User:Lukenam12/Jejueo

Jejueo is spoken primarily by South Koreans on Jeju Island. There also is a small number of people in Osaka, Japan who speak it: older Koreans who fled there during the 1940s-1950s because of harsh military suppression on the island of Jeju. It is primarily spoken by the older Korean community from Jeju island. Jejueo has several other names like Jejumal, Jeju saturi, Saturi, Jeju bangeon, Chejueo, Jejutmal, and Jeju Jiyeokeo. The lack of educational support is making this language endangered and since younger generations aren't used to the dialect, it is mostly used by the elderly. Jejueo was identified as critically endangered by UNESCO in 2010, the language itself has a history that dates back to the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392). There are currently an estimated range of native speakers between five thousand-ten thousand speakers.

Relationship to Korea
Jejueo has become a divergent language of South Korea since the fifteenth century. It was undermined during the modernization of South Korea, therefore the endangered language has become difficult to understand for most mainlanders. Efforts to revive the language is ongoing, but is difficult due to the fact that most speakers are between the ages of seventy-eighty years old.

Origin
Jejueo was primarily spoken throughout Jeju Province. The only place the language was not spoken traditionally was Chego Island which is halfway between Jeju island and South Korea.

History and Decline
Jeju was placed under the direct control of the Yuan administration back in the late thirteenth century, whereas mainland Korea was under the control of the Mongols. Linguist Yang Changyong speculates that during this time period many of the Mongol soldiers migrated to the islands of Jeju since the island was very visually pleasing. The Mongol’s language laid a strong foundation that could’ve been the catalyst for local language change. Linguist Yang Changyong also speculated that this may have been the main reason Jeju had a distinct language separate from the Koreanic language. Already by the fifteenth century when the invention of hangul occurred (Korean phonology), the language between Korean and Jejueo were already disparate. Already by the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the language of Jejueo was deemed unintelligible to mainland Koreans. To further grasp the situation a test was conducted in 2014 where Koreans from Busan, Seoul, and Yeosu were given comprehensive tests in Jejueo. The results showed that the Korean native speakers answered only ten percent of the questions correctly and the Jeju native speakers answered eighty-nine percent of the questions correctly. When did the decline of the Jejueo language begin? During 1629, emigration of Jeju islanders to the mainland was banned by the Korean government. This built an even greater linguistic barrier between Jeju and Korea. During the Japanese colonial rule, many of the Jeju islanders migrated to Japan especially to Osaka which explains the existence of Jejueo native speakers in Japan. With that being said, to this day many of the younger offsprings choose to speak Japanese instead of Jejueo further emphasizing the decline of the language. The disruption of the language truly started during the end of the Japanese rule in 1945. During this time period after World War II, rebellions started to occur. The division of Korea (South and North) led to rebellions against the American military government. After Syngman Rhee succeeded the American administration in Korea, he managed to suppress the rebellions and allowed mass killing of civilians. This was the secret genocide that occured in South Korea that no one really knows about. This resulted in as many as sixty-thousand Jeju islanders deaths and out of the four hundred villages only one-hundred sixty remained. There were also about one-hundred sixty-thousand korean speaking refugees that fled to Jeju in the first year of the Korean war to avoid the North Korean invasion. This displaced the Jejueo speakers as more Korean-speakers fled into Jeju.

The declination of Jejueo went throughout the 1960s-1970s especially during the modernization period of Korea. The modernization program launched by President Park Chung Hee really took a toll on the traditional villages in Jeju where Jejueo thrived. It went to the point that the dialect was perceived as incorrect and students in schools were highly advised not to use it and were met with punishments if used. This spread the use of standard Korean throughout the island of Jeju and even more discouraged the use of Jejueo. The attitude towards the language began to change even for the natives as most began to learn standard Korean. Native Jejueo speakers described that they use Jejueo “with Contempt” (Chanyoung)

Currently
Currently in Korea the official language is the standard Korean. In the island of Jeju, Jejueo is only spoken throughout homes, in private, or in certain marketplaces. The schools in Jeju are required to teach standard Korean whereas Jejueo classes are offered but not mandatory.

As of right now fluent speakers in Jeju island are all over their seventies. Speakers who can speak it but are not fluent in Jejueo are individuals over their forties and fifties. Jejueo had been classified as a critically endangered language by UNESCO since 2010. UNESCO stated that Jejueo’s “youngest speakers are grandparents and older... [who] speak the language partially and infrequently" (UNESCO).

A study was conducted in 2010 where four hundred teenagers from Jeju island were tested on their knowledge of one-hundred twenty basic Jeju vocabulary items. The results showed that only nineteen words were recognized and only ten percent understood forty-five words of the one-hundred twenty.

Efforts have been made to revitalize the language. In 2007 the government system in Jeju established the Language Act for the Preservation and Promotion of the Jeju Language. This effort established a five-year plan that advocated for language preservation. The act included plans to offer Jejueo as extracurricular activity in schools and cost-free programs for adults as well that would teach the critically endangered language. It was only until UNESCO declared Jujeo as critically endangered that the government made proactive decisions towards preservation efforts. It was in 2016 that the provincial government issued close to six hundred million won which is equivalent to five hundred thousand US dollars to language preservation programs. Despite all these preservation programs the short duration of the classes and the lack of linguistic competence of many teachers brings up problems that it may be insufficient to promote the use of Jejueo across the island.

Historically in the past many Korean citizens looked down on the language of Jeju and contributed negative attitudes and opinions towards it. A big main reason why Jejueo became less and less popular throughout the years is because Jejueo uses less honorifics and only 4 levels of politeness compared to seven that the standard Korean uses. Since Korea is big on honoring the elderly and emphasizes heavily on honoring others, it’s not surprising that the use declined over the years.