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

This study aims to identify the use of substitute ‘one’ in two selected Sri Lankan English novels: The Jam Fruit Tree and Theravada Man. The primary objectives 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’. Essentially, two Sri Lankan novels that incorporate Sri Lankan English vocabulary were chosen as the samples for the study. The data collection involved reading the selected two novels, documenting significant use of the substitute ‘one’, and analysing the types of ‘one’. A qualitative analysis method was employed to identify the substitute ‘one’ within the selected Sri Lankan English novels. A quantitative data analysis approach was implemented to identify the most used type of ‘one’ within the selected Sri Lankan English novels. The theoretical 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 substitutes ‘one’ within the two selected Sri Lankan English novels, and those are the modified ‘one’ and the unmodified ‘one’. Ultimately, unmodified ‘one’ emerged as the most used type of substitute ‘one’. In conclusion, this study highlights the significant presence of two main types of substitutes ‘one’ within the context of Sri Lankan English novels. Keywords: Modified ‘one’; Sri Lankan English novels; Substitute ‘one’; Substitution; Unmodified ‘one’