III.

STATUS PLANNING

The image
shows the linguistic groups in the Korean Peninsula.

Before the establishment of Korean written language by King Sejong under Joseon
Dynasty, and before the separation of Korea after the World War II, the Korean peninsula is
linguistically and culturally diverse. Looking back from the age or period of “Three Great
Kingdoms”, Goguryeo, Baekjie and Silla, each kingdom uses different language and some are
influenced by the Chinese language especially those near the Chinese territory. Just like China
wherein regional languages or dialects are isolated within their respected area and all the
languages existing outside their scope is unutterable. Korea’s respective languages in each
kingdom are unutterable and incomprehensible to others because each kingdom are in a constant
war against each other that’s why they intensified the scope of their territory, even in the field of
language used. There are period wherein one kingdom dominates the whole Korean peninsula,
just like during the unified period under Silla Dynasty, and there are also instances wherein each
kingdom made an important relationship with each other and on their nearby allies like
Manchuria (older name of China) and Japan. Even though the Korean peninsula is divided in two
different territories and governed by two different perspectives, South and North Korea, they still
use their own language originated in the greatness and sympathy of “King Sejong the Great”.
Korea, especially South Korea, is rich in culture, tradition and even in language. Now that they
are unified under one language, even though they have different regional dialect or way of using
and pronouncing the Korean language, Korean shows their patriotism by using their language in
everyday life and celebrating the birth of their language, Gugeo rooted in Hangeul.

A. Official and National Language

The only national and official language of South Korea is Korean language or Gugeo.
North and South Korea, unsurprisingly, speak and use Korean, and a standard version is
understood throughout the country. There are 50 million users of Korean language in South
Korea and South Korean people intensively used their own language to show their patriotism and
love in their country and in their own language identity. They are fluent in speaking their
language and they are also fluent in speaking English language, even though the latter is not their
national and official language. South Korea maintained their fluency status in Korean language
by promoting their own language and using it in their education and their fluency in English by
including it in their educational subject and hiring teachers from a native English-speaking
country. Written Korean is also unique, using a phonetic system called hangul. It stacks sounds
into blocks that represent syllables, and its consistency means it’s fairly easy to pick up.
According to some expert in the field of language, Korean language, even though it’s one of the
youngest language in the world, is very unique because its written form is based and rooted from
human speech organ, that’s why it is the most scientific and logical language.

B. Regional Language

The whole Korean Peninsula, specifically in South Korea use the Korean language but
they have different regional dialects across the country. There are several dialects that are spoken
in South Korea. The Seoul dialect (서울말) or Gyeonggi is spoken in Gyeonggi, Incheon, Seoul
(South Korea), and Kaesŏng (North Korea). It is the basis of the standard language. The
Yeongseo dialects ( 영 서 방 언 ) are spoken in the Yeongseo region of Gangwon Province in
South Korea. The Chungcheong dialects ( 충 청 방 언 ) are the dialects of the Chungcheong
(Hoseo) region of South Korea, including the city of Daejeon. The Gyeongsang dialects (경상 방
언 ), also called Southeastern dialects are typical for the Gyeongsang (Yeongnam) region of
South Korea, including the cities of Busan, Daegu, Ulsan. They are easily distinguishable from
the Seoul dialect, because of their more varied pitch. The Jeolla dialects ( 전 라 방 언 ), or
Southwestern dialects are spoken in the Jeolla (Honam) region of South Korea, including the city
of Gwangju. The Jeju dialect (제주 방언) is spoken on the Jeju Island, off the southwest coast of
South Korea, and is sometimes considered a separate Korean language.

C. Indigenous Language

The indigenous languages of South Korea are already extinct. Going back to the age of
“Three Great Kingdoms”, the Goguryeo, Baekjie and Silla, and some includes the Gaya or Kaya
in the South; each Kingdom has their own language. These languages are suppressed when the
Joseon Dynasty under King Sejong establish the alphabet of Korean Language called Hangul in
which it became the basis of their language, Korean language. Due to this, Korean language is
considered to be one of the indigenous languages of South Korea because the people living in
this country really loves their country that’s why they show their patriotism by using Korean
language. They used it from the very birth of their own language. Furthermore, Chinese language
became one of their indigenous languages due to its long time influence before the formation of
Korean language. Chinese language became the root of Korean language and even up to this day,
there are still loan words borrowed from the said language. Like its northern neighbor, the
Republic of Korea, with a population of 51 million, is very homogeneous in linguistic and ethnic
terms: other than recent immigrant groups, there is only a small Chinese minority. Foreign
nationals amount to more than 1.3 million people, of whom around half are ethnic Chinese. The
Chinese minority, previously concentrated mainly in the country’s largest cities such as Incheon,
has increasingly tended to be concentrated in the capital, Seoul.

D. Codification

Codification stage is one of the stages of status planning wherein it’s responsible and it
tackles the established characteristics or criteria of a “good” language. Through this, the use and
status of the qualified language became wide wherein it can be the official language, national
language or it can be used in both scope. The codification process of South Korea used 3 criteria
that help to identify and set their national language. The first criteria is it is used by the majority
of the South Korean people and it is very popular across the South Korean peninsula wherein
almost it was spoken by 80 million people in Asia. In South Korea, out of 51million people in
their border, it was used and spoken by 50 million people, that’s why it became the national
language of the country. On the other hand, there are 25 million users in North Korea, 2.5
million in China (Yeonbeon and Changbai in Jilin Province) and it also spreads on other
countries like Japan, Russia and other countries in the world. The second criterion that South
Korea used is South Korea is very patriotic to their country, they really love their country and
everything that originates from them that makes them unique. Since Gugeo originated from
them, rooted from the influence of Chinese language, Gugeo became the national language.
Through the invention of Korea’s own writing system, it further intensifies their patriotism.
Hangeul played an important role in establishing Gugeo. It was not only viewed as a convenient
writing system for Gugeo but also regarded as the realization of Korean spirit. Koreans took
pride in having invented a writing system that was widely regarded as phonemically most
precise by linguists. Koreans’ positive attitude toward Hangeul heralded a unique consciousness
of Gugeo in relation to Hangeul and influenced the new language policy, which mandated that
Gugeo be written with Hangeul not with Chinese characters, and Hangeul should be written
horizontally to resist the convention of vertical writing in Chinese orthography. The third
criterion is that Korean realize that in order for them to have their own identity, they must have
their own language and they must not borrow or used any language that will replace their own
language that’s why, prior to the declaration of Gugeo as national language, they also
intensified the used of it across the country and they also suppress the internal foreign influence
in their language.

E. Standardization

Standardization is the last stage of status planning and after identifying the criteria used
to identify the candidate languages or dialect for the title of national and official language, the
next stage is standardizing the selected language by having an established unified variety. Way
back Joseon Dynasty, the existing language is Chinese and it’s only for the elites or the rich clan
of the community and those who doesn’t belong to that status, especially the lower ones, can’t
express their thoughts because they don’t know how to use the language. Since Hangeul became
the root of Korean language, since the said alphabet established the pronunciation and writing
style of the said language, King Sejong reviewed all the books coming from the region in Korea
and together with his scholars, they are able to come up with one result. Since South Korea are
isolated within their `regional borders, the government further intensifies the standardization of
the language by translating the Chinese words into their own language and promoting the use of
Gugeo and, of course, Hangeul in different South Korean domains since it acts as the summary
of the different regional dialects which represents the Korean Peninsula as one. Through having
one writing system, South Korea is able to have a unified variety of their national language.