Koryo-mar

Infobox Language
name=Koryo-mar
nativename= _ko. 고려말/ _ru. Корё мар
familycolor=Isolate
states=Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan
speakers=216,811 as mother tongue (1989); additional second-language speakers number, largely ethnic Korean, number in the tens of thousands
family=Unclassified: perhaps an Altaic language or a language isolate
script=Hangul; occasionally Cyrillic
agency=None

Infobox Korean name
hangul=고려말
hanja=高麗말
rr=Goryeomal
mr=Koryŏmal

Koryo-mar, Goryeomal or Koryŏmal (Hangul: 고려말; Russian: Корё мар; Standard Korean: 중앙아시아 한국어, literally "Central Asian Korean language") is the dialect of the Korean language spoken by the Koryo-saram, ethnic Koreans in the former USSR. It is descended from the Hamgyŏng dialect. Koryo-saram often report difficulty understanding 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 mother tongue.cite web|last=Khan|first=Valeriy Sergeevich|title=Koreans and the Poly-ethnic Environment in Central Asia: The Experience of Eurasianism|url=http://www.aks.ac.kr/EngHome/files/cult11.htm|publisher=Academy of Korean Studies|location=Seoul|accessdate=2006-11-20]

Orthography

Koryo-mar is generally not a literary language; written Korean during Soviet days tended to follow the North Korean standard, while after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, both Northern and Southern forms could be seen. However, some modern writers, most notably Lavrenti Son, have created plays and short stories in Koryo-mar, written using the Hangul alphabet.cite web|last=Kim|first=Phil|title=Forced Deportation and Literary Imagination|publisher=Academy of Korean Studies|location=Seoul|accessdate=2006-11-20|url=http://www.aks.ac.kr/EngHome/files/lit6.htm]

There was a movement for the latinization of Koryo-mar in the late 1930s, promoted by various government officials and linguists, but it did not have much success.cite web|last=Kim|first=German|title=The History, Culture, and Language of Koryo Saram|publisher=Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences|location=Almaty|format=Microsoft Word|url=http://www.koryosaram.freenet.kz/update1/history-culture-language.doc|accessdate=2006-11-20]

Pedagogy

Koryo-mar is not taught as a subject or used as the medium of instruction in any schools. The Korean language as taught in universities of the former USSR is that of North or South Korea, with instructors being native to or trained in one of those countries. In one instance, a South Korean professor tried to teach Koryo-mar at Almaty State University, but he did not achieve much success.cite web|last=Kim|first=German|title=Korean Diaspora in Kazakhstan: Question of Topical Problems for Minorities in Post-Soviet Space|publisher=Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences|location=Almaty|format=PDF|url=http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/89/contents-63.pdf]

References

See also

* Cyrillization of Korean
* Dungan language, the Mandarin-descended language spoken by Hui Chinese in Central Asia
* Korean dialects