North–South differences in the Korean language

The North-South differences in the Korean language refers to the differences in the Korean language used in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea; hereafter "the North") and the Republic of Korea (South Korea; hereafter "the South"). From a linguistic point of view, the language used in the North and the South is one and the same. However, the length of time for which Korea has been divided has given rise to a number of small differences. Below are the language differences between the North and the South, centered around what is considered the standard language in each case.

Overview

Korean orthography, as defined by the Korean Language Society in 1933 in the "Proposal for Unified Korean Orthography" (Korean: 한글 맞춤법 통일안; RR: Han-geul Matchumbeop Tong-iran) continued to be used by the North and the South after the end of colonial period, but with the establishments of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948, the two states have taken on differing policies regarding the language. In 1954, North Korea set out the rules for Korean orthography in Korean: 조선어 철자법; RR: Chosŏnŏ Chŏljabŏp, and although this was only a minor revision in orthography that created little difference from that used in the South, from then on, what is considered the standard language in the North and the South gradually differed more and more from each other.

However, in the 1960s, under the influence of the Juche idea came a big change in linguistic policies in North Korea. On 3 January 1964, Kim Il-sung issued his teachings on "A Number of Issues on the Development of the Korean language" (Template:Lang-ko), and on 14 May 1966 on the topic "In Rightly Advancing the Racial Characteristics of the Korean language" (Template:Lang-ko), from which the "Standard Korean Language" (Template:Lang-ko) 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, bigger differences have come about between the standard languages used 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separately laid out in the "Standard Spacing Rules in Writing Korean" (Template:Lang-ko) in 2000, but have since been superseded by "Rules for Spacing in Writing Korean" (Template:Lang-ko), issued in 2003.

South Korea continued to use the Han-geul Matchumbeop Tong-iran as defined in 1933, until its amendment "Korean Orthography" (Korean: 한글 맞춤법; RR: Han-geul Matchumbeop), together with "Standard Language Regulations" (Template:Lang-ko), were issued in 1988, which remain in use today.

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. Also, for the sake of consistency, this article also phonetically transcribes ㅓ as /ʌ/ for pan-Korean and South-specific phonology, and as /ɔ/ for North-specific phonology.

Jamo

The same jamo (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.

In the South, the compound vowel jamos ㅐ |ɛ|, ㅒ |jɛ|, ㅔ |e|, ㅖ |je|, ㅘ |wa|, ㅙ |wɛ|, ㅚ |ø|, ㅝ |wʌ|, ㅞ |we|, ㅟ |y|, ㅢ |ɰi| and the tensed consonants ㄲ |k͈|, ㄸ |t͈|, ㅃ |p͈|, ㅆ |s͈|, ㅉ |tɕ͈| are not treated as separate jamo, whereas in the North these are regarded as separate jamo.

Some jamo have different names in the North and in the South.

Jamo	South Korean name	North Korean name
ㄱ |k|	기역 [cijʌk̚]	기윽 [ciɯk̚]
ㄷ |t|	디귿 [tiɡɯt̚]	디읃 [tiɯt̚]
ㅅ |s|	시옷 [ɕiot̚]	시읏 [ɕiɯt̚]
ㄲ |k͈|	쌍기역 [s͈aŋɟijʌk̚]	된기윽 [tønɟiɯk̚]
ㄸ |t͈|	쌍디귿 [s͈aŋdiɡɯt̚]	된디읃 [tøndiɯt̚]
ㅃ |p͈|	쌍비읍 [s͈aŋbiɯp̚]	된비읍 [tønbiɯp̚]
ㅆ |s͈|	쌍시옷 [s͈aŋɕiot̚]]	된시읏 [tønɕiɯt̚]
ㅉ |tɕ͈|	쌍지읒 [s͈aŋdʑiɯt̚]	된지읒 [tøndʑiɯt̚]

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

Jamo order

• Vowels

1. South: ㅏ ㅐ ㅑ ㅒ ㅓ ㅔ ㅕ ㅖ ㅗ ㅘ ㅙ ㅚ ㅛ ㅜ ㅝ ㅞ ㅟ ㅠ ㅡ ㅢ ㅣ
   |a ɛ ja jɛ ʌ e jʌ je o wa wɛ ø jo u wʌ we y ju ɯ ɰi i|
2. North: ㅏ ㅑ ㅓ ㅕ ㅗ ㅛ ㅜ ㅠ ㅡ ㅣ ㅐ ㅒ ㅔ ㅖ ㅚ ㅟ ㅢ ㅘ ㅝ ㅙ ㅞ
   |a ja ɔ jɔ o jo u ju ɯ i ɛ jɛ e je ø y ɰi wa wɔ wɛ we|

• Consonants

1. South: ㄱ ㄲ ㄴ ㄷ ㄸ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅃ ㅅ ㅆ ㅇ ㅈ ㅉ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ
   |k k͈ n t t͈ l m p p͈ s s͈ ∅/ŋ tɕ tɕ͈ tɕʰ kʰ tʰ pʰ h|
2. North: ㄱ ㄴ ㄷ ㄹ ㅁ ㅂ ㅅ ᅌ ㅈ ㅊ ㅋ ㅌ ㅍ ㅎ ㄲ ㄸ ㅃ ㅆ ㅉ ㅇ
   |k n t l m p s ŋ tɕ tɕʰ kʰ tʰ pʰ h k͈ t͈ p͈ s͈ tɕ͈ ∅|

In the North, diphthongs are treated as jamo in their own right and are put after the basic vowels, whereas in the South the diphthongs come between the basic vowels. For example, after ㅏ |a| comes the diphthong ㅐ |ɛ|, the combination of ㅏ and ㅣ |i|; or after ㅗ |o| come the diphthongs ㅘ |wa|, ㅙ |wɛ| and ㅚ |ø|, which begin with ㅗ, and so on. Also with the consonant jamo ㅇ (|∅| and |ŋ|), in the North, it is placed between ㅅ |s| and ㅈ |tɕ| when pronounced as |ŋ| (ᅌ), but placed after all consonants (i.e. after ㅉ |tɕ͈|) when used as a placeholder indicating null initial consonant (ㅇ), for syllables that begin with a vowel.

Pronunciation

Dialects of Korean

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, while the North Korean standard pronunciation is based on the dialect as spoken in Pyongyang.

Consonants

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

In Sino-Korean words, some of ㄴ |n| and all of ㄹ |l| that come in the beginning of a word are dropped in pronunciation and not written out in the South, whereas all initial ㄴ and ㄹ are written out in the North. For instance, the common last name 이 [i] (often written out in English as Lee or Rhee, seemingly staying true to the North Korean typography and pronunciation), is written and pronounced as 리 [ɾi] in North Korean. Furthermore, the South Korean word 여자 [jʌdʑa], meaning woman, is similarly written as 녀자 [njɔdʑa] in North Korea. But as this latter pronunciation was artificially crafted in the 1960s, it is not uncommon for older speakers to be unable to pronounce initial ㄴ and ㄹ properly, thus pronouncing such words in the same way as they are pronounced in the South.

Vowels

The following differences are recognised in the vowels. 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.

Pitch

The pitch patterns in the Seoul and Pyongyang 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] - Korean nightingale) 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. As an aside, while some find that the announcers on Korean Central Television speak as if they are roaring, this forceful way of speaking in an agitating tone is intentional and should not be considered as the typical way that Pyongyang dialect speakers speak.

Orthography

Inflected words

어 / 여

In words where 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, -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.

Inflected word	South inflection	North inflection	Meaning
피다 [pçida]	피어 (펴) [pçiʌ (pçɛ)]	피여 [pçijɔ]	bloom
내다 [nɛda]	내어 [nɛʌ]	내여 [nɛjɔ]	take out
세다 [seda]	세어 [seʌ]	세여 [sejɔ]	count
되다 [tøda]	되어 (돼) [tøʌ (twɛ)]	되여 [tøjɔ]	become
뛰다 [t͈wida]	뛰어 [t͈wiʌ]	뛰여 [t͈wijɔ]	jump
희다 [xida]	희어 [xiʌ]	희여 [xijɔ]	white

ㅂ-irregular inflections

When the word root of a ㅂ-irregular inflected word has two syllables or more (for example, 고맙다 [komap̚t͈a]), the vowel harmony is ignored in its inflections in the South, while it is kept in the North (as it also was in the South before the 1988 Han-geul Matchumbeop). The vowel harmony is kept in both the South and the North if the word root has only one syllable (for example, 돕다 [top̚t͈a]).

Inflected word	South inflection	North inflection	Meaning
고맙다 [komap̚t͈a]	고마워 [komawʌ]	고마와 [komawa]	thankful
가깝다 [kak͈ap̚t͈a]	가까워 [kak͈awʌ]	가까와 [kak͈awa]	near

Indication of tensed consonants after word endings that end with ㄹ

In word endings where the final consonant is ㄹ |l|, where the South spells -ㄹ까 |-l.k͈a| and -ㄹ쏘나 |-l.tɕ͈o.na| to indicate the tensed consonants, in the North these are spelt -ㄹ가 |-l.ka|，-ㄹ소냐 |-l.tɕo.nja| instead. These etymologically are formed by attaching to the adnominal form (관형사형 gwanhyeongjahyeong) that ends in ㄹ, and in the North, the tensed consonants are denoted with normal consonants. Also, the word ending -ㄹ게 |-l.ke| used to be spelt -ㄹ께 |-l.k͈e| in the South, but has since been changed in the Hangeul Matchumbeop of 1988, and is now spelt -ㄹ게 just like in the North.

Sino-Korean words

Initial ㄴ / ㄹ (두음법칙 Dueum beopchik, "initial sound rule")

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 and is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semi-vowel sound [j] (i.e. 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.

South	North	Hanja
이성계 [isʌŋce]	리성계 [ɾisɔŋge]	李成桂
연습 [jʌnsɯp̚]	련습 [ɾjɔnsɯp̚]	練習
낙하 [nakʰa]	락하 [ɾakʰa]	落下
냉수 [nɛŋsu]	랭수 [ɾɛŋsu]	冷水

Similarly, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄴ |n| and is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semi-vowel sound [j] (i.e. 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 |∅|, whereas this remains unchanged in the North.

South	North	Hanja
이승 [isɯŋ]	니승 [nisɯŋ]	尼僧
여자 [jʌdʑa]	녀자 [njɔdʑa]	女子

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 [ju]) and 임 (林 [im]) from 유 (兪 [ju]) and 임 (任 [im]), the former may be written or pronounced as 류 (柳 [ɾju]) and 림 (林 [ɾim]).

Hanja pronunciation

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/.

South	North	Hanja
몌별 |mje.pjʌl|	메별 |me.pjʌl|	袂別 [mebjʌl]
폐쇄 |pʰje.swɛ|	페쇄 |pʰe.swɛ|	閉鎖 [pʰeswɛ]

Some hanja characters are pronounced differently.

South	North	Hanja
갹 |kjan|	거 |kɔ|	醵
왜 |wɛ|	외 |ø|	歪

Also in the North, the hanja 讐 is usually pronounced 수 [su], but (only) in the word 怨讐 ("enemy"), this is pronounced 쑤 [s͈u]. It is thought that this is to avoid the word being the same as 元帥 ("military general"), written as 원수 |wɔn.su|.

Compound words

Sai siot (사이 시옷, "middle ㅅ")

When forming compound words from uninflected words, where the so-called "sai siot" is inserted in the South, this is left out in the North, but the pronunciation is the same as in the South.

South	North	Pronunciation	Meaning
젓가락	저가락	［젇까락/저까락］	chopsticks
나뭇잎	나무잎	［나문닙］	(tree) leaf

Word stems in compound words

While the general rule is to write out the word stem from which the compound word is formed in its original form, 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, and from this stem differences in the spellings of some words:

South	North	Meaning
올바르다	옳바르다	upright
벚꽃	벗꽃	cherry blossom

In the first example, in the South the 올 part shows that the etymological origin is forgotten, and the word is written as pronounced as 올바르다, whereas in the North the first part is seen to come from 옳다 and thus the whole word is written 옳바르다 (pronounced the same as in the South). Conversely in the second example, the South spelling catches the word as the combination of 벚 and 꽃, whereas in the North this is no longer recognised and thus the word is written as pronounced as 벗꽃.

Spacing

In the South, the rules of spacing are not very clear-cut, whereas in the North, these are very precise. In general, compared to the North, the writing in the South tends to include more spacing. The main differences are indicated below.

Bound nouns

Before bound nouns (North: 불완전명사 "不完全名詞 incomplete nouns"; South: 의존 명사 "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.

South	North	Meaning
내 것	내것	my thing
할 수 있다	할수 있다	to be able to do
한 개	한개	one thing (counter word)

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.

South	North	Meaning
먹어 보다／먹어보다	먹어보다	to try to eat
올 듯하다／올듯하다	올듯하다	to seem to come
읽고 있다	읽고있다	to be reading
자고 싶다	자고싶다	to want to sleep

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, while the space after -고 cannot be omitted.

Words indicating a single concept

Words formed from two or more words that indicate a single concept in principle are written with spaces in the South and without spaces in the North. However, proper nouns and specialised words may also be written without spaces in the South.

South	North	Meaning
국어 사전	국어사전	Korean dictionary
경제 부흥 상황	경제부흥상황	state of economic recovery
서울 대학교 인문 대학／서울대학교 인문대학	서울대학교 인문대학	Faculty of Humanities of Seoul National University

Note that since the spacing rules in the South are often not known, not followed or make spacing optional, spellings vary from place to place. For example, taking the word 국어 사전, people who see this as two words will add a space, and people who see this as one word will write it without a space. Thus, the spacing depends on how one views what "one word" consists of, and hence while spacing is standardised in the South, in reality the standard does not matter much.

Emphasis

In the North, names of leaders 김일성 (Kim Il-sung) and 김정일 (Kim Jong-il) are always set off in bold.

Vocabulary

The standard language in the South (표준어/標準語) is largely based on the Seoul dialect, and the standard language (문화어/文化語) 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 사정한 조선어 표준말 모음 published by the Korean Language Society in 1936, and so essentially 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, newly-created words give rise to differences in vocabulary, and the number of these will probably increase further in the future.

Differences due to the difference in political system or social structure

South	North	Meaning
한반도 (韓半島)	조선반도 (朝鮮半島)	Korean Peninsula
한국 전쟁 (韓國戰爭)	조국해방전쟁 (祖國解放戰爭)	Korean War
초등학교 (初等學校)	소학교 (小學校)	Primary school
친구 (親舊)	동무	Friend

The word 동무 that is used to mean "friend" in the North was originally a native Korean word 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.

Differences in words of foreign origin

South Korea has loaned a lot of English words, whereas North Korea has loaned a number of Russian words, 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 in the North.

South			North			Meaning
Korean	Transliteration	Origin	Korean	Transliteration	Origin
트랙터	teuraekteo	En. tractor	뜨락또르	ttŭrakttorŭ	Ru. трактор (traktor)	tractor
스타킹	seutaking	American En. stocking	스토킹	sŭtʻokʻing	British En. stocking	stocking
폴란드	Pollandeu	En. Poland	뽈스까	Ppolsŭkka	Pl. Polska	Poland

Other differences in vocabulary

The other differences between the standard languages in the North and in the South are thought to be due to the differences between the Seoul and Pyongyang dialects.

South	North	Meaning
옥수수	강냉이	corn
위	우	on, above
망치	마치	hammer

Words like 강냉이 and 우 are also sometimes heard in various dialects in South Korea.

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

See also

• The National Institute of the Korean Language (South Korea)
• New Orthography for the Korean Language