Koryo-mar

This article is about language of the Koryo-saram. For the Korean language as spoken during the Goryeo dynasty, see Middle Korean.
Koryo-mar
고려말
Pronunciation[ko.ɾjo.maɾ]
Native toUzbekistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan
EthnicityKorean
Native speakers
(220,000 cited 1989)[citation needed]
current number of speakers is unknown
Koreanic
Hangul
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
IETFko-143
Koryo-mar
North Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl고려말
Hancha高麗말
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationGoryeomal
McCune–ReischauerKoryŏmal
Russian name
RussianКорё мар
RomanizationKoryo mar

Koryo-mar (Korean: 고려말; Russian: Корё мар) is a dialect of Korean spoken by Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans who live in the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is descended from the Hamgyŏng dialect and multiple other varieties of Northeastern Korean.[1] Koryo-mar is often reported as difficult to understand by speakers of standard Korean; this may be compounded by the fact that the majority of Koryo-saram today use Russian and not Korean as their first language.[2]

According to German Kim, Koryo-mar is not widely used in the media and is not taught in schools. Thus it can be classified as endangered.[3]

  1. ^ Kwak, Chung-gu (2007). "Data and Ressarches for Korean dialect in Central Asia" (PDF). Journal of Humanities (in Korean). 58: 231–272. hdl:10371/29722. ISSN 1598-3021 – via Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University.
  2. ^ Khan, Valeriy Sergeevich. "Koreans and the Poly-ethnic Environment in Central Asia: The Experience of Eurasianism". Seoul: Academy of Korean Studies. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  3. ^ Kim, German (2009). "Education and Diasporic Language: The Case of Koreans in Kazakhstan" (PDF). Acta Slavica Iaponica. 27. The Slavic-Eurasian Research Center: 103–123. hdl:2115/39584. ISSN 0288-3503.