Alternate Names: Hanguk Mal, Hanguk Uh
Dialects: Cheju Island, Chollado (North Chollado, South Chollado), Ch’ungch’ongdo (North Ch’ungch’ong, South Ch’ungch’ong), Kyongsangdo (North Kyongsangdo, South Kyongsangdo), Seoul (Kangwondo, Kyonggido). Scholars differ as to whether or not Korean is related to Japanese ,. Some suggest that both languages are possibly distantly related to the Altaic group. Dialect boundaries generally correspond to provincial boundaries. Some dialects are not easily intelligible with others (Voegelin and Voegelin 1977). The suffix, -do, on dialect names means Province. Comprehension of standard Korean may be lower on Cheju Island.
Status Notes: De facto national language.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 48,400,000 in Korea, South (2010). Population total all countries: 77,166,230.
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 98% (1995). Higher adult illiteracy is reported on Cheju Island. Fully developed. Bible: 1911–1993.
Typology: SOV.
Spoken In: Korea, North, Korea, South
Writing System: Braille, Hangul, Han, Latin
Nation of Origin: Korea, South, Korea, North
Other Comments: Jeju (Cheju) has been identified as a language separate from Cheju Island dialect of Korean, but not yet assigned an ISO code (Moseley 2010). Buddhist, Christian.