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The Chinese Korean language (, ) is the variety of the
Korean language Korean ( South Korean: , ''hangugeo''; North Korean: , ''chosŏnmal'') is the native language for about 80 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the official and national language of both North Korea and South Korea (geographic ...
spoken by
Koreans in China Koreans in China (), Korean Chinese (), Joseonjok, Chosŏnjok (), or Chaoxianzu (), are Chinese by nationality and are Koreans by ethnicity (with either full or partial Korean ancestry). A majority of the chaoxianzu are descendants of immigran ...
, primarily located in
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
,
Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...
, and
Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...
. All varieties of Korean except the
Jeju language Jeju (Jeju: , ; ko, 제주어, or , ), often called Jejueo or Jejuan in English-language scholarship, is a Koreanic language traditionally spoken on Jeju Island, South Korea. While often classified as a divergent Jeju dialect ( ko, 제주방 ...
are spoken by members of the
Korean diaspora The Korean diaspora (South Korea: or , North Korea: or ) consists of around 7.3 million people, both descendants of early emigrants from the Korean Peninsula, as well as more recent emigres from Korea. Around 84.5% of overseas Koreans live in ...
who settled in China before 1949. The educational standard is the
North Korean standard language North Korean standard language or () is the North Korean standard version of the Korean language. Munhwaŏ was adopted as the standard in 1966. The adopting proclamation stated that the Pyongan dialect spoken in the North Korean capital P ...
. Chinese Korean vocabulary is significantly similar to the North Korean standard, as is orthography; a major exception of orthography is that the spelling of some Chinese cities is different (for example,
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
is called by the Hanja reading of , ''Bukgyeong'', rather than the South Korean transcription of Mandarin ''Beijing'', ); exceptions of vocabulary are all related to China.


Background


Language standardization

The text used in the Korean language of Yanbian was originally in Korean mixed script, which made it difficult for a large number of grassroots Korean people to read articles. In 1949, the local newspaper ''Northeast Korean People's Daily'' in Yanbian published the "workers and peasants version" which used all-hangul in text, in addition to the existing "cadre version" that had mixed script for the convenience of grassroots Korean people. Starting April 20, 1952, the newspaper abolished the "cadre version" and published in hangul only, soon the entire publishing industry adopted the hangul-only style. On June 28, 1963,
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...
instructed that the Korean language of Yanbian should be based on the Pyongyang standard of North Korea. Subsequently, the Yanbian Language and History Research Committee standardized the Korean language of Yanbian on the basis of North Korean standard. Currently, the standardized dialect of Korean amongst Chinese-Koreans is similar to that of North Korea due to China's favorable relations with North Korea, and also the proximity of the two nations.


Regional variations

Yanbian Yanbian (; Chosŏn'gŭl: , ''Yeonbyeon''), officially known as the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the east of Jilin Province, China. Yanbian is bordered to the north by Heilongjiang Province, on the west by ...
Koreans primarily use
Hamgyŏng dialect The Hamgyŏng dialect, or Northeastern Korean, is a dialect of the Korean language used in most of North and South Hamgyŏng and Ryanggang Provinces of northeastern North Korea, all of which were originally united as Hamgyŏng Province. Since th ...
. Pyong'an dialect is spoken by ethnic Korean communities in
Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...
, while Kyŏngsang dialect is spoken in
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
.


Characteristics


Phonetics

The southwestern variant of Chinese Korean retains the pronunciation for ㅚ and for (ㅟ), which have been simplified into eand iin standard Korean. The southeastern variant of Chinese Korean does not differentiate the respective pronunciations for (ㅐ) and (ㅔ). Additionally, in the northeast and the southeast regions of this dialect,
pitch accent A pitch-accent language, when spoken, has word accents in which one syllable in a word or morpheme is more prominent than the others, but the accentuated syllable is indicated by a contrasting pitch ( linguistic tone) rather than by loudness ( ...
is used. Chinese Korean also simplifies diphthongs in loanwords into single vowels, such as in the word 땐노 (ddaen-no, "computer"; from Chinese 电脑, diànnăo).


Grammar

The copula "-ᆸ니까/-습니까" in Standard Korean is rendered as "-ᆷ둥/-슴둥" in dialects of Korean spoken in Northeastern Jilin, and "-ᆷ니꺼/-심니꺼" in dialects spoken in Southwestern Heilongjiang. At the same time, there are grammatical influences from
Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...
, for example: *전화 치다 "make a phone call" (Standard Korean: 전화 걸다). In Chinese, the same sentence 电话 literally means to physically "hit" a telephone, hence the word 치다, "to hit", is used to describe making a phone call. *뭘 주면 뭘 먹는다 "eat whatever is given" (Standard Korean: 주는 건 다 먹는다)


Vocabulary

Vocabulary is another differentiating factor in comparison with other varieties of Korean, with usage of words such as and (frog). As a result of Chinese influence, there are many words that arise from Modern Standard Chinese. Some words arise from the '' eum'' pronunciation of
hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...
, for example (, worker, Standard Korean: , ) and (, office, Standard Korean: , ). There are also some loanwords that are phonetically transliterated from Japanese that standard Korean doesn't have (probably due to influence of
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...
's rule):


References

* * * {{Korean dialects
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...