North–South differences in the Korean language
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The Korean language has diverged between North and South Korea due to the length of time that the two states have been separated.[1]
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The Korean Language Society in 1933 made the "Proposal for Unified Korean Orthography" (Korean: 한글 맞춤법 통일안; RR: Hangeul Matchumbeop Tong-iran), which continued to be used by both Korean states after the end of Japanese rule in 1945. 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.
Researching language differences between North and South Korea has been challenging, and there have been reports of inaccurate results. First of all, it is hard to know how North Koreans use their standard language because of the heavy propaganda against it.[citation needed] North Korea states its standard language as the language of Pyongyang. However, South Korean authors have claimed it is more similar to the pre-divided Seoul dialect than the pre-divided Pyongyang dialect, and suggested that its pronunciation[2] and grammar are based on the Seoul area rather than the Pyongyang area.[3]
In South Korea, there is also heavy political propaganda against the standard language of North Korea, with some officials believing that it is strange that North and South Korean speech are similar,[4] and the lack of information about North Korea means that defectors often speak a dialect rather than a standard language in North Korea.[5]
Some argue that North and South Koreans are also confused by North Korean propaganda and the South's over-interpretation of it. North Korea emphasizes the purity of its language and claims to have reduced the use of foreign words, but the reality is that many foreign words appear in North Korean dictionaries and textbooks. North Korean defectors say they knew that the language spoken by South Koreans contained foreign words, but they did not realize that the language they used in North Korea also contained many foreign words.[6]
In some cases, South Korean schools have taught North Koreans to use purified words that are not actually used in North Korea, leading to disputes in South Korea over whether a North Korean defector actually uses the word in North Korea.[7] Some scholars have also been reluctant to believe a study that found that the most common loanwords in North Korea were not Russian loanwords but English loanwords.[8]