The Use of Substi tute ‘One’ in the Two Selected Sri Lankan English Novels; The Jam Fruit Tree and Theravada Man

Abstract

This study aims to identi fy the use of substi tute ‘one’ in two selected Sri Lankan English novels: The Jam Fruit Tree and Theravada Man. The primary objecti ves of the study are to examine the types of ‘one’ used in the two selected Sri Lankan English novels and discover the most used type of ‘one’. Essenti ally, two Sri Lankan novels that incorporate Sri Lankan English vocabulary were chosen as the samples for the study. The data collecti on involved reading the selected two novels, documenti ng signifi cant use of the substi tute ‘one’, and analysing the types of ‘one’. A qualitati ve analysis method was employed to identi fy the substi tute ‘one’ within the selected Sri Lankan English novels. A quanti tati ve data analysis approach was implemented to identi fy the most used type of ‘one’ within the selected Sri Lankan English novels. The theoreti cal framework of Halliday and Hasan (1976) was used as a guiding model for the study to analyse the collected data. The analysis of the obtained results revealed that there are two types of substi tutes ‘one’ within the two selected Sri Lankan English novels, and those are the modifi ed ‘one’ and the unmodifi ed ‘one’. Ulti mately, unmodifi ed ‘one’ emerged as the most used type of substi tute ‘one’. In conclusion, this study highlights the signifi cant presence of two main types of substi tutes ‘one’ within the context of Sri Lankan English novels.