we begin: This piece draws on both academic research and lived experience. My graduate thesis on linguistic identity in post-civil war Sri Lanka forms the foundation of this analysis. I also grew up through Sri Lanka’s civil war (1983-2009) and taught English across multiple contexts in Colombo, in private language schools, government institutions, and multinational companies.This article focuses on specific use cases that illuminate broader patterns in language policy and AI development. It’s not intended as a comprehensive overview of the field or even the conflict, but rather as a detailed case study showing how historical patterns of linguistic exclusion can repeat themselves in new technological contexts.In 1956, Sri Lanka made a choice that would define its post-colonial future. The Sinhala Only Act declared Sinhala the sole official language of the newly independent nation, marginalising about 18% of the population who spoke Tamil. What began as language policy evolved into systematic discrimination, fuelling ethnic tensions that exploded into a brutal civil war lasting from 1983 to 2009. 100,000s of people died, many more displaced. The economy collapsed. A nation with enormous potential became a cautionary tale about the dangers of linguistic exclusion.Today, as artificial intelligence reshapes how humans interact with technology and each other, Sri Lanka’s history offers an urgent warning: linguistic nationalism doesn’t disappear - it adapts, and when it resurfaces in the architecture of AI systems, the consequences may be even more far-reaching than in the analog age.Understanding Language Policy: When Politics Shapes Communication (2.47)The People of Sri Lanka: A Shared Island (7.15)Why Language Matters: The Theory of Linguistic Identity (8.33)The Swabasha Movement and Post-Colonial Language Policy (10.22)From Language Policy to Civil War (15.17)Enter SinLLaMa: History in Digital Form (19.28)The Pattern That Repeats (22.56)What Multilingual AI Could Look Like (24.52)The Global Stakes (28.00)The Choice Ahead (30.41)Sri Lanka’s history offers the warning. The question is whether anyone is listening.Further readingCanagarajah, A. S. (Ed.). (2015). Reclaiming the local in language policy and practice. Routledge.Cooper, R. L. (1989). Language planning and social change. Cambridge University Press.Eisenlohr , Patrick . (2006). NEIL DEVOTTA, Blowback: Linguistic nationalism, institutional decay, and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Language in Society. 35. 747 - 750. 10.1017/S0047404506260342.Herath, Sreemali. (2015). Language policy, ethnic tensions and linguistic rights in post war Sri Lanka. Language Policy. 14. 10.1007/s10993-014-9339-6.Kearney, Robert N. “Language and the Rise of Tamil Separatism in Sri Lanka.” Asian Survey, vol. 18, no. 5, 1978, pp. 521–34. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2643464. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.Kloss, H. (1966). Types of multilingual communities: A discussion of ten variables. Sociological Inquiry, 36(2), 135-145.Pennycook, A. (1998). English and the Discourses of Colonialism. New York: Routledge.Perera, N., Khodos, I. Linguistic reconciliation in contexts of conflict: Tamil language learning in Sri Lanka. Lang Policy 24, 345–371 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-024-09716-4Philipson, R. (1997). Realities and Myths of Linguistic Imperialism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development , 18 (3), 238-248.Pool, Jonathan (1979) Language planning and identity planning. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 1979.20: 5-22.Ricento, T. (2000). Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning. Journal of sociolinguistics, 4(2), 196-213.Wickramasuriya, S. (2005). The present socio-economic-political culture & the myth of English as an access to social equality in post-colonial Sri Lanka. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thestrategiclinguist.substack.com/subscribe

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