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Today on the Korean Atlas and History: Korean Dialects. Gyeonggi.

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The Gyeonggi dialect or Seoul dialect is considered the prestige dialect of

South Korea, and is the basis of standardized Korean. The dialect is spoken

throughout the peninsula, yet concentrated in the capital city of Seoul. The dialect is

even used in the city of 개성 as well as 개풍군 and 장풍군 in North Korea. The

proliferation of online technology has moved the Gyeonggi dialect to have an even

stronger base on the Korean peninsula and around the world, especially among

younger Koreans.

The Gyeonggi dialect is not considered heavily marked as it is the main

dialect of the peninsula. However, there are some irregularities compared to other

Korean dialects. Among them, young speakers of the dialect tend to pronounce the

postpositions 도, 로, and 고 as 두, 루, and 구 respectively. The politeness marker and

often added final verb ending 요 is sometimes pronounced as 여. Some words

spelled with the vowel 오 are pronounced as 우. Specifically, the word for uncle, 삼촌

is usually pronounced as 삼춘. Citizens of Seoul, especially young speakers, often

end interrogative sentences with 냐.

 The Gyeonggi dialect is divided into three variations: conservative, general

and modified. The conservative dialect is used among those who were born or lived

in Seoul before the 1970s era of industrialization. Older broadcasts are typical of this

accent. In North Korean movies about South Koreans, South Koreans typically have a

conservative Gyeonggi dialect. Some South Koreans feel that the conservative

Gyeonggi accent sounds slightly like a North Korean accent.

The general form of the Gyeonggi accent is the form used by almost all news

broadcasts. This form is used for listening tests across the peninsula as well. It is

considered the standard form of the Korean language.

The modified form of the Gyeonggi accent is usually spoken by the younger

generation of South Koreans, as well as lower class and middle aged people in the

Seoul Metropolitan area. The modified form of the Gyeonggi accent has appeared as

recently as the 1990s. Some broadcast anchors use this accent, especially in

entertainment programs. The most notable characteristic of the form is that the

pitch goes up at the end of a sentence. South Korean speakers of the 경상 accent

tend to find this pitch raising irritating or offensive. The change in the dialect from

before the 1980s and after was quite different. Before the 1980s, the language was

smooth and flat pitched, but in the mid 80s, young television anchors began to raise

their pitch at the end of the sentence. The rising pitch may have influenced by

immigrants from the 절라 region during the period of South Korean industrialization
in the 1960s and 70s. Another possibility is that this accent was easily found in the

first generation of Korean-Americans who had lived in the United States at this time.

Some marked changes in the Gyeonggi dialect will be read following. First I

will read the standard Korean word, then the word with a Gyeonggi dialect.

고린내 - 고랑내: This word means the bad smell of feet.

구녕 - 구녁: This word means hole.

껍질 - 꺼풀: This word means the peel of a fruit or vegetable.

돼지 – 도야지: This word means pig

창피 – 챙피: This word means embarrassed.

Although these words differ from what is considered standard dialect, it is

guessed that about 70% of the vocabulary of the Seoul dialect is now considered

standard. The basic framework of the modern South Korean language has been

derived from the Seoul dialect, so there is basically no significant difference in what

is considered the Seoul dialect and the standard language of South Korea.

Compared to North Korea, specifically those defecting from the Pyeongyang

area, about 70 to 80% of defectors considered the Seoul dialect soft compared to

the Pyeongyang dialect. In North Korea, the Seoul dialect is very popular, as it is

said to be warm and soft. Those from Pyeongyang also consider the speech to be
sophisticated and used by artists. The authorities of Pyeongyang try to crack down

on the use of Seoul dialect from time to time, but it is difficult to punish people for

accents, which they can easily change when they talk to law enforcement. Along

with this, there is a mentality that Pyeongyang is the author of the Seoul dialect, and

that Seoul is following the culture of Pyeongyang.

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Thank You for listening to this episode of the Korean Atlas and History. Most

of today’s information was taken from the 나무 Wiki and Wikipedia. All of our

episodes can be found and downloaded from koreanatlasandhistory.com. Thank

you for listening and we’ll see you next time.