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Should Sri Lanka's parliamentary titles in Sinhala and Tamil script be vocabulary? (ගරු අජිත් ගිහාන් මහතා, පා.ම. gives given පා.ම., family ගරු අජිත් ගිහාන් මහතා) #1244
Sri Lanka's Parliament writes each member's name in English, Sinhala and Tamil, in one fixed form per language (parliament.lk's member list, /{en,si,ta}/members-of-parliament/mp-listing):
Script
Form
Meaning
English
Hon. Ajith Gihan, M.P.
Sinhala
ගරු අජිත් ගිහාන් මහතා, පා.ම.
Hon. · name · Mr. · M.P.
Tamil
கௌரவ அஜித் கிஹான், பா.உ.
Hon. · name · M.P.
The English form reads right. In the other two, none of the words around the name is in the vocabulary, so the M.P. after the comma becomes the given name and the whole name, titles included, becomes the family (measured on master ccaf6ad):
Input
title
given
family
suffix
nickname
Hon. Ajith Gihan, M.P.
Hon.
Ajith
Gihan
M.P.
ගරු අජිත් ගිහාන් මහතා, පා.ම.
පා.ම.
ගරු අජිත් ගිහාන් මහතා
கௌரவ அஜித் கிஹான், பா.உ.
பா.உ.
கௌரவ அஜித் கிஹான்
ගරු (වෛද්ය) ජගත් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා, පා.ම.
පා.ම.
ගරු ජගත් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා
වෛද්ය
கௌரவ (டாக்டர்) ஜகத் குணவர்தன, பா.உ.
பா.உ.
கௌரவ ஜகத் குணவர்தன
டாக்டர்
All 225 current members read this way in each script (450 of 450).
The words, counted over the 225 members of each list:
Sinhala
Tamil
Meaning
Where
Count (si / ta)
පා.ම.
பா.உ.
M.P.
after the comma
225 / 225
ගරු
கௌரவ
Hon.
first
225 / 225
මහතා, මහත්මිය, මෙනවිය
—
Mr., Mrs., Miss
after the name, before the comma
203, 17, 4 / —
(වෛද්ය)
(டாக்டர்)
Dr. (medical)
in brackets after Hon.
21 / 21
(ආචාර්ය)
(கலாநிதி)
Dr. (doctorate)
in brackets
8 / 8
(මහාචාර්ය)
(பேராசிரியர்)
Prof.
in brackets
5 / 5
—
(திருமதி), (செல்வி)
Mrs., Miss
in brackets
— / 17, 4
නීතිඥ
சட்டத்தரணி
Attorney
before the name
25 in each
ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ
சனாதிபதி சட்டத்தரணி
President's Counsel
before the name
2 / 2
si.toml holds only Latin de and ජූනියර්; ta.toml holds thiru (excluded) and three generation words. None of these words is listed in any file.
What listing them would do: in a lexicon of my own (the M.P. words as credentials written without their periods, පාම and பாஉ, the way en.toml writes mp; the front words and the bracketed ones as titles; මහතා, මහත්මිය, මෙනවිය as courtesy suffixes), all 450 rows read with the title, given name and family that the English list gives.
Questions
Should these go in si.toml and ta.toml, or only into a Sinhala and Tamil choice? None of them looks like a name, but I haven't checked bearer counts in native script (tools/name_usage.py can't count Sinhala or Tamil spellings).
මහතා (Mr.) comes after the name. Is it a courtesy suffix like rinpoche, or a salutation that ends the name, like the after-given titles (H8)?
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