XIN
When talking about the variation of Korean language, people always firstly come up with the significant difference between North Korean language and South Korean language. For example, to me, the Korean language people speak in Pyongyang, North Korea sounds stiffer and more formal while the Korean language people use in Seoul, South Korea sounds milder, softer and more westernized. If you check the news broadcasting from North Korea and South Korea online, I bet you will be impressed by their huge difference. This is due to the fact that different vocabularies, expressions and tones have emerged and developed in different parts of the Korean Peninsula since it was divided at the 38th parallel in 1950 when Korean War began. But do you know that there’re other regions in the world where Korean community people speak Korean language that is neither the “standard Pyongyang Korean” nor the “standard Seoul Korean”?
The cases of Newfoundland English and Quebec French Van Herk (2012) mentions in the book reminds me of my hometown, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. It is a place located in the northeast part of China, bordering Russia and North Korea, where Korean ethnic minority speak, what I call, “Yanbian Korean”. The ancestors of Chinese Korean ethnics were originally victims of nature disasters or wars from the Korean Peninsula. After decades of years, Korean ethnic minorities have already settled down in Chinese northeast lands, with their culture developing and prospering. But the Korean language local people in my hometown speak resembles neither North Korean nor South Korean. The accent of “Yanbian Korean” is more similar to that of the North while the language expression is not restricted to traditional native Korean as in North Korea. Meanwhile, the usage of loanwords in “Yanbian Korean” is far less frequent compared with that in South Korean. To me, “Yanbian Korean” seems to be in the middle place between South Korean and North Korean. Besides, influenced by the Han people who speak Mandarin, “Yanbian Korean” turns out to be very “Chineselike”. For example, I can easily recognize the Hangul on shop hoardings in my hometown, for that nearly each Hangul is corresponding to a Chinese character respectively. However, to a Korean, the Hangul on the shop hoardings might make no sense since there is no such use in their language system. Another interesting point is that code switching between Chinese and Korean is very common for the Korean ethnics, which is another result of Chinese and Korean cultural integration.
Van Herk, G. (2012). What is sociolinguistics? (Linguistics in the world). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. (2012).
This was such an interesting read!!! Thank you!! My partner is from Seoul, and only very seldom do we think about the Korean speaking communities or descendants in China. We read this post together and it sparked a lovely discussion. Thank you!!
Hi Xin, your post on Yanbian Korean is interesting! I did not know Korean has so many variations.
While reading your post, I began to think that maybe for many, if not every, languages, there are a lot of variations. Also, your post reminds me of the influence of other languages on one language. Similarly to the impact of Chinese on Yanbian Korean, I knew my dialect has some similarities of Japanese, since my region was once colonized by Japan.
Mengting H.
Hello, Xin. I have always been quite interested in the Korean language variety, its culture, and lifestyle in Yanbian (and I feel it was a pity that I didn’t go to Yanbian when I travelled in the north east, but I travelled both in south Korea and north Korea when I was an undergrad). Speaking of variety, I think the Korean language is similar to the Taiwanese dialect in Taiwan-the dialect is referred to as Taiwanese while in the mainland it is referred to as Minnan (the same with south Korean people referring it to as한국어while in your hometown it is referred to as조선말right?). I am so glad that you bring up this topic and I would really like to hear from you more about your hometown (everything, seriously!).
-Chingheng
Thanks Xin for introducing many members of the class to a particular kind of language variation that they had no idea existed—I certainly didn’t know anything about Yanbian Korean! You make me want to get on a plane NOW and go spend time travelling around China…
Thank you for sharing this interesting and informative post. Actually I have heard of Yanbian Korean before, but had no idea of how it differs from South Korean or North Korean language and how it has been more or less influenced by Chinese. And I know a lot of people from Yanbian Korean minority group go to South Korea for study and work. I was wondering can they adapt to South Korean accent or diction very well and can their Yanbian language be identified by South Korean people easily?
Yidan