Maggs Bros.

Chounavel was ordained in Marseilles in 1852 and received orders to take up a post in the North American Arctic. His posting was changed at the last minute and he was sent to Sri Lanka instead. After a year, he was sent to Batticaloa as a lone missionary and completed his most important work, this grammar, as well as a translation of the bible, and numerous other works in Sinhalese and Tamil.

Chounavel strives to clarify the peculiars of Sinhalese grammar through the provision of numerous examples. The work includes a considerable amount of vocabulary broken down into parts of speech.