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, , or ( ko, 고려말, russian: Корё мар), otherwise known as () by speakers of the dialect, is a dialect of
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
spoken by the
Koryo-saram Koryo-saram ( ko, 고려사람; russian: Корё сарам; uk, Корьо-сарам) is the name which ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. The term is composed of two Korean words: "", a historical name fo ...
, ethnic Koreans in the countries of the
former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
. It is descended from the
Hamgyŏng dialect The Hamgyŏng dialect, or Northeastern Korean, 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 originally united as Hamgyŏng Province. Since ...
and multiple other varieties of Northeastern Korean. Koryo-mar is often reported as difficult to understand by speakers of standard Korean; this may be compounded by the fact that the majority of Koryo-saram today use
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and not Korean as their
first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother to ...
. According to
German Kim German Nikolaevich Kim (russian: Герман Николаевич Ким) (born 16 July 1953) is Director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Al-Farabi University, Kazakhstan and one of the leading internationally recognized scholar of the Koryo- ...
, 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 and in ...
.


Names

In the speech of
Koryo-saram Koryo-saram ( ko, 고려사람; russian: Корё сарам; uk, Корьо-сарам) is the name which ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. The term is composed of two Korean words: "", a historical name fo ...
, 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, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, the dialect is referred to as Goryeomal () or Central Asian Korean (). In
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
and other former Soviet states, 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 P ...
, while both Northern and Southern forms have occurred after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
. However, some modern writers, most notably Lavrenti Son, have created plays and short stories in Koryo-mar using
Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The l ...
. A movement for the
romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...
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, when spoken, has word accents in which one syllable in a word or morpheme is more prominent than the others, but the accentuated syllable is indicated by a contrasting pitch ( linguistic tone) rather than by loudness ...
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) or possibly certain household items. The Korean language as taught in universities of the
post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
is Standard Korean, 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.


See also

*
Koreanic languages Koreanic is a small language family consisting of the Korean language, Korean and Jeju language, Jeju languages. The latter is often described as a dialect of Korean, but is distinct enough to be considered a separate language. Alexander Vovin s ...
* Cyrillization of Korean *
Korean dialects A number of Korean dialects are spoken on the Korean Peninsula. The peninsula is very mountainous and each dialect's "territory" corresponds closely to the natural boundaries between different geographical regions of Korea. Most of the dialects ...
*
Yukjin dialect The Yukjin dialect is a dialect of Korean language, Korean or a Koreanic language spoken in the historic Yukjin region of northeastern Korea, south of the Tumen River. It is unusually conservative in terms of phonology and lexicon, preserving man ...


References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koryo-Mar Korean dialects Languages of Kazakhstan Languages of Kyrgyzstan Languages of Russia Languages of Uzbekistan