Korean language North-South differences
Encyclopedia
There are a small number of differences in the standard forms of the Korean language
used in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea
; hereafter "the North") and the Republic of Korea (South Korea
; hereafter "the South"), due to the length of time Korea has been divided.
, but with the establishments of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948, the two states have taken on differing policies regarding the language. In 1954, North Korea set out the rules for Korean orthography in , and although this was only a minor revision in orthography that created little difference from that used in the South, from then on, what is considered the standard language in the North and the South gradually differed more and more from each other.
In the 1960s, under the influence of the Juche
idea came a big change in linguistic policies in North Korea. On 3 January 1964, Kim Il-sung
issued his teachings on "A Number of Issues on the Development of the Korean language" , and on 14 May 1966 on the topic "In Rightly Advancing the Racial Characteristics of the Korean language" , from which the "Standard Korean Language" rules followed in the same year, issued by the National Language Revision Committee that was directly under the control of the cabinet. From then on, bigger differences have come about between the standard languages used in the North and the South. In 1987 North Korea revised the aforementioned rules further, and these have remained in use until today. In addition, the rules for spacing were separately laid out in the "Standard Spacing Rules in Writing Korean" in 2000, but have since been superseded by "Rules for Spacing in Writing Korean" , issued in 2003.
South Korea continued to use the Han-geul Matchumbeop Tong-iran as defined in 1933, until its amendment "Korean Orthography" , together with "Standard Language Regulations" , were issued in 1988, which remain in use today.
As with the Korean phonology
article, this article uses IPA
symbols in pipes for morphophonemics, slashes / / for phoneme
s, and brackets [ ] for allophone
s. Pan-Korean romanized words are largely in Revised Romanization, and North Korean-specific romanized words are largely in McCune-Reischauer
. Also, for the sake of consistency, this article also phonetically transcribes as /ʌ/ for pan-Korean and South-specific phonology, and as /ɔ/ for North-specific phonology.
In the South, the compound vowel jamos ㅐ ɛ, ㅒ jɛ, ㅔ e, ㅖ je, ㅘ wa, ㅙ wɛ, ㅚ ø, ㅝ wʌ, ㅞ we, ㅟ y, ㅢ ɰi and the tensed consonants ㄲ k͈, ㄸ t͈, ㅃ p͈, ㅆ s͈, ㅉ tɕ͈ are not treated as separate jamo, whereas in the North these are regarded as separate jamo.
Some jamo have different names in the North and in the South.
The names used in the South are the ones found in Hunmongjahoe (훈몽자회, 訓蒙字會, published 1527), whereas the names used in the North are formed mechanically with the pattern "letter + 이 + 으 + letter". Also for the tensed consonants, in the South they are called "double" (쌍- /s͈aŋ-/) consonants, whereas in the North they are called "strong" (된- /tøːn-/) consonants.
In the North, diphthongs are treated as jamo in their own right and are put after the basic vowels, whereas in the South the diphthongs come between the basic vowels. For example, after a comes the diphthong ɛ, the combination of and i; or after o come the diphthongs wa, wɛ and ø, which begin with , and so on. Also with the consonant jamo (∅ and ŋ), in the North, it is placed between s and tɕ when pronounced as ŋ , but placed after all consonants (i.e. after tɕ͈) when used as a placeholder indicating null initial consonant , for syllables that begin with a vowel.
The standard languages in the North and the South share the same types and the same number of phoneme
s, but there are some differences in the actual pronunciations. The South Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect
as spoken in Seoul
, while the North Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect
as spoken in Pyongyang
.
In Sino-Korean words, some of n and all of l that come in the beginning of a word are dropped in pronunciation and not written out in the South, whereas all initial and are written out in the North. For instance, the common last name 이 [i] (often written out in English as Lee or Rhee, seemingly staying true to the North Korean typography and pronunciation), is written and pronounced as 리 [ɾi] in North Korean. Furthermore, the South Korean word 여자 [jʌdʑa], meaning woman, is similarly written as 녀자 [njɔdʑa] in North Korea. But as this latter pronunciation was artificially crafted in the 1960s, it is not uncommon for older speakers to be unable to pronounce initial and properly, thus pronouncing such words in the same way as they are pronounced in the South.
, it would be [ʌ̹] or [ɔ̜] for the one in Seoul dialect and [ɔ] for the one in Pyongyang dialect. Due to this roundedness
, speakers of the Seoul dialect would find that ㅓ as pronounced by speakers of the Pyongyang dialect sounds close to the vowel ㅗ /o/. Additionally, the difference between the vowels /ɛ/ and /e/ is slowly diminishing amongst the younger speakers of the Seoul dialect. It is not well known if this is also happening with the Pyongyang dialect.
speak as if they are roaring, this forceful way of speaking in an agitating tone is intentional and should not be considered as the typical way that Pyongyang dialect speakers speak.
Similarly, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄴ n and is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semi-vowel sound [j] (i.e. when ㄴ is followed by one of i, jʌ, jo and ju), in the South this ㄴ is replaced by ㅇ ∅, whereas this remains unchanged in the North.
These are thus pronounced as written in the North as ㄴ n and ㄹ l. However, even in the South, sometimes in order to disambiguate the surnames (柳 [ju]) and (林 [im]) from (兪 [ju]) and (任 [im]), the former may be written or pronounced as (柳 [ɾju]) and (林 [ɾim]).
Some hanja characters are pronounced differently.
Also in the North, the hanja 讐 is usually pronounced [su], but (only) in the word 怨讐 ("enemy"), this is pronounced [s͈u]. It is thought that this is to avoid the word being the same as 元帥 ("military general"), written as wɔn.su.
In the first example, in the South the part shows that the etymological origin is forgotten, and the word is written as pronounced as , whereas in the North the first part is seen to come from and thus the whole word is written . Conversely in the second example, the South spelling catches the word as the combination of and , whereas in the North this is no longer recognised and thus the word is written as pronounced as .
In the above, in the rules of the South, auxiliaries coming after or an adnominal form allow the space before them to be omitted, while the space after cannot be omitted.
Note that since the spacing rules in the South are often not known, not followed or make spacing optional, spellings vary from place to place. For example, taking the word , people who see this as two words will add a space, and people who see this as one word will write it without a space. Thus, the spacing depends on how one views what "one word" consists of, and hence while spacing is standardised in the South, in reality the standard does not matter much.
) and 김정일 (Kim Jong-il
) are always set off in bold.
The word that is used to mean "friend" in the North was originally a native Korean word used across the whole of Korea, but after the division of Korea, North Korea began to use it as a translation of the Russian
term товарищ (friend, comrade
), and since then the word has come to mean "comrade" in the South as well and has fallen out of use there.
Words like and are also sometimes heard in various dialects in South Korea.
There are also some words that only exist in the North. The verb (to break) and its passive form (to be broken) have no exactly corresponding words in the South.
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
used in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
; hereafter "the North") and the Republic of Korea (South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
; hereafter "the South"), due to the length of time Korea has been divided.
Overview
Korean orthography, as defined by the Korean Language Society in 1933 in the "Proposal for Unified Korean Orthography" continued to be used by the North and the South after the end of Japanese rule of KoreaKorea under Japanese rule
Korea was under Japanese rule as part of Japan's 35-year imperialist expansion . Japanese rule ended in 1945 shortly after the Japanese defeat in World War II....
, but with the establishments of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948, the two states have taken on differing policies regarding the language. In 1954, North Korea set out the rules for Korean orthography in , and although this was only a minor revision in orthography that created little difference from that used in the South, from then on, what is considered the standard language in the North and the South gradually differed more and more from each other.
In the 1960s, under the influence of the Juche
Juche
Juche or Chuch'e is a Korean word usually translated as "self-reliance." In the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , "Juche" refers specifically to a political thesis of Kim Il-sung, the Juche Idea, that identifies the Korean masses as the masters of the country's development...
idea came a big change in linguistic policies in North Korea. On 3 January 1964, Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
issued his teachings on "A Number of Issues on the Development of the Korean language" , and on 14 May 1966 on the topic "In Rightly Advancing the Racial Characteristics of the Korean language" , from which the "Standard Korean Language" rules followed in the same year, issued by the National Language Revision Committee that was directly under the control of the cabinet. From then on, bigger differences have come about between the standard languages used in the North and the South. In 1987 North Korea revised the aforementioned rules further, and these have remained in use until today. In addition, the rules for spacing were separately laid out in the "Standard Spacing Rules in Writing Korean" in 2000, but have since been superseded by "Rules for Spacing in Writing Korean" , issued in 2003.
South Korea continued to use the Han-geul Matchumbeop Tong-iran as defined in 1933, until its amendment "Korean Orthography" , together with "Standard Language Regulations" , were issued in 1988, which remain in use today.
As with the Korean phonology
Korean phonology
This article is a technical description of the phonetics and phonology of Korean.Korean has many allophones, so it is important here to distinguish morphophonemics from corresponding phonemes and allophones .-Consonants:The following are phonemic transcriptions of Korean consonants.# are voiced ...
article, this article uses IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
symbols in pipes for morphophonemics, slashes / / for phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s, and brackets [ ] for allophone
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
s. Pan-Korean romanized words are largely in Revised Romanization, and North Korean-specific romanized words are largely in McCune-Reischauer
McCune-Reischauer
McCune–Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced McCune–Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000...
. Also, for the sake of consistency, this article also phonetically transcribes as /ʌ/ for pan-Korean and South-specific phonology, and as /ɔ/ for North-specific phonology.
Jamo
The same jamo (letters) are used to write the language in the North and the South. However in the North, the stroke that distinguishes ㅌ tʰ from ㄷ t is written above rather than inside the letter.In the South, the compound vowel jamos ㅐ ɛ, ㅒ jɛ, ㅔ e, ㅖ je, ㅘ wa, ㅙ wɛ, ㅚ ø, ㅝ wʌ, ㅞ we, ㅟ y, ㅢ ɰi and the tensed consonants ㄲ k͈, ㄸ t͈, ㅃ p͈, ㅆ s͈, ㅉ tɕ͈ are not treated as separate jamo, whereas in the North these are regarded as separate jamo.
Some jamo have different names in the North and in the South.
| Jamo | South Korean name | North Korean name |
|---|---|---|
| [kijʌk̚] | [kiɯk̚] | |
| [tiɡɯt̚] | [tiɯt̚] | |
| [ɕiot̚] | [ɕiɯt̚] | |
| [s͈aŋɡijʌk̚] | [tøːnɡiɯk̚] | |
| [s͈aŋdiɡɯt̚] | [tøːndiɯt̚] | |
| [s͈aŋbiɯp̚] | [tøːnbiɯp̚] | |
| [s͈aŋɕiot̚] | [tøːnɕiɯt̚] | |
| [s͈aŋdʑiɯt̚] | [tøːndʑiɯt̚] |
The names used in the South are the ones found in Hunmongjahoe (훈몽자회, 訓蒙字會, published 1527), whereas the names used in the North are formed mechanically with the pattern "letter + 이 + 으 + letter". Also for the tensed consonants, in the South they are called "double" (쌍- /s͈aŋ-/) consonants, whereas in the North they are called "strong" (된- /tøːn-/) consonants.
Jamo order
- Vowels
- South:
a ɛ ja jɛ ʌ e jʌ je o wa wɛ ø jo u wʌ we y ju ɯ ɰi i - North:
a ja ɔ jɔ o jo u ju ɯ i ɛ jɛ e je ø y ɰi wa wɔ wɛ we- Consonants
- South:
k k͈ n t t͈ l m p p͈ s s͈ ∅/ŋ tɕ tɕ͈ tɕʰ kʰ tʰ pʰ h - North:
k n t l m p s ŋ tɕ tɕʰ kʰ tʰ pʰ h k͈ t͈ p͈ s͈ tɕ͈ ∅
In the North, diphthongs are treated as jamo in their own right and are put after the basic vowels, whereas in the South the diphthongs come between the basic vowels. For example, after a comes the diphthong ɛ, the combination of and i; or after o come the diphthongs wa, wɛ and ø, which begin with , and so on. Also with the consonant jamo (∅ and ŋ), in the North, it is placed between s and tɕ when pronounced as ŋ , but placed after all consonants (i.e. after tɕ͈) when used as a placeholder indicating null initial consonant , for syllables that begin with a vowel.
Pronunciation
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s, but there are some differences in the actual pronunciations. The South Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect
Korean dialects
A number of different Korean dialects are spoken in the Korean peninsula. The peninsula is extremely mountainous, and each dialect's "territory" corresponds closely to the natural boundaries between different geographical regions...
as spoken in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, while the North Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect
Korean dialects
A number of different Korean dialects are spoken in the Korean peninsula. The peninsula is extremely mountainous, and each dialect's "territory" corresponds closely to the natural boundaries between different geographical regions...
as spoken in Pyongyang
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...
.
Consonants
The following differences are recognised in the consonants. In the Seoul dialect, ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅉ are typically pronounced with alveolo-palatal affricates [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [tɕ͈], whereas in the Pyongyang dialect they are typically pronounced with alveolar affricates [ts], [tsʰ], [ts͈]. Also, and can be pronounced without palatalisation as [tsi] and [si] in the Pyongyang dialect.In Sino-Korean words, some of n and all of l that come in the beginning of a word are dropped in pronunciation and not written out in the South, whereas all initial and are written out in the North. For instance, the common last name 이 [i] (often written out in English as Lee or Rhee, seemingly staying true to the North Korean typography and pronunciation), is written and pronounced as 리 [ɾi] in North Korean. Furthermore, the South Korean word 여자 [jʌdʑa], meaning woman, is similarly written as 녀자 [njɔdʑa] in North Korea. But as this latter pronunciation was artificially crafted in the 1960s, it is not uncommon for older speakers to be unable to pronounce initial and properly, thus pronouncing such words in the same way as they are pronounced in the South.
Vowels
The following differences are recognised in the vowels. The vowel ㅓ /ʌ/ is not as rounded in the Seoul dialect as it is in the Pyongyang dialect. If expressed in IPAInternational Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
, it would be [ʌ̹] or [ɔ̜] for the one in Seoul dialect and [ɔ] for the one in Pyongyang dialect. Due to this roundedness
Roundedness
In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. That is, it is vocalic labialization. When pronouncing a rounded vowel, the lips form a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are pronounced with the lips relaxed...
, speakers of the Seoul dialect would find that ㅓ as pronounced by speakers of the Pyongyang dialect sounds close to the vowel ㅗ /o/. Additionally, the difference between the vowels /ɛ/ and /e/ is slowly diminishing amongst the younger speakers of the Seoul dialect. It is not well known if this is also happening with the Pyongyang dialect.
Pitch
The pitch patterns in the Seoul and Pyongyang dialects differ, but there has been little research in detail. On the other hand, in the Chosŏnmal Taesajŏn (조선말대사전), published in 1992, where the pitches for certain words are shown in a three-pitch system, a word such as 꾀꼬리 ([k͈øk͈oɾi] – Korean nightingale) is marked as having pitch "232" (where "2" is low and "3" is high), from which one can see some difference in pitch patterns from the Seoul dialect. As an aside, while some find that the announcers on Korean Central TelevisionKorean Central Television
Korean Central Television is a state news broadcaster in North Korea, located in the capital city, Pyongyang. KCTV is the only official source of television news for North Koreans. The reach of the programming is limited, as there are only around 1.2 million television sets in the country of over...
speak as if they are roaring, this forceful way of speaking in an agitating tone is intentional and should not be considered as the typical way that Pyongyang dialect speakers speak.
어 / 여
In words where the word stem ends in ㅣ i, ㅐ ɛ, ㅔ e, ㅚ ø, ㅟ y, ㅢ ɰi, in forms where -어 /-ʌ/ is appended to these endings in the South, -여 /-jɔ/ is instead appended in the North. In actual pronunciation, however, the [j] sound often accompanies the pronunciation of such words even in the South.| Inflected word | South inflection | North inflection | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| [pʰida] | [pʰiʌ (pʰjʌ)] | [pʰijɔ] | bloom |
| [nɛːda] | [nɛʌ] | [nɛjɔ] | take out |
| [seːda] | [seʌ] | [sejɔ] | count |
| [tøda] | [tøʌ (twɛ)] | [tøjɔ] | become |
| [t͈wida] | [t͈wiʌ] | [t͈wijɔ] | jump |
| [çida] | [çiʌ] | [çijɔ] | white |
ㅂ-irregular inflections
When the word root of a ㅂ-irregular inflected word has two syllables or more (for example, 고맙다 [komap̚t͈a]), the vowel harmony is ignored in its inflections in the South, while it is kept in the North (as it also was in the South before the 1988 Han-geul Matchumbeop). The vowel harmony is kept in both the South and the North if the word root has only one syllable (for example, 돕다 [toːp̚t͈a]).| Inflected word | South inflection | North inflection | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| [komap̚t͈a] | [komawʌ] | [komawa] | thankful |
| [kak͈ap̚t͈a] | [kak͈awʌ] | [kak͈awa] | near |
Indication of tensed consonants after word endings that end with ㄹ
In word endings where the final consonant is ㄹ l, where the South spells -ㄹ까 -l.k͈a and -ㄹ쏘냐 -l.s͈.nja to indicate the tensed consonants, in the North these are spelt -ㄹ가 -l.ka，-ㄹ소냐 -l.so.nja instead. These etymologically are formed by attaching to the adnominal form (관형사형 gwanhyeongjahyeong) that ends in ㄹ, and in the North, the tensed consonants are denoted with normal consonants. Also, the word ending -ㄹ게 -l.ɡe used to be spelt -ㄹ께 -l.k͈e in the South, but has since been changed in the Hangeul Matchumbeop of 1988, and is now spelt -ㄹ게 just like in the North.Initial ㄴ / ㄹ (두음법칙 Dueum beopchik, "initial sound rule")
Initial ㄴ n / ㄹ l appearing in Sino-Korean words are kept in the North. In the South, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄹ and is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semi-vowel sound [j] (i.e. when ㄹ is followed by one of ㅣ i, ㅑ ja, ㅕ jʌ, ㅖ je, ㅛ jo and ㅠ ju), ㄹ is replaced by ㅇ ∅; when this ㄹ is followed by other vowels it is replaced by ㄴ n. In the North, the initial ㄹ is kept.| South | North | Hanja | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| [isʌŋɡje] | [ɾisɔŋɡje] | 李成桂 | Yi Seong-gye Taejo of Joseon Taejo of Joseon , born Yi Seong-gye, whose changed name is Yi Dan, was the founder and the first king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, and the main figure in overthrowing the Goryeo Dynasty... |
| [jʌːnsɯp̚] | [ɾjɔːnsɯp̚] | 練習 | practice |
| [nakʰa] | [ɾakʰa] | 落下 | fall |
| [nɛːŋsu] | [ɾɛːŋsu] | 冷水 | cold water |
Similarly, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄴ n and is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semi-vowel sound [j] (i.e. when ㄴ is followed by one of i, jʌ, jo and ju), in the South this ㄴ is replaced by ㅇ ∅, whereas this remains unchanged in the North.
| South | North | Hanja | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| [isɯŋ] | [nisɯŋ] | 尼僧 | priestess |
| [jʌdʑa] | [njɔdʑa] | 女子 | woman |
These are thus pronounced as written in the North as ㄴ n and ㄹ l. However, even in the South, sometimes in order to disambiguate the surnames (柳 [ju]) and (林 [im]) from (兪 [ju]) and (任 [im]), the former may be written or pronounced as (柳 [ɾju]) and (林 [ɾim]).
Hanja pronunciation
Where a Hanja is written mje or pʰje in the South, this is written me, pʰe in the North (but even in the South these are pronounced /me/) /pʰe/.| South | North | Hanja | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| mjebjʌl | mebjʌl | 袂別 | sad separation |
| pʰjeːswɛ | pʰeːswɛ | 閉鎖 | closure |
Some hanja characters are pronounced differently.
| South | North | Hanja |
|---|---|---|
| kjak̚ | kɔ | 醵 |
| wɛ | ø | 歪 |
Also in the North, the hanja 讐 is usually pronounced [su], but (only) in the word 怨讐 ("enemy"), this is pronounced [s͈u]. It is thought that this is to avoid the word being the same as 元帥 ("military general"), written as wɔn.su.
Sai siot (사이 시옷, "middle ㅅ")
When forming compound words from uninflected words, where the so-called "sai siot" is inserted in the South, this is left out in the North, but the pronunciation is the same as in the South.| South | North | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ［］ | chopsticks | ||
| ［］ | (tree) leaf |
Word stems in compound words
While the general rule is to write out the word stem from which the compound word is formed in its original form, in cases where the etymological origin is no longer remembered, this is no longer written in original form. This happens both in the North and in the South. However, whether a compound word is seen to have its etymological origin forgotten or not is seen differently by different people, and from this stem differences in the spellings of some words:| South | North | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| upright | ||
| cherry blossom |
In the first example, in the South the part shows that the etymological origin is forgotten, and the word is written as pronounced as , whereas in the North the first part is seen to come from and thus the whole word is written . Conversely in the second example, the South spelling catches the word as the combination of and , whereas in the North this is no longer recognised and thus the word is written as pronounced as .
Spacing
In the South, the rules of spacing are not very clear-cut, whereas in the North, these are very precise. In general, compared to the North, the writing in the South tends to include more spacing. The main differences are indicated below.Bound nouns
Before bound nouns (North: "不完全名詞 incomplete nouns"; South: "依存名詞 dependent nouns"), a space is added in the South but not in the North. This applies to counter words also, but the space is sometimes allowed to be omitted in the South.| South | North | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| my thing | ||
| to be able to do | ||
| one thing (counter word) |
Auxiliaries
Before auxiliaries, a space is inserted in the South but not in the North. Depending on the situation, however, the space may be omitted in the South.| South | North | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| to try to eat | ||
| to seem to come | ||
| to be reading | ||
| to want to sleep |
In the above, in the rules of the South, auxiliaries coming after or an adnominal form allow the space before them to be omitted, while the space after cannot be omitted.
Words indicating a single concept
Words formed from two or more words that indicate a single concept in principle are written with spaces in the South and without spaces in the North. However, proper nouns and specialised words may also be written without spaces in the South.| South | North | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Korean dictionary | ||
| state of economic recovery | ||
| Faculty of Humanities of Seoul National University |
Note that since the spacing rules in the South are often not known, not followed or make spacing optional, spellings vary from place to place. For example, taking the word , people who see this as two words will add a space, and people who see this as one word will write it without a space. Thus, the spacing depends on how one views what "one word" consists of, and hence while spacing is standardised in the South, in reality the standard does not matter much.
Emphasis
In the North, names of leaders 김일성 (Kim Il-sungKim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
) and 김정일 (Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
) are always set off in bold.
Vocabulary
The standard language in the South (표준어/標準語) is largely based on the Seoul dialect, and the standard language (문화어/文化語) in the North is largely based on the Pyongyang dialect. However, both in the North and in the South, the vocabulary and forms of the standard language come from Sajeonghan Joseoneo Pyojunmal Mo-eum 사정한 조선어 표준말 모음 published by the Korean Language Society in 1936, and so essentially there is very little difference in the basic vocabulary between the standard languages used in the North and the South. Nevertheless, due to the difference in political systems and social structure, newly-created words give rise to differences in vocabulary, and the number of these will probably increase further in the future.Differences due to the difference in political system or social structure
| South | North | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Korean Peninsula Korean Peninsula The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of... |
||
| Korean War Korean War The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union... |
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| Primary school | ||
| Friend |
The word that is used to mean "friend" in the North was originally a native Korean word used across the whole of Korea, but after the division of Korea, North Korea began to use it as a translation of the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
term товарищ (friend, comrade
Comrade
Comrade means "friend", "colleague", or "ally". The word comes from French camarade. The term is frequently used by left-wing organizations around the globe. "Comrade" has often become a stock phrase and form of address. This word has its regional equivalents available in many...
), and since then the word has come to mean "comrade" in the South as well and has fallen out of use there.
Differences in words of foreign origin
South Korea has borrowed a lot of English words, whereas North Korea has borrowed a number of Russian words, and there are numerous differences in words used between the two coming from these different borrowings. Even when the same English word is borrowed, how this word is transliterated into Korean may differ between the North and the South, resulting in different words being adapted into the corresponding standard languages. For names of other nations and their places, the principle is to base the transliteration on the English word in the South, and to base the transliteration on the word in the original language in the North.| South | North | Meaning | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korean | Transliteration | Origin | Korean | Transliteration | Origin | |
| teuraekteo | En. English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... tractor |
ttŭrakttorŭ | Ru. Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... трактор (traktor) |
tractor | ||
| seutaking | American En. stocking | sŭt'ok'ing | British En. stocking | stocking | ||
| Pollandeu | En. Poland | Ppolsŭkka | Pl. Polish language Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries... Polska |
Poland |
Other differences in vocabulary
The other differences between the standard languages in the North and in the South are thought to be due to the differences between the Seoul and Pyongyang dialects.| South | North | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korean | Transliteration | Korean | Transliteration | |
| oksusu | kangnaeng-i | corn | ||
| sure | talguji | cow cart | ||
| geowi | kesani | goose | ||
| mangchi | machi | hammer | ||
| sangchu | puru | lettuce | ||
| wi | u | on, above |
Words like and are also sometimes heard in various dialects in South Korea.
There are also some words that only exist in the North. The verb (to break) and its passive form (to be broken) have no exactly corresponding words in the South.
See also
- The National Institute of the Korean LanguageThe National Institute of the Korean LanguageThe National Institute of the Korean Language is the language regulator of the Korean language.It was created on January 23, 1991, by Presidential Decree No. 13163 . It is based in Seoul, South Korea....
(South Korea) - New Orthography for the Korean LanguageNew Orthography for the Korean LanguageThe New Korean Orthography was a spelling reform used in North Korea from 1948–1954. It added five consonants and one vowel letter to the hangul alphabet, making it what is believed to be a more morphophonologically "clear" approach to the Korean language.The reason for the reform is that some...