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

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The Jeolla dialect, also known as Southwestern Korean, is, as the name says,

spoken in the southwestern area of Korea. The dialect is predominant in the Jeolla

regions of Korea, including 전라북도 and 전라남도, or North and South Jeolla

respectively. The dialect is also widely spoken in the Metropolitan city of Gwangju. It

is believed that the dialect dates back to the Baekje Kingdom of Korea, which

existed in southwestern Korea form around 18 BC to 660 AD. The Jeolla dialect is

considered non-standard among Korean dialects, with the Gyeonggi dialect being

the standard.

Among common traditions in Korean culture, one that stands out by using

the Jeolla dialect is 판소리. 판소리 texts are written in the Jeolla dialect. 판소리 is a

Korean musical story performed by a singer and a drummer. The music mixes the

body movements of the singer and their song to the beat of a drum.

Along with being marked by its use in pansori, the Jeolla accent has some

other unique features that set it apart from the standard, Gyeonggi dialect of Korea.

Verb endings in particular are different than in standard Korean. In standard Korean,
the verbs are ended with 습니다 or 세요, but the Jeolla accent replaces these

endings with 라우 or 지라우. For casual verb endings like 기까, the Jeolla accent uses

응게. When using the form to say “someone said something,” the Gyeonggi dialect

will add the ending 라고, but those from Jeolla will use the ending 강게. In addition

to these verb endings, those from Jeolla often end their sentences with 잉 as a tag

question, especially if asking a favor.

As far as pronunciation, the Jeolla accent also is marked in that Jeolla

speakers have the tendency to pronounce only the second vowel in a diphthong. A

diphthong is a sound formed by combining two vowels into a single syllable. An

example of this in English would be the word “cloud,” wherein the o and the u

combine to make the ow sound. Koreans with a Jeolla accent tend to pronounce

only the second vowel, and thus 는대 would become 는디. The biggest city in South

Jeolla province, 광주, is often pronounced 강주.

Those with a Jeolla accent also tend to umlaut their words. Umlauting, a

phrase from German, is when a vowel is pronounced more like the vowel that

directly follows it. So, for example, the standard accent pronounces the word “to

catch,” 잡히다, but a Jeolla speaker might pronounce it 잽히다. 토끼, or rabbit, could

be pronounced 퇴끼. The word meat, or 고기, is often pronounced 괴기.

One more change to the pronunciation of Jeolla words is that short vowels

can often replace long vowel sounds, which gives speakers of the standard dialect
the impression that the Jeolla dialect drags out its words. For example, the word liar

or 거짓말 is often pronounced 그짓말. In standard Korean, the way to say “I’m

hungry” is 배고프다. In the Jeolla dialect, one might say 배고프다잉. Related to this

is that the vowel 에 is often pronounced as 이. So, the word pillow, or 배게 is

pronounced 비개. The phrase “You’re right!” is 그렇지. In the Jeolla accent, it is

그라재.

One distinct phrase that marks the Jeolla accent is the word 거시기. 거시기 is

used as a placeholder word, much like when an English speaker would say “whatcha-

ma-call-it.” Jeolla speakers also use 거시기 to express words that are embarrassing

to say, and thus, often use it as a substitute for male genitals. Some other distinct

Jeolla phrases exist as well, including 왐마 and 오매, which both are phrases that

express surprise or shock.

The impression the Jeolla dialect gives to most Koreans is a strong accent

with fast speech. In a 2015 survey of Gyeongsang dialect speakers, 69% of

participants associated the Jeolla accent with negative labels such as “unpleasant,”

“rough,” “scary,” and “sarcastic.” 31% of the participants associated the dialect with

positive labels such as “humorous,” “cute,” and “macho.”

The Jeolla dialect can be found in popular K-Dramas and movies. Specifically,

the movie “Admiral: Roaring Currents,” uses the Jeolla accent because the movie

takes place in the Jeolla province. Along with this, the drama “Come! Jang Bo-Ri”
uses the Jeolla accent because one of the main characters came from the Jeolla

province.

It should be noted that some of the information from this episode was taken

from Gwangjunews g i c .com

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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.