// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Koryo-mar say to the wall? "You're mar-velous
| Koryo-mar | |
|---|---|
| 고려말 | |
| Pronunciation | [ko.ɾjo.maɾ] |
| Native to | Uzbekistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan |
| Ethnicity | Korean |
Native speakers | (220,000 cited 1989)[citation needed] current number of speakers is unknown |
| Hangul | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | ko-143 |
| Koryo-mar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Korean name | |||||||
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 고려말 | ||||||
| Hancha | 高麗말 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Russian name | |||||||
| Russian | Корё мар | ||||||
| Romanization | Koryo mar | ||||||
Koryo-mar (Korean: 고려말; Russian: Корё мар) is a language[1] spoken by Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans who live in the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is descended from the Hamgyŏng dialect and multiple other varieties of Northeastern Korean.[2] Koryo-mar is often reported as difficult to understand by speakers of standard Korean due to the differences in writing, pronunciation, and vocabulary; this may be compounded by the fact that the majority of Koryo-saram today use Russian and not Korean as their first language.[3]
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.[4]
Names
[edit]In the speech of Koryo-saram, the language is referred to as Koryo-mar (고려말 / корё мар), with several alternative pronunciations, including Kore-mar (коре мар) and Kore-mari (коре мари).[citation needed]
In South Korea, the language is referred to as Goryeomal (고려말) or Central Asian Korean (중앙아시아한국어).
In Russia and other former Soviet states, the language is referred to as Koryo-mar (корё мар) or Koryo-mal' (корё маль), of which the former reflects the spoken form while the latter reflects the literary form of Korean.
Orthography
[edit]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, while both Northern and Southern forms have occurred[clarification needed] after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. However, some modern writers, most notably Lavrenti Son, have created plays and short stories in Koryo-mar using Hangul.[5]
A movement for the romanization of Koryo-mar took place in the late 1930s, promoted by various government officials and linguists, but it did not have much success.[6]
Phonology
[edit] |
Characteristics of Koryo-mar distinct from that of Standard Korean include the following phonological differences:[7]
- ㄹ is [ɾ] or [r] in all positions except when geminate, where it is pronounced the same as standard Korean
- frequent loss of ㄹ before coronal consonants
- A pitch accent system that distinguishes minimal pairs; it has two tones, high and low
- the retention of Middle Korean initial n before [i] and [j]
- ㄱ is [t͡ɕ] before ㅣ
- ㄴ and ㅇ at the end of a word are 이
- ㅏ, ㅔ are pronounced as ㅑ; and ㅗ is pronounced as ㅔ
- ㅗ, ㅡ are pronounced as ㅜ
- ㅣ is interchangeable with ㅡ
- [w] is pronounced as [v] due to Russian influence
- ㅈ is pronounced as ㄷ
- ㄱ is pronounced as ㅂ in the middle of a word
Pedagogy
[edit]The community had schools in the Far East, but this was disrupted permanently by their deportation to Central Asia.[8]
Koryo-mar is not taught as a subject or used as the medium of instruction 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 the majority of younger Koryo-saram 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 is Standard Korean, with instructors being native 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.[9]
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
[edit]
References
[edit]- ↑ Kim, German (2009). "Education and Diasporic Language: The Case of Koreans in Kazakhstan" (PDF). Acta Slavica Iaponica. 27. The Slavic-Eurasian Research Center: 103–123. hdl:2115/39584. ISSN 0288-3503.
- ↑ Kwak, Chung-gu (2007). "Data and Ressarches for Korean dialect in Central Asia" (PDF). Journal of Humanities (in Korean). 58: 231–272. hdl:10371/29722. ISSN 1598-3021 – via Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University.
- ↑ Khan, Valeriy Sergeevich. "Koreans and the Poly-ethnic Environment in Central Asia: The Experience of Eurasianism". Seoul: Academy of Korean Studies. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
- ↑ Kim, German (2009). "Education and Diasporic Language: The Case of Koreans in Kazakhstan" (PDF). Acta Slavica Iaponica. 27. The Slavic-Eurasian Research Center: 103–123. hdl:2115/39584. ISSN 0288-3503.
- ↑ Kim, Phil. "Forced Deportation and Literary Imagination". Seoul: Academy of Korean Studies. Archived from the original on 2005-07-29. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
- ↑ Kim, German. "The History, Culture, and Language of Koryo Saram" (PDF). Seoul: Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies. hdl:10371/63513. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
- ↑ Tranter, Nicolas (25 June 2012). Tranter, Nicolas (ed.). The Languages of Japan and Korea. Routledge Language Family Series. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203124741. ISBN 978-1-136-44658-0.
- ↑ King 2024.
- ↑ Kim, German. "Korean Diaspora in Kazakhstan: Question of Topical Problems for Minorities in Post-Soviet Space" (PDF). Almaty: Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences.
Further reading
[edit]- Reckel, Johannes; Schatz, Merle, eds. (2020), Korean Diaspora – Central Asia, Siberia and Beyond, Universitätsverlag Göttingen, doi:10.17875/gup2020-1307, ISBN 978-3-86395-451-2.
- King, Ross (May 2024). "Another 'language that failed'? The beginnings of 'Soviet' Korean in the Russian Far East, 1922–1937". Korean Linguistics. 20 (1). John Benjamins Publishing Company: 33–81. doi:10.1075/kl.00007.kin. eISSN 2212-9731. ISSN 0257-3784.
- Сон, Ж.Г. "Просветительская и образовательная деятельность корейцев на советском Дальнем Востоке (1920–1937)". koryo-saram.site.