"K-Language Map," which compares the languages used in both Koreas, is available on the University of Oxford's official website. (Oxford's official Facebook)

By Lee Jihae

"K-Language Map" on the official website of the University of Oxford compares the languages used in both Koreas.

A research team led by Cho Ji-eun (Jieun Kiaer), a professor of Korean linguistics at the school's Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, on Dec. 1 announced that it posted 240 words on the site in English and the Korean used in both Koreas based on interviews with 100 North Korean defectors residing in South Korea and the U.K.

Presenting the words in English and Korean used in both Koreas, the team provided Romanized pronunciations next to the Korean spellings. For instance, the English word for "koala" was the same in South Korea but namu oregui jumeoni gom (tree-climbing pouch bear) in North Korea.

"Day off" in South Korea is gonghyuil (public rest day) and hyushikil (rest day) in North Korea. A daily expression like "It's all right" in South Korean is "Gwaenchanseumnida" (It's OK) and "Il eopseumpnida" (No problem) in North Korean.

The team confirmed major gaps in the Korean used in both Koreas, with the most conspicuous being the scarcity of emotional expressions in the North. The more rigid society of North Korea also had far more formal sentences ending in da, na or kka than in South Korea.

Given the North's closed regime for about 70 years, its language has largely been unaffected by foreign languages, the internet or social media. The South, however, has seen the emergence of countless neologisms due to other tongues and digital fads.

The researchers also focused on the impact of Hallyu (Korean Wave), especially K-dramas, on language in North Korea. Millennials and Gen Z, a demographic of those born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, in the North were found to consider South Korean words as trendy and sophisticated.

"If we must prepare for future reunification (of the Korean Peninsula), language is the most crucial root that connects the two Koreas."

jihlee08@korea.kr