Koryo-mar (; ) is a dialect of Korean spoken by

Koryo-saram Koryo-saram (; ) or Koryoin () are ethnic Koreans of the post-Soviet states, former Soviet Union, who descend from Koreans that were living in the Russian Far East. Koreans first began settling in the Russian Far East in the late 19th century. ...

, ethnic Koreans who live in the countries of the

former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

. It is descended from the

Hamgyŏng dialect The Northeast Dialect, sometimes called the Hamgyong Dialect ( ''hamgyŏng pang'ŏn''), is a dialect of the Korean language used in most of North and South Hamgyŏng and Ryanggang provinces of northeastern North Korea, all of which were origina ...

and multiple other varieties of Northeastern Korean. Koryo-mar is often reported as difficult to understand by speakers of

standard Korean A number of Korean dialects are spoken in Korea and by the Korean diaspora. The peninsula is very mountainous and each dialect's "territory" corresponds closely to the natural boundaries between different geographical regions of Korea. Most of t ...

; this may be compounded by the fact that the majority of Koryo-saram today use

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and not Korean as their

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

. According to German Kim, Koryo-mar is not widely used in the media and is not taught in schools. Thus it can be classified as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Names

In the speech of

, the language is referred to as ( / ), with several alternative pronunciations, including () and (). In

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, the dialect is referred to as Goryeomal () or Central Asian Korean (). In

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and other

former Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

, the language is referred to as () or (), of which the former reflects the spoken form while the latter reflects the literary form of Korean.

Orthography

Speakers do not generally use Koryo-mar as a literary language. Written Korean during the Soviet period tended to follow the

North Korean standard language North Korean standard language or () is the North Korean standard version of the Korean language. Munhwaŏ was adopted as the standard in 1966. The adopting proclamation stated that the Pyongan dialect spoken in the North Korean capital Pyon ...

, while both Northern and Southern forms have occurred after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

. However, some modern writers, most notably Lavrenti Son, have created plays and short stories in Koryo-mar using

Hangul The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...

. A movement for the

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

of Koryo-mar took place in the late 1930s, promoted by various government officials and linguists, but it did not have much success.

Phonology

Characteristics of Koryo-mar distinct from that of Standard Korean include the following phonological differences: * ㄹ is or in all positions except when geminate, where it is pronounced the same as standard Korean * frequent loss of ㄹ before

coronal consonant Coronals are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Among places of articulation, only the coronal consonants can be divided into as many articulation types: apical (using the tip of the tongue), laminal (using the ...

s * A

pitch accent A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch (music), pitch (tone (linguistics), linguistic tone) rather than by vol ...

system that distinguishes minimal pairs; it has two tones, high and low * the retention of MK initial n before and * ㄱ is before ㅣ * ㄴ and ㅇ at the end of a word are simplified to 이 * ㅏ, ㅔ are pronounced as ㅑ; and ㅗ is pronounced as ㅔ * ㅗ, ㅡ are simplified to ㅜ; and ㅣ is interchangeable with ㅡ * is pronounced as due to Russian influence * ㅈ is pronounced as ㄷ * ㄱ is pronounced as ㅂ in the middle of a word

Pedagogy

Koryo-mar is not taught as a subject or used as the

medium of instruction A medium of instruction (plural: media of instruction, or mediums of instruction) is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the offic ...

in any schools. Furthermore, due to the encouragement of younger generations to learn Russian the decline of Koryo-mar usage in families has also accelerated, with most Koryo-saram (with the exception of the elderly) using Koryo-mar words only when talking about food (especially

Koryo-saram cuisine Koryo-saram are ethnic Koreans of the Post-Soviet states, former Soviet Union. They have a distinct style of cuisine that is descended from Korean cuisine and influenced by the cuisines of various countries they have lived in. They are often consi ...

) or possibly certain household items. The Korean language as taught in universities of the

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

Standard Korean A number of Korean dialects are spoken in Korea and by the Korean diaspora. The peninsula is very mountainous and each dialect's "territory" corresponds closely to the natural boundaries between different geographical regions of Korea. Most of t ...

, with instructors being native to or trained. In one instance, a South Korean professor tried to teach Koryo-mar at Almaty State University, but he did not achieve much success. However, despite the stark decline in the use of Koryo-mar, certain words, especially regarding food and household items, as well as familial titles to a certain extent have continued to be passed down to varying degrees to younger generations of Koryo-saram through exposure by older generations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koryo-mar Korean dialects Languages of Kazakhstan Languages of Kyrgyzstan Languages of Russia Languages of Ukraine Languages of Uzbekistan Koryo-saram culture