Corean language

Corean [Hankoel: 한국어, Handja: 韓國語, Amerikaans: Coreaense] is an East Asian language mainly spoken in Corea, Poeja, Tauland, and New Batavia, with smaller populations in the Netherlands, the Americas, Russia, and China. Hankoel, developed in the 15th century by King Sedjong and based on Sanskrit phonology, is the primary writing system for the language. Several dialects compose the Corean language, with a few such as the Cheju dialect sometimes being classifed as separate Coreanic languages.

History

The proto-Corean languages are theorized to have formed in southwestern Manchuria, contemporary with the foundational years of the Chinese Shang dynasty. Approximately three hundred years before Christ, Coreanic split into the northern Mek [貊] branch and the southern Han [韓] branch. The Mek language was the ancestor of the dialects of Ko-djosan, Poeja, Ko-korjo and numerous other northern Corean dynasties. Meanwhile, the Han Confederacy and the later Silla dynasty's languages arose from the Han branch.

Peninsular Corean dialects were eventually unified by the Later Silla dynasty, the first state that unified the majority of Coreans. This Sillan dialect gave way to Middle Corean by the reign of King Hjandjong of Korjo. In 1446, King Sedjong the Great of Tsjosan introduced the phoenetic Hankoel alphabet. With a new alphabet available to the majority of the Corean population, Corean literature flourished and became the bridge leading to the formation of Modern Corean, arising simultaneously with the Qing conquests in China.

During the 18th and 19th century, the Corean language shifted once again with the importation of foreign knowledge, the collapse of the Qing dynasty, and the formation of the Korean Poeja kingdom in southern Manchuria. Several marginalized dialects like Rjoekdjin experienced a resurgence, causing a diversification of dialects. Many loanwords from Dutch and other languages entered Corean. With the tide of Corean emigration, the language also spread to various parts of the world such as Tauland, New Batavia, and other countries.

Dialects and Creoles

Generally, there are twelve recognized Corean dialects, five of them considered 'Northern' and the remainder 'Southern'; Poeja, Yodong, Rjoekdjin, Hamgjang, and Pjangan make up the former, while the four Central dialects, Kjangsan, Jalla, and Tsjedju form the latter. Standard Corean, developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries, is mainly based on the Central and Pjangan dialects.

Corean interaction with the Dutch in Batavospheric Asia had also formed two creole languages. Dutch control of Poesjan had created Poesjan Port Creole [부산遝말, lit. Poesjan mixed language] by the 1770s. A Kjangsan dialect-based language, it has a Tauuan Dutch substratum and varying influences from the Japanese Hakata dialect, Hokkien, and Ryukyuan. In Tauland and New Batavia, Austro-Corean [남僑遝말 lit. southern emigrants' mixed language] is spoken by the descendants of Corean migrants to Southeast Asia. Both of these languages have declined in the 20th century and survive in small localized communities.

Coreans in North America, particularly Westerzee province of Tussenland, speak a variety of dialects lightly influenced by European languages such as Amerikaens, English, and Spanish.

Script

Romanisation

The Keukenkamp system is the standard global romanisation system for Corean, developed by a Dutch missionary in 1854. It was later popularized in the 1880s.

As a foreign language

In the Batavosphere

Corean is reputedly popular as a foreign language course in much of the Dutch world. Several schools in the Netherlands, New Netherland, Tauland, New Batavia, and Tussenland offer standard Corean in the same capacity as French or English. The popularity of Corean media has also contributed in a growing interest in the language.

Loanwords & foreign words

Sino-Corean vocabulary

The largest segment of foreign or foreign-based vocabulary in Corean is Sino-Corean vocabulary. Words can be borrowed directly from Chinese or can be created from Chinese characters (Handja). In either case, the pronunciation of the word is changed to suit the phonology of the Corean language.

During the late Sjakwang and nationalist eras, there was a statewide effort to promote native Corean words in place of Sino-Corean ones, particularly in formal language. However, this movement has had limited success.

Corean exonyms

Corean names for foreign places are either created with Chinese characters or spelled phonetically using Hankoel. Regardless of its origin, the shorter exonym is usually used more often in everyday life, while the phonetically spelled one is used for foreign commerce.

List of common exonyms

• Ainu Republic - 하이국/蝦夷國 (ha'i koek, from Kanji)
  • 하이누國/蝦夷累國 (ha'i noe koek) also used (lit. persistent shrimp-barbarian nation)
• China - 중국/中國 (tsjoeng'koek, from Handja)
  • Pronounced as 듕국 (djoeng'koek) in the northern dialects
  • 화하/華夏 (hwaha) when specifically referring to the Wah-hah Republic
• Japan - 일본/日本 (ilbon, from Handja)
• Netherlands - 화란/荷蘭 (hwaran, from Handja rendering of Dutch 'Holland')
  • Alternative name - 네덜란 (nedalan, from 'Nederland')
• New Batavia - 신바타배 (sjin batabe)
• New Netherland - 신네덜란 or 뉴네덜란 (sjin nedalan, njoe nedalan)
• Oceania - 호주/濠洲 (hodjoe, from Kanji)
• Philippines - 려송/呂宋 (rjoesong, from Handja rendering of Tagalog 'Lusong')
  • Also known as 삼주/三洲 (samdjoe, lit. three islands)
  • Phonetically spelled as 필리핀 (pillipin)
• Russia - 아라사/俄羅斯 (arasa, from Manchu)
• Siam - 섬으라/暹羅 (samoera, from Handja)
• Tauland - 도란/島蘭 (toran, from Handja)
  • Also known as 도국/桃國 (tokoek)
• Viet Nam - 월남/越南 (walnam, from Handja)