Dear Korean,
Could you give us a primer on the dialects of South Korea's provinces/areas?
Cactus McHarris
Certainly! Korea is known as a very homogeneous country, and to some degree it is true. It has been a single country for thousands of years, and it is mostly comprised of a single ethnicity. Yet in other respects, Korea has a great deal of regional variations across the peninsula--and regional dialects are a great window into those variations.
Before we get started: if you cannot read Korean characters, it would make sense to review this post, which provides an overview of how to read Korean alphabet.
Before we get started: if you cannot read Korean characters, it would make sense to review this post, which provides an overview of how to read Korean alphabet.
First, we should get a sense of how regions are divided in Korea. By "regions," the Korean means a sub-area within the country that is recognized to have similar dialects, cuisines and culture. (E.g. the American South, Japan's kansai.) Let's take a look at this map.
(source) |
This map shows Korea's administrative districts, which roughly correlates with Korea's cultural regions. Broadly speaking, there are six regions in Korea: Seoul/Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chuncheong, Yeongnam, Honam and Jeju. Seoul is the city in the center of Korean Peninsula, in blue; Gyeonggi is the province that surrounds it, colored in olive. Gangwon is the large province to the east of Gyeonggi, colored in tan.
Chungcheong region is in the immediate south of Gyeonggi, and encompasses the two provinces (i.e. Chungcheongbuk-do and Chungcheongnam-do) colored in orange and red. Moving further south, Honam refers to the two provinces of Jeollabuk-do and Jeollanam-do, colored in light and dark purple. Yeongnam refers to the two provinces to the east to Honam, i.e. Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do (colored in light green and yellow.) Finally, Jeju is the large island south of Honam, colored in blue.
Each region of Korea displays a great deal of variation in food, temperament, manners, politics and language, in the form of dialects. We will take a look at the dialects of each region in turn, after the jump. Please be mindful that this is a broad overview, rather than the most precise description. Warning -- unless you have basic knowledge of Korean, much of the rest of the post will be gibberish.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
Seoul/Gyeonggi: It may be a bit odd to call Seoul accent a "dialect," at least in a sense that the word is used to describe that deviates from the standard language. This is so because the National Institute of Korean Language decreed that the standard Korean shall be: "modern Seoul language used generally by educated people." In other words, Seoul accent is the standard Korean, and all Koreans are educated to speak like a Seoul person. Thanks to universal public education and mass media, most Koreans actually do. Even Koreans who grew up with an accent can usually shift in and out of the "standard Korean" depending on the circumstance.
This is not to say that the Seoul/Gyeonggi dialect is exactly coterminous with standard Korean. Compared to standard Korean, Seoul/Gyeonggi dialect consistently mispronounces certain words in a certain pattern. For example, this dialect often replaces ㅗ ("oh") with ㅜ ("ooh"), such that 삼촌 ("uncle", pronounced "samchon") would be pronounced like 삼춘 ("samchoon"). There are other differences between Seoul/Gyeonggi dialect and the standard Korean language, but they are so subtle that discussing them would only confuse most people. Let's move on to the more obvious accents.
Chungcheong: Being that Chungcheong-do is somewhat close to Seoul, Chungcheong accent is still pretty close to the standard Korean. One difference, however, is immediately noticeable in a major Chungcheong-do city like Daejeon--everyone speaks slowly. The long-standing joke about Chungcheong accent goes like this: a father and a son was walking up the hill, when the son saw a huge boulder rolling down the path. The son said: "Faaatheer, therrre iiiiiiss a bouuuuulderrr rollllllling dowwwwwwn." Before the son could finish the sentence, however, the boulder had already rolled down and killed the father.
Chungcheong dialect also more commonly replaces ㅗ with ㅜ, and ㅛ ("yo") with ㅠ ("yu"), especially with verb conjugations. So instead of "하세요" ("haseyo", "please do"), a Chungcheong dialect would say "하세유" ("haseyu"), or shorten it to "하슈" ("hasyu").
(Side note: because the Korean Father is from Chungcheong-do, the Korean himself sometimes reverts to this dialect.)
Gangwon: Although Gangwon is a large province in terms of area, the high Taebaek mountain range that bisects the province meant that historically, relatively few people lived in the Gangwon area. Because there were less people living in the area, Gangwon did not really develop a highly distinctive dialect. This is particularly true as to the western part of Gangwon (e.g. with cities like Hongcheon, Chuncheon, etc.) which has no physical barrier between it and Seoul.
But the part of Gangwon that touches on the eastern coast of Korea (also known as "Yeongdong" region, i.e. "east of the mountains") did develop a fairly unique dialect, as the steep mountains cut off much of the exchange with other regions. Unlike standard Korean (=Seoul dialect,) Gangwon dialect uses tones to distinguish the meaning of homo-phonic words, like Chinese or Vietnamese do. It also has a number of words that are very unusual to speakers of standard Korean, such as 콩칠팔새삼육하다 ("to banter") or 맨자지 ("white rice").
This is not to say that the Seoul/Gyeonggi dialect is exactly coterminous with standard Korean. Compared to standard Korean, Seoul/Gyeonggi dialect consistently mispronounces certain words in a certain pattern. For example, this dialect often replaces ㅗ ("oh") with ㅜ ("ooh"), such that 삼촌 ("uncle", pronounced "samchon") would be pronounced like 삼춘 ("samchoon"). There are other differences between Seoul/Gyeonggi dialect and the standard Korean language, but they are so subtle that discussing them would only confuse most people. Let's move on to the more obvious accents.
Chungcheong: Being that Chungcheong-do is somewhat close to Seoul, Chungcheong accent is still pretty close to the standard Korean. One difference, however, is immediately noticeable in a major Chungcheong-do city like Daejeon--everyone speaks slowly. The long-standing joke about Chungcheong accent goes like this: a father and a son was walking up the hill, when the son saw a huge boulder rolling down the path. The son said: "Faaatheer, therrre iiiiiiss a bouuuuulderrr rollllllling dowwwwwwn." Before the son could finish the sentence, however, the boulder had already rolled down and killed the father.
Chungcheong dialect also more commonly replaces ㅗ with ㅜ, and ㅛ ("yo") with ㅠ ("yu"), especially with verb conjugations. So instead of "하세요" ("haseyo", "please do"), a Chungcheong dialect would say "하세유" ("haseyu"), or shorten it to "하슈" ("hasyu").
(Side note: because the Korean Father is from Chungcheong-do, the Korean himself sometimes reverts to this dialect.)
Gangwon: Although Gangwon is a large province in terms of area, the high Taebaek mountain range that bisects the province meant that historically, relatively few people lived in the Gangwon area. Because there were less people living in the area, Gangwon did not really develop a highly distinctive dialect. This is particularly true as to the western part of Gangwon (e.g. with cities like Hongcheon, Chuncheon, etc.) which has no physical barrier between it and Seoul.
But the part of Gangwon that touches on the eastern coast of Korea (also known as "Yeongdong" region, i.e. "east of the mountains") did develop a fairly unique dialect, as the steep mountains cut off much of the exchange with other regions. Unlike standard Korean (=Seoul dialect,) Gangwon dialect uses tones to distinguish the meaning of homo-phonic words, like Chinese or Vietnamese do. It also has a number of words that are very unusual to speakers of standard Korean, such as 콩칠팔새삼육하다 ("to banter") or 맨자지 ("white rice").
Gyeongsang: Also known as "Yeongnam" region, this large and populous region speaks with a strong, harsh accent, befitting its stereotype of being the land of manly men. Compared to the mild and flat Seoul accent, Gyeongsang dialect is dynamic with high peaks and low valleys in its speech. Like Yeongdong dialect, Gyeongsang dialect uses tones to distinguish the meaning of homo-phonic words.
One prominent feature of Gyeongsang dialect is the inability to pronounce certain sounds that appear commonly in Korean. For example, Gyeongsang dialect speakers are unable to pronounce ㅆ when it appears as the beginning sound of the word, leaving them unable to properly pronounce 쌀: "rice", one of the most commonly used words in Korea. (Instead, Gyeongsang-do dialect speakers are forced to say 살.) Gyeongsang-do dialect is also missing the vowel sound for ㅡ ("eu"), which is instead pronounced as ㅓ ("eo"). So if a Gyeongsang-do person is faced with the word 음악 ("music"), she is likely to pronounce it as 엄악.
Gyeongsang dialect also has trouble with compound vowels, such as ㅘ or ㅢ. In many cases, Gyeongsang dialect drops the first sound of the compound vowel. So 사과 ("apple") is pronounced like 사가, and 의사 ("doctor") is pronounced like 이사. Former President Kim Young-sam, who was not only from Gyeongsangnam-do but also was a George W. Bush-esque mangler of words, often faced snickers when he would give a speech about promoting 관광산업 ("tourism industry")--because his inability to pronounce the consecutive ㅘ, and his penchant for not enunciating words, made him sound like he wanted to promote 강간산업 ("rape industry").
Jeolla: Also known as "Honam" region, this southwestern region also developed a highly distinctive dialect of its own. Jeolla dialect is slower than Seoul's, but faster than Chungcheong's; it has more ups and downs in sound, but not as much as Gyeongsang dialect.
Jeolla-do dialect often adds extra ㅅ and ㅂ in within certain words. For example, 저어라 ("stir") is pronounced as 젓어라, and 더워 ("hot") is pronounced as 덥어. Often, ㅏ and ㅓ are pronounced as ㅐand ㅔ, such that 마음 ("mind") is pronounced as 매음 and 떡 ("rice cake") is pronounced as 떽.
The most distinctive part of Jeolla dialect is the vowel conjugations that end a sentence. The most commonly known characteristic is the tendency to finish sentences with an extraneous 잉. (Example: 재미없다 --> 재미없다잉, "[This is] not fun.") Vowel conjugation ~요, which creates a formal honorific, is ~이라 or ~어라. (Example: 좋구만요 --> 좋구만이라 ("[This is] nice."); 다 먹었어요 --> 다 먹었서라 ("[I] finished the food.")) Vowel conjugation ~데 is ~디 in Jeolla dialect, such that 그런데 is 그런디.
Jeju: The largest island of Korea is also the most geographically isolated population center. As such, proper Jeju dialect is nearly a separate language from Korean. In fact, in 2011, UNESCO listed Jeju dialect as "critically endangered language," which means UNESCO considered Jeju dialect to be a separate language.
Jeju dialect is grammatically Korean, but a lot of its vocabulary is nearly unrecognizable to mainland Koreans. This is so because Jeju has been so isolated, it has preserved extremely old Korean words. It also has imported words from Japan, China and Mongolia--the last from Mongolian invasion of Korea in the 14th century (!). Words like 송키 ["vegetable"], 오름 ["mountain"], 야개기 ["neck"], 가사 ["umbrella"] have tenuous connection to mainland Korean.
Vowel conjugation is also significantly different in Jeju dialect. Basic honorific is ~ㅂ서, which replaces ~요. (Example: 오세요 --> 옵서 ["Please come."]). Honorific question is ~꽈, instead of ~ㅂ니까 . (Example: 아닙니까? --> 아니꽈? ["Isn't it?"]).
(Side note: Jeju dialect word for "potato" is 지슬 ["jiseul"], which is also the title of a recent movie that won the Grand Jury Prize in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The movie is about the April 3 Massacre in Jeju, in which South Korean military and right-wing militia massacred more than 14,000 civilians of Jeju in 1948.)
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.
I've lived in Changwon, down in Gyeongnam, for the past five years, and I've heard all of the above mentioned peculiarities, except for the different tones for homophones. It may be that I'm just not proficient enough with Korean to hear the different tones, but I wonder if there isn't some online source that describes these different tones. Do you know of any such source, AAK - either in Korean, or English?
ReplyDeleteThey have books in Korean that describe this in detail. Essentially linguistics textbooks.
DeleteVery interesting, thank you
ReplyDeleteFewer English words up North, with sometimes poetic creations. The language has been better preserved, like in Quebec for French.
"Zh" instead of "ch" among the Korean Chinese. I heard the word "뒤도" instead of "back-do" in a Yutnori game.
PS: if you want to work for 119, is there a discrimination against Chungcheong-do people?
It's just a joke. Chungcheong dialect is a little slower, but not that much.
DeleteThe version I heard wasn't a boulder. It was a tree.
DeleteTo this day, I never realized I was speaking 경기도 accent when I say 삼춘. Mind officially blown.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, since my mom is from 전라도 (the 2nd most 전라도ly place after 광주, no less), I often exclaim '워매!' to the amusement of my Korean friends.
When I face a tricky situation, I put my hand on my forehead and say to myself, 이걸 어찌까잉.
DeleteMy husband is from Busan, and although we live in Seoul I simply can't stand "standard" Korean. It's so bland and effeminate...
ReplyDeleteAnd how about the DPRK?
ReplyDeleteAnother post!
DeleteI heard it in China. Went to a DPRK restaurant in Shanghai. It sounds so structured, self important and monotone.
DeleteMy friends will often put in that extra '잉' at the end of sentences for a more playful/cutesy/joking tone - "부럽다잉!~" they might say. I wonder if that's because pop culture is so ingrained with the association of dialects with silliness (in an affectionate way)!
ReplyDeleteEven as a native Korean, Jeju dialect is like a foreign language to me..
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that weird Jeju vowel 'ㆍ' (extinct in the rest of Korea). I still can't wrap my head, nevermind my tongue, around the sound it makes. Somewhere between ㅗ and ㅏ (or ㅓ and ㅏ)?
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to see it was even used on signs for businesses; and not just old traditional shops, but even a banner over a hotdog stand.
The "dot" (=아래 아) is actually alive in Jeolla-do also. A lot of ㅏ sound is pronounced a bit like ㅗ. (Example: 팔 --> 폴)
DeleteI think this is the coolest post I've read on AAK! for a while! I mean that in the most flattering way possible, by the way.
ReplyDeleteReading the thing about the Gyeongsang dialect reminded me of the Hebrew word "Shibboleth" and how it's like the exact flip of the Gyeongsang dialect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
I'd also like to second the request for DPRK info. I'd wonder since I know a lot of South Koreans who say their grandparents or other ancestors were from the North and had to flee. I wonder if they influenced the way Korean is spoken in S. Korea. Or maybe if there are just pockets of North Korean dialects in South Korea. Or perhaps their way of speaking was suppressed due to where it was from. I know, for example, for Hebrew in Israel, they have taken parts of pronunciation from the Middle East (like the sound called "tav") while have used used the guttural, French-sounding "R" from Ashkenazi Jews for use in official Israeli Hebrew. The others live on (like my dad doesn't use Middle Eastern "tav" even though I do), but they aren't considered "educated speech."
So bringing this full circle, I'd wonder if some of the North Korean ways of speaking are just like the "Shibboleth" story. Great post, TK!
Thanks!
DeleteThanks for the great post! This is one of those things that you never learn at a language school. Lots of random comments and observations below:
ReplyDeleteI am living in a 조선족 epicenter here in Seoul. I'd like to hear about their accents as well. Their speech sounds very nasal and constricted to me.
Funny story: I never got to learn Corean while growing up, so I went to a language school in Seoul. After 6 months of hard studying, I was ready to test out my new language prowess on my mom. When she picked up the phone, I started speaking Corean to her, but her replies didn't sound like Corean to me at all! She is from Daegu, with a really heavy accent. We communicate just fine now (she is quite patient and deliberate about trying to use a Seoul dialect with me), however, I still have trouble understanding people from 영남.
I dunno if this is a Pusan thing or not, but the guys at my gym (most of them from Pusan) will tack on a "야이마!" to their sentences when berating a junior member of the gym who did something stupid.
Finally, when I hear news broadcasts from the DPRK, it really reminds me of the emphatic speech of Christian Evangelists.
So, what kinds of stereotypes are associated with the different dialects? I ask because the post reminded me of a friend's unexpected reaction when I announced my decision to learn a bit of 경상도 사투리. She was incredibly quick to discourage me, her reason being that she feels that people who use the 경상도 dialect sound uneducated.
ReplyDeleteI don't get that feeling, but then again, I'm not steeped in the same cultural background. I will admit that even when two friends from 경상도 are talking to each other about the most benign subjects, they always sound angry.
Same here! Anytime I try to speak any 사투리 structure I've just learned thinking that it will be fun and impress my Korean friends they are always like: No, no, don't do that, don't learn that!
DeleteAlso one friend of mine usually says to me how nowadays he sounds like a person from Seoul, or how he got praised some days ago because someone in the barbershop thought he was from Seoul due to his accent.
I think it has something to do with.. image? Not so much the image of one dialect sounding more or less educated that another, but the perception of a foreigner speaking in a dialect or accent. It's kind of like how it might seem strange that an Asian might speak with a Southern twang. I remember my cousin went to university in Osaka, and even though she could speak in Kansai-ben, she didn't because her friends thought it was weird coming from her (even though she's Asian, too).
DeleteEhehehe. This article reminds me of that my boyfriend (Korean, from Incheon, has been living in Seoul for long years) tells me often that I speak Korean like the commedian 양산국, this guy ---> http://postfiles2.naver.net/20120907_209/hsfood1004_13470134513060wCdh_JPEG/%A4%B7%A4%B7%A4%B7_1_7.jpg?type=w1
ReplyDeleteI heard that you can tell who comes from where from the way they pronounce "정말". The voyels and the pitch is supposed to be different in each region.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder about DPRK.
My former Korean professor was a man born in the 50s in Seoul, but both parents were from Haeju/해주, now in North Korea. He hinted that his accent was distinct enough to make others point at him.
Also, I met some defectors from Hamgyeong-do/함경도 (Hamheung/함흥 and Hoeryong/회령), they all spoke incredibly fast, much faster than Seoul, and left out most of the 받침자음 (전기 was pronounced 저기 with a little stop between the 2 syllabs). I have no idea whether it was those persons as individuals who spoke that way, or the result of their accents.
I think you mean "pitch" not "tone." Korean has been historically a pitch-based language, not a tonal language. Here's a wiki explanation:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_accent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_(linguistics)
I could be wrong because I never formally studied linguistics, but I'm pretty "tone" is what I meant. Take a look at this, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SlDJtuLPmE
DeleteIt's been awhile since I've read the exact description of this. I believe these two concepts are very similar, but pitch refers to change in tone over a polysyllabic word (or phrase) while tone refers to change in tone in single syllable.
DeleteHere's a research paper on Gyeongsangdo pitch-accents:
http://ling.snu.ac.kr/jun/work/JEAL_final.pdf
http://www.indiana.edu/~lingdept/faculty/davis/LeeDavisLgResearch2009.pdf
The second listed paper does note that some linguists have defined Gyeongsangdo dialect as a tonal language.
Ah. So THAT'S why, in Busan, the taxi drivers don't understand me when I say I want to go to "광안리" and I pronounce it "GWANG-al-li" -- you gotta say "GANG - al-li."
ReplyDeleteI know this thread is about dialects but I do want to say one thing. AAK advises in his post about learning Korean that it is much easier if you learn Hangul first. He's right. I've been trying to learn Korean using language tapes for months. I've completed over 30 lessons most of them I listened to and practiced multiple times. Just a couple of days ago I decided to stop putting off learning Hangul. With the help of just a couple of internet sites and one set of youtube videos most of what I didn't understand before has finally clicked. It's been a while since I read that post but I think one thing he might not have made clear about learning Hangul is that you absolutely have to learn the phonetic value of the characters. Then it's just a matter of memorizing what each word means, just like learning vocabulary words in English. If nothing else you will have a decent idea of how a word is pronounced even if you don't know what it means...lol
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that one of the words used in this article to exemplify the 경상 accent is 의사, as that is a word I often point to when describing how the 경상 accent differs from other regions. However, my ears have never told me that folks from 영남 pronounce 의사 (or 의자) by dropping the first vowel and simply saying 이사. Rather, it sounds to me like they very distinctly pronounce the first syllable as "oy" (rhymes with "boy"), thus it comes out sounding like "oy-sa." Of course, it's possible that my ears have been fooling me, but I've been hanging with the 경상 crowd for over 30 years.
ReplyDeleteWhich part of Gyeongsang? There are subtle differences in the dialects between Daegu (northern Gyeongsang) versus Busan (southern Gyeongsang) as well. Wouldn't be surprised if certain parts of Gyeongsang pronounced 의사 as 오이사.
DeleteI'm referring to the Masan/Changwon area. I've never actually thought about it while I was in other parts of Gyeongsang, so it's entirely possible that it's unique to that area.
Delete"오이사" is really the only way you can approximate the spoken word in hangul, but the "오이" portion is spoken really quickly - almost as if it's only one syllable. Or perhaps better stated, timing or cadence-wise, the time it takes to say "오이" is equal to the time it takes to say "사."
Perhaps I'm getting too deep into the weeds on all this ... but it's something that really stuck out for me from the very first time I heard it. Because I first learned Korean in that area, if I'm not careful, occasionally I even catch myself saying the Masan/Changwon version of 의사. Since I'm a white guy living in Seoul, it really sounds funny to Koreans when they hear it and they will sometimes give me one of those "you ain't from around here, are you" looks.
Great article, but your mention of stereotypes in Korea made me more interested in that. Would love to see you post about what Koreans think of other Koreans. I know on koreabang.com it seems anytime something weird happens in Jeolla, there are a few comments about how crazy Jeolla people are.
ReplyDeleteOh, also. If I chat on kakao with a Korean, they often spell the verb ending 요 as 여. I assume it's pronounced like that also but don't listen well enough to really tell the difference. Is that just a Seoul thing? And many girls add ㅇ to the ends of some words. For example, 네 becomes 넹. I'm guessing this is just kind of like 애교 though.
DeleteI can't tell you about 여/요, but I can assure you that yes, it's right - girls put "ㅇ" at the end to sound "cute".
DeleteThe way Koreans text (that's basically what Kakaotalk is), is a lot like the way Americans text - there are many forms of texting shorthand, online slang, abbreviations - and cute word endings. The 요 / 여 / 유 endings are used by Koreans all over the peninsula (well ... the southern half anyway - can't speak for the folks up north).
DeleteThank you so much for this!
ReplyDeleteCan people from Seoul easily recognize and immitate the tones you talked about?
Haha, I remember the incident with former prez. Kim Young-sam. I think that's one of the reason why I never really made fun of stuff that George W. Bush said... There are some things that some people just can't say.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of dialects, because the majority of my family are from Gyeongbuk, but I live in the States, I generally speak 'neutral' Korea, though I've been told by a few people that my pitch goes up and down sometimes like Gyeongsang dialect.
Also, I never new that 억수로 wasn't standard Korean until I hit college... XD We just used it at our house, so I thought it was normal Korean. Same with 새그럽다. I once said that to my mom's friend, and she was all, "?? I don't understand. What is that?"
When I was teaching English in Gyeongbuk, I had middle school students who would make fun of the Seoul 'dialect', and how everything sounds like a question and kind of.. girly, I guess, haha. Even the girls would would shudder and shriek at how 느끼해 it sounded sometimes. A couple students told me that there was an experiment that some people did at how fast people from different regions could say things, and they were very proud that people from the Gyeongsang region could say things the fastest.
Here's a bit more on 전라 dialect, much of what I wrote based on my learning the dialect as a Peace Corps Korea Volunteer: Inflection
ReplyDelete전라 inflection rolls like a hill. Unlike Seoul Dialect, it does not go up a hill, go over roll and stop before going over. Instead, it rolls up and down within the sentence, especially on connecting words. It's smooth and does not spike in volume or pitch.
[edit] Pronunciation
Regarding pronunciation differences, there is often a tendency to pronounce only the second vowel in a diphthong. For example, the verb ending that indicates "since", -neundae, becomes -neundi (는디). The name of the large city Gwangju (광주) becomes Gangju (강주), and the verb 'to not have, to be absent', eopda 없다, becomes very close to upda (웂다). There are some words that are unique to the dialect as well: utjeseo (웆제서) for "why", sibang (시방) for "now", and dwitgan (뒷간) for "outhouse". Jeolla dialect speakers have a tendency to end their sentences with -ing, (잉) especially when asking a favor. This can be compared to the word "eh," as used by some Canadians.--Snow (talk) 12:18, 1 June 2013 (PDT)
[edit] Grammar
Perhaps the most obvious difference comes from common verb endings. In place of the usual -seumnida (습니다 [sɯmnita]) or -sehyo (세요 [sɛjo]) endings, a southern Jeolla person will use -rau (라우 [ɾau]) or -jirau (지라우 [tɕiɾau]) appended to the verb. For a causative verb ending, expressed in standard language with a -nikka (니까 [nik͈a]) ending, Jeolla people use -ngkkei (능게 [ŋk͈ei]), so the past tense of the verb "did" ("because someone did it"), haesseunikka (했으니까 [hɛs͈ɯnik͈a]), becomes haesseungkke (했승게 [hɛs͈ɯŋk͈e]). A similar sound is used for the quotative ending, "somebody said...". The usual verb endings are -dago (다고 [tako]) and -rago (라고 [ɾako]). Jeolla dialect prefers -dangkke (당게 [taŋk͈e]). --Snow (talk) 12:17, 1 June 2013 (PDT)
From: http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=%EC%A0%84%EB%9D%BC_dialect
One friendly suggested amendment:
Delete시방 and 뒷간 are not exclusive to Jeollado. They are simply older words that managed to survive in areas outside of Seoul. Those two words appear in 충청도 and 경상도 as well, particularly among older people.
Ha! Did not know that, never having spent much time in 충청도 and 경상도. Thanks. I'd always thought, though, 경상도 and 전라 maintained as much enmity and difference as possible, at least since Silla stomped Paekje.
DeleteMy father is well-educated and speaks standard Korean most of the time, but when he gets excited and feels comfortable with the people around him, he slips into his native Daegu dialect. We had dinner with friends and deep into the conversation, they couldn't understand his dialect. For instance, instead of using the usual term, he'd use a completely different term from that dialect.
ReplyDeleteAnother funny story:
My father worked in a company in Seoul for his first job out of college and got off to a bad start with all the office secretaries because of his dialect (reflecting country-ish Daegu up-bringing). Kind of like calling a female colleague "baby" or "honey" in a professional setting. So they all shunned him, which I think is hilarious.
Also, as you say about Gyeongsang in your post, he does not pronounce ㅡ ("eu"), so that explains why he never pronounces my Korean name correctly (which is 승연). Haha!
This brought a smile to my face. I have been teaching in Korea for several years and have spent my entire time in Korea in Daegu. So, my spoken Korean has taken on a very strong Daegu accent (which has made for some humorous times when visiting Seoul). When I was first trying to learn Korean, I had a lot of difficulty with the the listening sections of my book because it just didn't sound "right".
ReplyDeleteOne thing I always wonder about these lists is why nobody ever mentions more current Jeju dialect. Young kids don't speak in old, hardcore, indecipherable Jeju dialect, but they speak noticeably different to standard Korean, especially:
ReplyDeleteㅆ다 -> ㄴ (so 있다/없다 -> 인/언, and past tense 갔다 -> 간, 했다 -> 핸, etc.)
~고 있다 -> ~맨 (ie. "뭐 하고 있니?" becomes "뭐 하맨?")
One of the cutest accents, in my opinion! :)
How do you say "Happy Birthday!" in a Jeolla dialect? Would it be 생일축하한디?
ReplyDeleteThank for this lesson, i am really interested with Korean dialect eps Jeju dialect, i start obsessed with it since i watch the drama called "맨도롱 또똣" (warm & Cozy) i really amazed by the different gaps between Jeju dialect and standard Korean word.
ReplyDelete