North–South differences in the Korean language

Development

In 1954, North Korea set out the rules for Korean orthography (Korean: 조선어 철자법; MR: Chosŏnŏ Ch'ŏlchapŏp). Although this was only a minor revision in orthography that created little difference from that used in the South, from then on, the standard languages in the North and the South gradually differed more and more from each other.

On 3 January 1964, Kim Il Sung issued his teachings on "A Number of Issues on the Development of the Korean language" (조선어를 발전시키기 위한 몇 가지 문제; Chosŏnŏrŭl Palchŏnsik'igi Wihan Myŏt Kaji Munje), and on 14 May 1966 on the topic "In Rightly Advancing the National Characteristics of the Korean language" (조선어의 민족적 특성을 옳게 살려 나갈 데 대하여; Chosŏnŏŭi Minjokchŏk T'ŭksŏngŭl Olk'e Sallyŏ Nagal Te Taehayŏ), from which the "Standard Korean Language" (조선말규범집; Chosŏnmalgyubŏmchip) 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, more important differences came about between the standard language 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in the "Standard Spacing Rules in Writing Korean" (조선말 띄여쓰기규범; Chosŏnmal Ttiyŏssŭgigyubŏm) in 2000 but have since been superseded by "Rules for Spacing in Writing Korean" (띄여쓰기규정; Ttiyŏssŭgigyujŏng), issued in 2003.

South Korea continued to use the Hangeul Matchumbeop Tong-iran as defined in 1933, until its amendment "Korean Orthography" (Korean: 한글 맞춤법; RR: Hangeul Matchumbeop), together with "Standard Language Regulations" (Korean: 표준어 규정; RR: Pyojuneo Gyujeong), were issued in 1988 and amended in 2017.

As with the Korean phonology article, this article uses IPA symbols in pipes | | for morphophonemics, slashes / / for phonemes, and brackets [ ] for allophones. Pan-Korean romanized words are largely in Revised Romanization, and North Korean-specific romanized words are largely in McCune-Reischauer. For the sake of consistency, this article phonetically transcribes ㅓ as /ʌ/ for pan-Korean and South-specific phonology, and as /ɔ/ for North-specific phonology.

Hangul / Chosŏn'gŭl

The same Hangul / Chosŏn'gŭl 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, as is done in the South.

In the South, the vowel digraphs and trigraphs ㅐ |ɛ|, ㅒ |jɛ|, ㅔ |e|, ㅖ |je|, ㅘ |wa|, ㅙ |wɛ|, ㅚ |ø|, ㅝ |wʌ|, ㅞ |we|, ㅟ |y|, ㅢ |ɰi|, and the consonant digraphs ㄲ |k͈|, ㄸ |t͈|, ㅃ |p͈|, ㅆ |s͈|, ㅉ |tɕ͈|, are not treated as separate letters, whereas in the North they are. Some letters and digraphs have different names in the North and in the South:

The names used in the South are the ones found in the Hunmongjahoe (훈몽자회, 訓蒙字會, published 1527). 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, while in the North, they are called "strong" (된- /tøːn-/) consonants.

Sort order

Initial consonants

Vowels

Final consonants

In the North, the consonant letter ㅇ (|∅| and |ŋ|) is placed between ㅅ |s| and ㅈ |tɕ| when pronounced |ŋ|, but after all consonants (i.e., after ㅉ |tɕ͈|) when used as a placeholder indicating a null initial consonant (for syllables that begin with a vowel).

Pronunciation

The standard languages in the North and the South share the same types and the same number of phonemes, but there are some differences in the actual pronunciations. The South Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect as spoken in Seoul, and the North Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect as spoken in Pyongyang. However, South Korean authors have argued that the standard language of North Korea is actually not based on the Pyongyang dialect, but rather on the 1933 norms, which are based on the Seoul dialect. For example, in the view of such authors, the dialect of Pyongyang has eight monophthongs, while the standard North Korean language has 10 monophthongs, like the old Seoul dialect.

Consonants

The following differences are recognized in the consonants. In the Seoul dialect, ㅈ, ㅊ and ㅉ are typically pronounced with alveolo-palatal affricates [tɕ], [tɕʰ], [tɕ͈]. In the Pyongyang dialect, they are typically pronounced with alveolar affricates [ts], [tsʰ], [ts͈]. Also, 지 and 시 can be pronounced without palatalization as [tsi] and [si] in the Pyongyang dialect.

In the South, when ㄴ /n/ or ㄹ /l/ are at the beginning of a Sino-Korean word and are followed immediately by /i/ or /j/, they are dropped, and when ㄹ /l/ is not immediately followed by /i/ or /j/, it becomes ㄴ /n/, with this change being indicated in the orthography. But all initial ㄴ /n/ and ㄹ /l/ are written out and pronounced in the North. For instance, the common last name 이 [i] (often written out in English as Lee, staying true to the more conservative typography and pronunciation), and the word 여자 [jʌdʑa] (woman) are written and pronounced as 리 [ɾi] and 녀자 [njɔdʑa] in North Korean. Furthermore, the South Korean word 내일 [nɛiɭ], which means "tomorrow", is written and pronounced as 래일 [ɾɛiɭ] in North Korea. But this latter pronunciation was artificially crafted using older pronunciations in the 1960s, so it is common for older speakers to be unable to pronounce initial ㄴ /n/ and ㄹ /l/ properly, thus pronouncing such words in the same way as they are pronounced in the South.

In South Korea, the liquid consonant [ɾ] does not come after the nasal consonants [m] and [ŋ]. In this position, ㄹ is pronounced as [n] rather than [ɾ]. But in North Korea, ㄹ before vowels ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, and ㅠ can remain [ɾ] in this context (or assimilate to [n]).

Vowels

Some South Korean linguists argue that the vowel system in the North Korean standard is based on the Pyongyang dialect. The vowel ㅓ /ʌ/ is not as rounded in the Seoul dialect as it is in the Pyongyang dialect. If expressed in IPA, 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 ㅐ /ɛ/ and ㅔ /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.

However, other South Korean linguists have argued that North Korean linguistic texts suggest that the vowel system and articulation positions of the North Korean standard language were completely consistent with those of the South. In particular, the rules stipulated 10 monophthongs, just like the old Seoul dialect.

Pitch

The pitch patterns in the Pyongyang and Seoul 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] "black-naped oriole") 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.

Orthography

Inflected words

In words in which 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, but -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.

In word endings where the final consonant is ㄹ |l|, where the South spells -ㄹ까 (|-[l.k͈a]|) and -ㄹ쏘냐 (|-[l.s͈o.nja]|) to indicate the tensed consonants, in the North these are spelled -ㄹ가 |-l.ka|，-ㄹ소냐 |-l.so.nja| instead. These etymologically are formed by attaching to the adnominal form (관형사형 gwanhyeongsahyeong) 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 spelled -ㄹ께 |-l.k͈e| in the South, but has since been changed in the Hangeul Matchumbeop of 1988, and is now spelled -ㄹ게 just like in the North.

Sino-Korean words

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 which is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semivowel sound [j] (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.

Similarly, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄴ |n| and is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semi-vowel sound [j] (when ㄴ is followed by one of ㅣ |i|, ㅕ |jʌ|, ㅛ |jo| and ㅠ |ju|), in the South, this ㄴ is replaced by ㅇ |∅|, but 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 유 (柳 Yu [ju]) and 임 (林 Im [im]) from 유 (兪 Yu [ju]) and 임 (任 Im [im]), the former may be written or pronounced as 류 Ryu ([ɾju]) and 림 Rim 林 ([ɾim]).

Where a Hanja is written 몌 |mje| or 폐 |pʰje| in the South, this is written 메 |me|, 페 |pʰe| in the North (but even in the South, these are pronounced 메 /me/, 페 /pʰe/).

Some hanja characters are pronounced differently.

Also in the North, the hanja 讐 is usually pronounced as 수 su [su], except in the word 怨讐/원쑤 wŏnssu ("enemy"), where it is pronounced as 쑤 ssu [s͈u]. It is thought that this is to avoid the word becoming a homonym with 元帥 ("marshal"), written as 원수 wŏnsu |wɔn.su|.

While the general rule is to write out the word stem from which the compound word is formed in its original form, but 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:

In the first example, in the South, the 올 |ol| part shows that the etymological origin is forgotten, and the word is written as pronounced as 올바르다 [olbaɾɯda] olbareuda, but in the North, the first part is seen to come from 옳다 olt'a |olh.ta| and thus the whole word is written 옳바르다 olbarŭda (pronounced the same as in the South). Conversely, in the second example, the South spelling catches the word as the combination of 벚 beot and 꽃 kkot, but in the North, this is no longer recognized and thus the word is written as pronounced as 벗꽃 pŏtkkot.

Spacing

In the South, the rules of spacing are not very clear-cut, but in the North, these are very precise. In general, compared to the North, the writing in the South tends to include more spacing. One likely explanation is that the North remains closer to the Sinitic orthographical heritage, where spacing is less of an issue than with a syllabary or alphabet such as Hangul. The main differences are indicated below.

Bound nouns

Before bound nouns (North: 불완전명사: purwanjŏn myŏngsa/不完全名詞 "incomplete nouns"; South: 의존 명사: uijon myeongsa/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.

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.

In the above, in the rules of the South, auxiliaries coming after -아/-어 or an adnominal form allow the space before them to be omitted, but the space after -고 cannot be omitted.

Compound nouns

Compound nouns that indicate a single concept in principle are written with spaces in the South, as in English, and without spaces in the North, as in other Germanic languages like German.

Note that, although spacing rules are technically standardized in the South, they are often optional, region-dependent, or simply not adhered to. Moreover, individual South Korean speakers might disagree on what counts as "a single concept" and thus space compound nouns differently.

Morphology

Nominal Morphology

When forming compound words from uninflected words, where the so-called "sai siot" (-ㅅ- interfix), originating from an Old Korean genitive suffix, is inserted in the South. This is left out in the North.

Pronominal Morphology

Besides the deferential second person pronoun 당신 tangsin, which is a noun in origin, there is the pronoun 동무 tongmu (plural 동무들 tongmudŭl), from a noun meaning "friend, comrade", in North Korea that may be used when speaking to peers.

The third person feminine pronoun in South Korea is 그녀 geu-nyeo (plural 그녀들 geu-nyeodeul) while in North Korea it is 그 녀자 kŭ nyŏja (plural 그 녀자들 kŭ nyŏjadŭl), both literally meaning "that woman".

Verbal Morphology

In the South, the polite suffixes are 요 /-jo/ after a vowel and 아요/어요 /-ajo, -ʌjo/ after a consonant. In the North, the suffixes 오 /-o/ and 소 /-s͈o/ are appended after a vowel and a consonant respectively. The northern forms of the suffix are older and considered obsolete in South Korea now. However, suffixes such as 아요/어요 and 요 are not uncommon in North Korea, and are even used in the nursery rhyme "대홍단감자(Daehongdan Potato)," which is a common expression in the standard North Korean language that can be used for children.

In the South, when the word root of a ㅂ-irregular inflected word has two or more syllables (for example, 고맙다 [komap̚t͈a] gomapda), the ㅂ is dropped and replaced with 우 in the next syllable. When conjugated to the polite speech level, the ㅂ-irregular stem resyllabifies with the 어요 -eoyo conjugation to form 워요 -woyo (as in 고맙다 gomapda → 고마우 gomau → 고마워요 gomaweoyo), appearing to ignore vowel harmony. ㅂ is not replaced with 우 in the North (as it also was in the South before the 1988 Hangeul 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] topta/dopda).

Vocabulary

The standard language in the South (표준어/標準語 pyojuneo) is largely based on the Seoul dialect, and the standard language (문화어/文化語 munhwaŏ) 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/Sajŏnghan Chŏson-ŏ P'yochunmal Moŭm 사정한 조선어 표준말 모음 published by the Korean Language Society in 1936, and so 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, each country is constantly adding different words to its vocabulary.

Differences due to the difference in political system or social structure

The word 동무 tongmu/dongmu that is used to mean "friend" in the North was originally 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 related to bureaucracies were used differently after two Korean states were proclaimed in 1948. In the North, ministries are generally called 성 sŏng/seong, and ministers are generally called 상 sang, as in Japanese 省. In the South, ministries are called 부 bu (Chinese 部), and ministers are called 장관 janggwan (Chinese 長官).

In the North, for words relating to the country of Korea like Korea as a whole or Korean clothes, the word 조선 Chosŏn is used. This word has a Chinese origin and refers to the oldest name of the civilization of the Korean peninsula which appeared in Chinese records. North Koreans use this word to refer to their country and the country of Korea as a whole, and they refer to South Korea as 대한민국 Daehan Minguk. In South Korea, Korea is called 한국 Hanguk, which is a shortened version that came from the earlier versions Daehan Jeguk from 1897 that signified the start of the Korean Empire and Daehan Minguk which was chosen for Korea's government-in-exile in 1919.

Differences in words of foreign origin

South Korea has borrowed a lot of English words, but North Korea has borrowed from other languages, notably Russian, 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 (or sometimes Russian) in the North.

Other differences include Korean words from the North Korean variety that have been created during the "language purification movement". These are Korean words that were influenced by foreign languages, such as Mandarin and Japanese due to prolonged language contact. In North Korea, these words have been "purified" and now consist of only native Korean words. For example the word from the South Korean standard variety 만원 manweon, which means "packed to the limit". Man stems from the Chinese word for full. In North Korea, the word for this is 자리없음 chariŏpsŭm which literally translates to "no vacancy".

Further foreign influences are noticeable in recently developed neologisms in South Korea, especially in language used by youth. Globalization and social media have played a big role in the integration of English into the Korean language in the south, while it has very little effect on the language in the North because of restricted contact with the outside world. The English words that are used by youth are blended with the Korean language, creating hybrids that are intended for fostering peer connection, humor, and social critique. These hybrid neologisms include but are not limited to borrowing and code-switching, because they consist of creative linguistic forms and expressive tools through which global cultural currents are articulated. This type of linguistic phenomenon is reinforced in South Korea because of its emphasis on English education, digital culture, and high exposure to global media. These factors face extreme limitations in the North, leading to different linguistic outcomes. Examples of these hybrid words include: 꿀팁 kkultip (kkul means honey, conveying the idea of a sweet piece of advice) and 헬조선 heljoseon (this word is used as social commentary to compare contemporary South Korean society to the highly stratified Joseon Dynasty). Research has shown that South Korean youth uses these types of utterances without being aware of it, which proves how it has become a consistent part of youngsters' daily speech instead of it being marked borrowing.

Other differences in vocabulary

These words are part of the Northern dialects and have become accepted as official words.

Words like 강냉이 kangnaeng-i and 우 u are also sometimes heard in various dialects in South Korea.

There are also words that exist only in the North. The verb 마스다 masŭda (to break) and its passive form 마사지다 masajida (to be broken) have no exactly corresponding words in the South.

Issues

Kim Il Sung claimed in his speech from 1966 that the Korean language spoken in Seoul used too many foreign words and has become a mixed language. He stated that loanwords from Chinese, English, and Japanese have taken over more than half of the total vocabulary of Korean language. He used this statement as a motive to create a new standard language in North Korea which he called "cultured language". Though Kim's plan was to "purify" the Korean language in the North, this standard variety still includes many loanwords from foreign languages, in particular Russian.

In 1972, South Koreans came in direct contact with North Koreans during the South-North talks and realized their languages had diverged more than they previously expected. Some terms were completely unintelligible, and some expressions turned out to have totally different semantic connotations. Though Koreans presumed that these dissimilarities were due to dialectal variations, dialectal differences in Korea have never had trouble understanding each other. These differences were mostly the result of North Korea's linguistic reforms.

In February 1987, a KBS news report showed that the spoken languages between the North Korean and South Korean people were already "divorced" under Kim Il Sung's policies, with some daily used words by North Koreans sounding strange to South Koreans, and some aggressive terms were frequently used by North Koreans.

During the 2018 Winter Olympics, the two Korean countries decided to play jointly for the Korea women's national ice hockey team. This led to issues with the South Korean athletes communicating with the North Korean athletes since the former uses English-influenced words in their postwar vocabulary, especially for hockey, while the latter uses only Korean-inspired words for their postwar vocabulary.

The language differences also pose challenges for researchers and for the tens of thousands of people who have defected from one side to the other since the Korean War. The defectors face difficulty and notably discrimination because they lack vocabulary, use differing accents, or have not culturally assimilated yet so may not understand jokes or references to pop culture. South Koreans see the North Korean accent as strange and old-fashioned, making it a constant target of mockery and further exacerbating problems with North Korean integration.