Linguistics as an independent field of study was recognised by the university in 1972 after the establishment of the Department of Linguistics under the Faculty of Humanities. Professor S. L. Kekulawela was the founder Head of the Department of Linguistics.

The vision of the department is directed towards a centre for excellence in language and linguistic studies. With this vision in mind the department disseminates knowledge in different fields of language and linguistics and provides the students with necessary language and analytical skills.

Department of Linguistics of the University of Kelaniya was established in 1972 under the Faculty of Humanities. At its inception, the department offered two undergraduate courses, namely, BA (General) and BA (Special); two certificate courses, namely, Sinhala and Tamil; and two postgraduate courses, namely, MA (two- year research) and PhD.

Currently, two undergraduate honours degree programmes, namely, BA (Hons) in Linguistics and BA (Hons) in Translation Studies; three undergraduate degree subjects, namely, Linguistics, Translation Methods, and Tamil as a Second Language; one optional subject, namely, Tamil; two certificate courses, namely, Sinhala and Tamil; three postgraduate courses, namely, MA in Linguistics (two-year and one-year), Mphil in Linguistics, and PhD in Linguistics; and two diploma courses, namely, Diploma in Tamil and Diploma in Translation and Interpretation are offered by the department.

The Department celebrates its 50th anniversary in the year 2022. A series of special programmes are being planned to mark this event.