The Tamil community mainly speaks a Malaysian dialect of the Tamil language; the Malayalees speak Malayalam; the Telugus speak the Telugu language; and the Sikhs speak Punjabi. Over time, Tamil became a lingua franca among Perak's different Indian communities as Tamil-speaking people became the majority in several west coast Malaysian states with higher Indian populations. Most of the Sikhs in Perak are known to speak fluent Tamil, unlike Sikhs from other states in Malaysia. A small number of Sinhala speakers also found in parts of the state capital, Ipoh.