Korean Dialects - The Standard Language

The Standard Language

  • In South Korea, Standard Korean (표준어/標準語) is defined by the National Institute of the Korean Language as "the modern speech of Seoul widely used by the well-cultivated" (교양있는 사람들이 두루 쓰는 현대 서울말). In practice, it tends not to include features that are found exclusively in Seoul.
  • In North Korea, the accepted official standard is the Munhwaŏ dialect of Seoul, not the P'yŏng'an dialect---contrary to popular belief. Though language in the two Koreas have diverged to some extent, the two standards are still broadly intelligible. One notable feature within the divergence is the North's lack of anglicisms due to isolation and anti-American sentiment----pure/invented Korean words are used in replacement.

Read more about this topic:  Korean Dialects

Famous quotes containing the words standard and/or language:

    “We don’t want bores in the theatre. We don’t want standardised acting, standard actors with standard-shaped legs. Acting needs everybody, cripples, dwarfs and people with noses so long. Give us something that is different.”
    —Dame Sybil Thorndike (1882–1976)

    “UG [universal grammar] may be regarded as a characterization of the genetically determined language faculty. One may think of this faculty as a ‘language acquisition device,’ an innate component of the human mind that yields a particular language through interaction with present experience, a device that converts experience into a system of knowledge attained: knowledge of one or another language.”
    —Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)