Lesser-Known Languages (LKL): Jejueo
A beautiful koreanic language disappearing each generation that is starting to grow again.
Jeju Island is considered one of the most beautiful places in Korea.
An idyllic island home to the tallest mountain in the country, the active volcano Hallasan, and the strong women divers known as Haenyeo (해녀).
It is both the largest Korean island, with a surface of 1,833.2 km² (707.8 sq mi), the one with the largest population with close to 700,000 inhabitants, and the one furthest from the mainland.
If all this wasn’t enough for you to imagine how incredible this island was, this other information might help: its language, Jejueo (제주어), is one of the few other evolutions of Middle Korean, and the only widely researched one.1
Despite having gone to Korea multiple times and learned the language for 12 years, I only heard of the Jeju language’s existence earlier this year.
A shock that was followed by awe.
My research into the island’s history and its language got me addicted. I’m willing to bet your head will spin like mine when we dive into Jejueo’s verbs, before you realize the flexibility it offers too!
But first, let’s go back in time.
Back to when three gods rose from holes on the island of Tamna and found a box.
Creation of a kingdom
Jeju’s history started with a legend recorded in the main surviving historical record of Korea’s history: the Goryeosa (고려사), last edited in 1451.
The legend was the creation of the Tamna Kingdom with the emergence of three gods from holes now known as the Samseonghyeol (삼성혈)2 around 2340 BCE. They soon found a mythical box ashore containing three women, horses, cows, and seeds.
They divided the island into three territories and called the island the Tamna Kingdom (탐라국).
It seems the Tamna kingdom grew throughout the centuries that followed because it was well established by the beginning of the first millennium AD, when clear records show extensive maritime trade with mainland Korea and other surroundings.
In 476, the Tamna Kingdom entered into a tributary arrangement with the Baekje Kingdom which was one of the three main kingdoms of Mainland Korea (the one controlling the south of the continent).
Around the 8th century, Tamna switched allegiance to the rising Silla Kingdom and gained renewed freedom after the Silla kingdom collapsed in 935. This, however, didn’t last long as King Taejo (who founded the Goryeo dynasty) took control of the island three years later.
The island was officially annexed in 1105 and renamed “Jeju” (제주) in 1295.
An island under control
Many Mongols settled in Jeju between 1270 and mixed with the locals.
This was caused by the Mongols invading Korea and following a group of rebels all the way to the island until the Goryeo king dispatched an army to regain control in 1374.
Some linguists, like linguist Yang Changyong, speculate the influence of Mongol was one of the triggers for the Jeju language to differ from Mainland Korean. Some loanwords still remain to this day.
The Joseon dynasty (1392-1897) brought the island into its centralized administrative network in 1404. Jeju island’s residents lost most of their freedom under this dynasty, including even the right to leave the island between 1629 and 1825. On the contrary, Jeju Island was a place where people were exiled, the second worst form of punishment at the time (the first being execution).
Every uprising was crushed by the government, the most famous ones being in 1862, 1898, and 1901.
The Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 created even more hardship for the islanders but the worst came after occupation. In the spring of 1948, the worst of Jeju’s history began.
A large massacre in Jeju.
Hidden history
Some residents of the island who were (among others) against the division of Korea into two territories (done at the end of WWII in 1945) protested from 1947. These rebels attacked several police stations and polling places3 on April 3, 1948.
This day became known as the Jeju 4·3 (제주 4·3 사건).
From that day, all the way until 1951, soldiers and right-wing vigilantes dispatched by the government inflicted terror on the entire population of Jeju Island.
The numbers are unclear but it is estimated that between 15,000 and 30,000 people were killed (or some 10% of the population of the island) and thousands fled to Japan.
This terrible part of history was buried for the next decades by the government as the simple mention of this massacre was considered a treasonous act.
It wasn’t until a report commissioned in 2000 by President Kim Dae-Jung came out in 2003 that an official apology was issued by the president. It was also only in 2019 that an official apology by the South Korean police and the defense ministry was made.
This website, created when the report in 2003 came out and updated regularly, gathers all the information on this horrific time in history.
It also shows there is still a lot to uncover as some new bodies were found in March 2021, 73 years after the facts, at a place where a scorched-earth operation had happened during the massacre.
Today’s Jeju Cultural Specialties
Today, the Jeju Province is one of the nine provinces of South Korea and is well-known—on top of its beautiful nature—for its women divers.
It’s impossible to look up Jeju without quickly falling upon an article or video mentioning the Haenyeo (해녀), divers harvesting a variety of mollusks, seaweed, and other sea life 10 meters under the sea.
Known for their independent spirit, iron will, and determination, most of the Haenyeo today are above 70 years old and still dive regularly.
Oh, and did I mention they are free divers4?!
This culture, inscribed by UNESCO in 2016 as part of the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is proof that a strong will and consistent activity matter for our health.
Don’t believe me? Check this video and get back to me.
Jeju is also filled with funny-looking statues known as Dol Hareubang (돌 하르방). Literally meaning “Stone Grandpa” in the Jeju language, their exact origin is unknown.
These statues that can reach three meters in height can be found mostly outside of gates as protection against demons.
What is Jejueo?
The Jeju language was considered a dialect until very recently. In fact, it wasn’t until the 2010s that the term “Jeju dialect” (제주 방언 or 제주 사투리) began being called “Jeju language,” after UNESCO designated this language as “critically endangered”, the highest level of language endangerment possible.
Since then the language has been growing again, through efforts of the community, although this is still too slow to save the language as most speakers are elders.
The 2007 “Language Act for the Preservation and Promotion of the Jeju Language” and the Research Centre for Jeju Studies opened in 2011 have contributed to spreading awareness but a lot is still needed for the language classes to become more than a symbolic act.
In 2018, the SOAS University of London carried out a revitalization project to build a collection of audio and video recordings of the Jeju Language being spoken by native speakers. I highly encourage you to register for free and watch videos of elders chatting in the language. Precious5.
In a 2014 survey, Koreans from outside of the island understood less than 10% of what was said.
Indeed, the Jejueo and Korean vocabulary may seem similar at times, with words like “tomorrow” sounding similar in the two languages: 늴 (nuil) vs 내일 (naeil), but others are completely different, like 어시 (eosi, from Middle Korean) compared to the modern Korean 부모 (bumo).
The Jeju language even has a letter that disappeared in Korean: ㆍ
Yes, you saw right. A dot. It’s a vowel that sounds like “aw”(/ɒ/) and is a Middle Korean phoneme lost in Standard Korean in the 18th century:
역ᄉᆞ (yeoksaw) = history
ᄉᆞᆫ아이 (sawnai) = man
But it doesn’t stop here. Double this dot and you get the sound /yaw/, as in ᄋᆢ라 (yawra) which means “several.”
The language of 제줏말
There's a lot to say about the Jeju language and explaining it without writing an entire book about it will be difficult, but let's try. My goal is for you to get the basics of how the language works, and find the wonders I enjoyed noticing.
I took more notes than ever but if I want to give you an overview, I'll have to skip some nuances. If you want more details explained in English, the only place seems to be this book: Jejueo: The Language of Korea’s Jeju Island.
One thing is sure though. If you speak or have studied a bit of Korean, you'll notice tons of similarities in sentence constructions. Verbs will be another beast though. But we'll talk about this soon enough.
First, let's talk structure.
Important note: Keep an eye on the “NOM”, “TOP”, etc. they will serve to refer to these particles’ uses in the examples.
Jejueo’s overall basics
The Jeju language is a Koreanic language that shares a lot of its structure with Korean but uses older forms found in Middle Korean (used from the 11th to 16th century) that have disappeared in modern Korean.
As with all languages, it’s evolved in its own way too, learning from other invaders like the Mongols and Japanese6.
Jejueo is a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) language. Like in Korean, the subject can be omitted if it is understood through context.
Jejueo uses suffix particles to indicate what the previous part of the sentence relates to:
Subject marker: indicates the subject of the verb. (
NOM)이 (i) when the previous word’s last letter is a consonant
지슬이 (jiseul-i) → a potato
가 (ga) when the previous word’s last letter is a vowel
모제가 (moje-ga) → A hat
이서/서 (iseo/seo) for groups and communities
라 (la) used until the 80s
레 (le) only after vowels
Object marker: Indicates the object of the verb (
OBJ)을 (eul) after a consonant
지슬을 (jiseul-eul) → A potato
ㄹ (l) after a vowel. (를 leul, found in modern Korean is uncommon in Jejueo)
모젤 (moje-l) → A hat
Genitive marker: to indicate possession. (
GEN)의 (ui) but often written and pronounced as 이 (i)
나의 칩 (na-ui chip, “my house/the house of I”)
의 Changes to 에 (e) or 예 (ye) after an i vowel
an ㅅ s can also be added:
시엣 마눙 (si-e-s manung, “garlic from the city/city’s garlic”)
제줏말 (jeju-s-mal, “the language of Jeju”)
Dative marker: to indicate the indirect object, often indicated in English by articles like “at, in, to,” etc. (
DAT)ᄀᆞ라 (gawla) or ᄀᆞᆯ아 (gawl.a): only with humans and verbs of speaking
가의 ᄀᆞ라 ᄒᆞᆸ서 (gaui gawla haw-b-seo, “Tell him”)
신듸/신디 (sindui/sindi), 안틔/안티 (antui/anti), 아픠/아피/앞의/앞이 (apui/api/ap.ui/ap.i)
Topic marker: to indicate the topic of a sentence. (
TOP)은 (eun) after a consonant
오널은 (oneol-eun) → Today
ㄴ (n) after a vowel. (는 neun, found in modern Korean doesn’t exist in Jejueo)
펜진 (penji-n) → A letter
이랑 (ilang) or 일랑 (illang). Careful, this doesn’t hold the same meaning as the Korean 랑/이랑 meaning “with”
While Modern Korean usually has only up to two forms for each particle, Jejueo can have many more. Most can be used interchangeably but a few hold an implied detail, such as the subject marker 이서 implying the subject is a group or community.
Side note 1: Topic markers and subject markers may appear to hold the same purpose but that’s not the case. For example, in the sentence “Today, I will go out,” Today is the topic and I, the subject of the verb.
Side note 2: In the list found above, the particles in bold exist in the same form in Modern Korean.
There are many more particles but before we get to them, it’s time to jump into the most complicated part of Jejueo: verbs and tenses.
Verb hell
Verbs in the Jeju language follow an agglutinative process. In short, certain concepts are added after the verb stem. Here’s how it goes:
Verb stem-Aspect-Aspect-Modality-Tense(-Connective/Sentence Ender)
At most, a verb fully conjugated can have 6 parts, each giving more information on the verb and its purpose.7
We’ll go through each of those from the “inside out”, skipping only the Connective part (which is more complicated and serves to link two sentences into one).
I will separate each part in romanization to clearly show the construction and will set in bold the discussed part.
Slot 1 and 2: Aspects
There are two slots for the aspect. They are, in order:
The continuative aspect (
CONT)The perfective aspect (
PFV)
The continuative aspect can be written 어ᇝ/아ᇝ/ㅁㅅ/여ᇝ (-eoms/-ams/ms/yeoms) depending on what comes before. As its name indicates, it serves to indicate a continuing situation. If there are no past indicators, this situation will be a nonpast (ie. either present or future).
When used, the ㅁㅅ version gets added to the previous syllable.
ᄒᆞᆨ게드레 ᄃᆞᆯ아ᇝ어 (Hawgge-deule dawl-ams-eo) → S/he is running to school.
(School-[Direction] Run-CONT-SE)늴 무시거 헤ᇝ인이? (Nuil musigeo he-ms-in-i) → What are you doing tomorrow?
(Tomorrow what do-CONT-NPST-SE)
If the continuative aspect appears on a descriptive verb, it indicates an evolution:
ᄃᆞᆺ아ᇝ저 (Daws-ams-jeo) → It is becoming warm.
The second slot is reserved for the perfective aspect, 엇/앗/ㅅ/엿 (eos/as/s/yeos). This marker represents an event seen in its entirety. As such, it is often used for past events, although it can also be used for nonpast events too (if they are conceptualized in their entirety).
지슬 팟저 (Jiseul pa-s-jeo) → S/he dug potatoes.
(Potato dig-PFV-SE)바당더레 ᄆᆞᆫ처 ᄃᆞᆯ앗이마 (Badang-deole mawncheo dawl-as-ima) → I will have run to the sea first.
(sea-[Direction] first run-PFV-SE)
Slot 3: Modality
While the two first slots had only one possible type of particle possible, the third has two:
Future-related (prediction/conjecture/intention): 읔/ㅋ/잌/웈 (euk/k/ik/uk) (
PROSP)Habitual action in nonpast: (으)느 ((eu)neu) (
INDC)
The -euk particle indicates a future intention with the first-person subject and a conjecture when used with a different subject.
It is often used in combination with the future particle (slot 4) 을/ㄹ (eul/l).
나가 ᄀᆞᆯ읔우다 (na-ga gawl-euk-u-da) → I will speak (to him/her)
(I-NOM speak-PROSP-AH8-SE)가이 지레가 크클아 (gai jile-ga keu-k-eul-a) → It seems that s/he will grow tall.
([3rd person singular] height-NOM grow-PROSP-FUT-SE)
Some theories suggest that this may have come from the Mongolian future-denoting noun qu, although this hasn’t been proved yet.
As for the -(eu)neu particle, it indicates a regular action or situation. It’s often followed by an ㄴ (n) that represents the nonpast (NPST) as we’ll see in Slot 4.
느 메날 몸 ᄀᆞᆷ우는야? (neu menal mom gawn-uneu-n-ya) → Do you bathe every day?
([2nd person singular] everyday body wash-INDC-NPST-SE)
Slot 4: Tenses
We come to the last section of the main part of the verb. The particles that express the tense. This slot can have 3 different versions:
Ø: The nonpast (ie. the present or future) is usually indicated by leaving this slot empty but it can also be marked overtly with the suffix 은/인/운/ㄴ (eun/in/un/n) too (
NPST)철수 돗궤기 먹은다 (Cheolsu dos-gwegi meog-eun-da.) → Cheolsu eats pork.
(Cheolsu pig-meat eat-NPST-SE)순자 무시거 잘 ᄎᆞᆽ인다 (Sunja musigeo jal chawj-in-da.) → Sunja finds things well.
(Sunja something well find-NPST-SE)
언/안/연/ㄴ (eon/an/yeon/n): Indicates the past tense. (
PST)날 막 얼언 (nal mag eol-eon) → It is very cold/The day is very cold.
(day very cold-PST)아방 언치낙 죽언 abang eanchinag jug-eon). → (My) Father died last night.
(father last.night die-PST)
을/일/울/ㄹ (eul/il/ul/l): Indicates the future tense (
FUT). Possible to use without a sentence ender. Sometimes said as 을거 (eulgeo)이거 느가 먹을라? (i-geo neu-ga meog-eul-la?) → Will you eat this?
(this.thing [2nd person singular]-NOM eat-FUT-SE)늴은 갈디아? (nuil-eun ga-l-dia?) → Will you go tomorrow?
(tomorrow-TOP go-FUT-SE)나가 ᄌᆞᆨ으클 (na-ga jawg-euk-eul) → I will write (it).
(I-NOM write-PROSP-FUT)
The past marker -eon can be meant to indicate a hypothetical event if combined with -euk (slot 3):
ᄌᆞ냑 먹컨, 제기 집드레 오라 (jawnyag meog-k-eon, jegi jib-deule ola) → If you wanted to eat dinner, come home quickly.
(dinner eat-PROSP-PST, quickly home-[Direction] come-SE)
The future marker overlaps the underlying meanings of the prospective marker but a slight nuance can be perceived between the two. With the first, the action can be seen as already decided before while the second indicates something that was decided just as said.
Combinations
While each slot can be used on its own with the verb stem, combining them is where variety truly arises. I won’t go into detail about this but here are a few underlying meanings of some combinations:
-eoms + -euk (어ᇝ + 읔) → Future progressive meaning
-eoms + -(eu)neun (어ᇝ + (으)는) → Habitual ongoing event
-eos + -eos (엇 + 엇) → Past event that was habitual or occurred prior to a certain point of time in the past
-eos + -eun (엇 + 은) → Past event with current relevance
-euk + -eon (읔 + 언) → Hypothetical desire
-euk + -eul (읔 + 을)
If first or second person subject: Intention
If not: conjectural interpretation
Sentence Enders (SE)
Similarly to Modern Korean, The Jeju Language uses sentence enders depending on a number of factors. These serve to indicate things like evidentiality, sentence type, the formality of the speech, or politeness expressed toward the addressee.
This is the part I’ve always struggled most with Korean but it seems Jejueo goes even further, with over 26 potential sentence enders for informal speech alone.
There are two main types of sentence enders:
Type 1: after the verb stem directly, or after -eoms (어ᇝ), -eos (엇) and sometimes -euk (읔), as well as their equivalent.
Type 2: after -eun (은), -eon (언), -eul (을), -eom (엄), and their equivalent.
I’ve made a “simple” Google Sheet summarizing them all but here are those that seemed most important to me.
디 (di) or 티 (ti) when following -eul (을). Type 2 SE. Used for statement and wh questions
나 깅이 다 먹엇인디 (na gingi da meog-eos-in-di) → I already ate the crab.
([1st person singular] crab eat-PFV-NPST-SE)나 할망칩더레 메날 ᄃᆞᆯ으는디 (na halmang chib-deole menal dawl-euneu-n-di) → I go to grandmother’s house every day.
([1st person singular] grandmother house-[direction] everyday run-INDC-NPST-SE)
어/아/여/Ø (eo/a/yeo/Ø). Type 1 SE. Used for statements or any questions. Softer than 주 (-ju)
순자 메날 간세ᄒᆞ여 (Sunja menal ganse-haw9-yeo) → Sunja slacks off every day.
(Sunja everyday laziness-do-SE)가의 무시거 봉가ᇝ어? (gaui musigeo bongg-ams-eo? → What is s/he gathering?
([3rd person singular] what gather-CONT-SE)
지 (ji). Type 1. Used for statements (implying certainty from speaker) and confirmatory yes-no questions.
느 메날 ᄒᆞᆨ게더레 ᄃᆞᆯ을거지? (neu menal hawgge-deole dawl-eulgeo-ji?) → You will go to school every day, right?
([2nd person sing.] school-[direction] run-FUT-SE)미나 이제 징심 ᄎᆞᆯ려ᇝ지. (Mina ije jingsim chawlly-eoms-ji) → (I assure you that) Mina is preparing lunch now.
(Mina now lunch prepare-CONT-SE)
(으)주/(이)주/(우)주/주 (eu)ju/(i)ju/(u)ju/ju. Type 1 SE. Many usages:
With bare stem and first-person subject: intention or strong assertion
나가 익주 (na-ga ig-ju) → I will read (it).
나가 ᄀᆞᆯ으주 (na-ga gawl-euju) → I will talk.
With bare stem and third-person subject: speaker’s judgment or assumption
순자가 곱주 (Sunja-ga gob-ju) → Sunja (is the one who) is pretty.
Can also express regret or give advice
느가 ᄎᆞᆽ이주 (neu-ga chawj-iju) → You (not others) should have searched./You’d better search.
Can also express a proposal.
지슬 줏주 (jiseul jus-ju) → Let’s gather the potatoes.
Here are two of the six possible question Sentence Enders.
디아 (dia) or 티아 (tia). Type 2 SE. Only with yes-no and wh questions to person with the relevant personal experience.
는 무사 얼언디아? (neu-n musa eol-eon-dia?) → Why are you cold?
([2nd person sing.]-TOP why cold-PST-SE)누게가 선싕이연디야? (nuge-ga seonssuing-i-yeong-dia?) → Who was a teacher?
(Who-NOM teacher-be-PST-SE)
가 (ga). Type 2 SE. All types of questions. Most basic question ender, indicating curiosity.
이거 느 돈이가? (igeo neu don-i-ga?) → Is this your money?
(This-thing [2nd person sing.] money-be-SE)어멍은 ᄌᆞ냑 ᄆᆞᆫ 먹언가? (eomeong-eun jawnyag mawn meog-eon-ga?) → Has mother eaten all her dinner?
(mother-TOP dinner all eat-PST-SE)
Now here’s one sentence ender to indicate the imperative: 으라 (eula). It can also be written as 이라/우라/라 (ila/ula/la):
먹으라! (meog-eula!) → Eat!
앚이라! (aj-ila!) → Sit down!
Finally, let’s turn to the most common polite sentence-enders (PSE)
For statements, the ending will be one of the following 읍네다, 읍니다, 업네다,업니다, 입네다, 입니다, 웁네다, 웁니다,ㅂ네다,ㅂ니다.
The 읍/업/입/웁/ㅂ (eub/eob/ib/ub/b) part indicates reference toward the listener.
The 네/니 (ne/ni) part is an evidentiality marker. It implies previous knowledge. Can be changed to 데/디 (de/di).
And 다 (da) is the actual sentence ender. Questions will replace this -da by ga(ng) (가/강) or kka(ng) (까/깡).
It might seem more complicated since it’s longer but the result is actually much simpler!
할망 메날 ᄃᆞᆨ세기 먹읍네다 (halmang menal dawgsegi meog-eubneda) → Grandmother eats eggs every day.
(grandmother everyday egg eat-PSE)아방 어드레 ᄃᆞᆯ읍디가? (abang eudeule dawl-eubdiga?) → Where did father go? (
father where run-PSE)날이 얼큽디가? (nal-i eol-k-eubdiga?) → Will the day be cold?
(day-NOM cold-PROSP-PSE)
My favorite way to make a sentence polite, however, is to add 마씀 (masseum). It can even be added after some other informal sentence enders for more variety.
ᄂᆞᆺ 시칠거마씀 (Naws sichi-lgeo masseum) → I will wash my face.
(face wash-FUT-PSE)나가 ᄃᆞᆯ아마씀? (na-ga dawl-a-masseum?) → Do you want me to run?
([1st person sing]-NOM run-SE-PSE)
Phew! There we are.
As mentioned before, there are a lot more sentence enders but these seem to come back often and be used for the most common types of sentences. Like with every language, however, practice makes perfect so you’ll need to get as much exposure as possible if you wish to master them!
Until then, let’s turn to a few… particles!
Particle heaven and more
If you’ve ever studied any Korean, the particles mentioned at the top may seem quite straightforward. You may also think there are more particles that exist. And you’d be true.
I have been learning Korean for more than a decade and I don’t think Korean has half of the possible particles that exist in the Jeju language. From what I’ve seen, it appears there are over 30 postpositions (particles that come after nouns).
And that’s without counting the possible allomorphy!10
In this section, we’ll talk about 5 of the most commonly used ones.
드레 (deule)/더레 (deole)
This particle, which can also be changed to 레 (le), 르레 (leule), or 러레 (leole) is meant to indicate a direction. It can be translated as “to, into, toward.”
We’ve seen it appear in a few sentences already so let me give only one more:
가읜 아방이영 바당더레 ᄃᆞᆯ앗주. (gaui-n abang-iyeong badang-deole dawl-as-ju.) → S/he went to the sea with her/his father.
([3rd person sing.]-TOP father-with sea-[direction] run-PFV-SE)
The particle ᄁᆞ장 (kkawjang)/ᄁᆞ지 (kkawji), which is close to the Modern Korean 까지 (kkaji), can serve the same purpose.
의 (ui) / 이 (i)
This particle, which changes to a 에 (-e) after a stem ending in i or l, marks a location for stative verbs and a direction for action verbs. It can also be used to express time. (In practice, it is similar to the Korean 에 (-e)).
정지에 가ᇝ인야? (jeongji-e ga-ms-in-ya?) → Are you going to the kitchen?
어멍 바당의 셔? (eomeong badang-ui sy-eo?) → Is Mother at the sea?
의서 (uiseo)/이서 (iseo)/서 (seo)
This particle indicates the place where an action occurs. Its use is similar to the Korean 에서 (eseo).
ᄒᆞᆨ게서 공븨 ᄒᆞ게 (hawgge-seo gongbui-haw-ge) → Let’s study at school
(school-[location] study-do-SE)가네 바당의서 희어ᇝ저 (ga-ne badang-uiseo hui-eoms-jeo.) → They are swimming in the sea.
([3rd person sing]-[plural] sea-[location] swim-CONT-SE)
이영 (iyeong)/영 (yeong)
Similar in use to the Modern Korean 이랑 (ilang), this particle means “with.” Careful, however, it goes after the noun it refers to:
아방이영 ᄉᆞ답ᄒᆞ여ᇝ우게 (abang-iyeong sawdab-haw-yeoms-u-ge.) → I am doing the laundry with my father.
(father-with laundry-do-CONT-AH-SE)
광 (gwang)/왕 (wang)
This particle, similar to the Modern Korean 과/와 (gwa/wa), means “and” in most situations but can also be used to say “with.”
국광 궤기 (gug-gwang gwegi) → Soup and meat
Where to learn the Jeju Language
Like most languages that were once considered dialects of official languages, most resources are in the country’s official language. This means that the best resources will be in Korean.
This being said, one rather new resource surpasses everything else I’ve found (even Korean): Jejueo - The Language of Korea’s Jeju Island.
This book, published in 2019 in English was the main source of information for all the explanations you’ve found above, as well as most of the example sentences. Its 314 pages cover everything above, and everything else I’ve had to overlook to shorten this piece (such as question words, comparisons, plurals, etc.). It also never relies on previous Korean knowledge like most other sources online do.
You can find the book on Amazon but don’t hesitate to use the free trial on Perlego11 if you want to have a look.
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the only complete resource in English about the Jeju Language….
Apart from this dictionary PDF (that might come in handy if you want to learn the language). It comes from this website that was created by, you guessed it, the authors of the Jejueo book mentioned above!
Some research papers, like this one, and some videos like this one, share some information but most lack detail. This 2014 pamphlet with some basic sentences can also be useful.
The Endangered Language Archive (ELAR) is filled with videos of long conversations all in Jejueo. Although it lacks subtitles, it’s a good way to practice listening comprehension in context. Anybody can request access and get it for free.
For those who speak Korean (or at least know a bit of Korean), some other platforms can make the process much easier.
For one, the Korean Namu Wiki page is quite complete. It goes over pretty much every aspect of the Jejueo grammar. It’s quite dry though.
The Center for Jeju Studies gathers many documents about the island’s culture and language (available for free) such as 맛 좋은 제주어, a book about Jeju’s food explained in Jejueo and Korean along with vocab lists to help and images. A yummy way to learn if you ask me.
The Jeju Education Publication Archive (제주교육 발간자료실) has Ebooks and PDFs available to download for free. There are even some cute primary school textbooks from the 80s and 90s available if you search well.
The Jejueo.com also has articles written in Jejueo about news in Jeju. A great way to get some reading material for practice!
Finally, if you want some more natural videos, this Jejuan Youtuber puts out funny videos often using Jejueo.
One crucial tool for anybody learning Jejueo, however, will be this virtual keyboard that allows you to type the ᅟᆞ and ᅟᆢ characters, as well as combinations that don’t exist in Modern Korean, like the “ㅁㅅ” in 어ᇝ or 아ᇝ. Make sure to turn off your computer’s Korean keyboard and check the box 옛날 한글 (old hangeul) on the website.
Final Words
Before researching this piece, Jeju Island was already one of the places I most wanted to go. That feeling has grown even stronger now that I know about its past and its language. I’m looking forward to visiting the island in 2023.
Jejueo has a fascinatingly difficult verb system but my knowledge of Modern Korean helped a lot in making sense of it all.
If you’ve read all the way until this point, congrats! I’m willing to bet your head is still spinning from all the information.
I hope this piece can serve as a reminder that every language is worth preserving because they all have a history and culture unlike any other.
Jejueo is gaining more attention as South Korea’s cultural export keeps growing worldwide through k-dramas and k-pop. There was even an entire movie set in Jeju and in the Jeju language in 2012: Jiseul. I highly recommend it too!
While the Jeju Language previously was looked down upon as a dialect, more positive feelings are being associated with it nowadays. As showed a 2015 survey, Jeju islanders are more and more proud of their language and it is also seen as the most likely among South Korean dialect groups to have "very positive" opinions of the regional variety.
Let’s hope it keeps improving!
Until then, as they say in 제주어,
ᄒᆞᆫ저 갑서양! (hawjeo gabseoyang! “Goodbye!”)
Some other Koreanic languages located in North Korea show some other evolutions but these have limited information about them. One such language is the Yukchin dialect which is the only known tonal Korean language. A story for another day.
Literally “three stars’ holes,” although the Korean name is kept even in English. These holes still exist and are preserved. If you’re wondering, this is also the name of the famous electronics company known as Samsung.
These polling places were for elections organized by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea.
Meaning they hold their breath while underwater and don’t rely on any tool to breathe underwater.
And I mean it in the literal sense! These are precious videos considering the language’s disappearing.
Wikipedia states that a few words of Japanese origin, like 우르사이 (うるさい, meaning “to be noisy”) exist in Jejueo but I’ve found no other resource corroborating this information. This being said, it wouldn’t surprise me considering the recent occupation of the island.
This can get longer if an auxiliary verb is added. I don’t cover those in this piece but, in short, auxiliary verbs are added as suffixes to the main verb to give precision. For example, ᄀᆞᆯ다 (gawlda) means “to speak” but with the auxiliary verb 보다 (boda, “to try”) it becomes ᄀᆞᆯ아보다 (gawl-a-boda), “to try to speak.” The a is a linking vowel, to make the whole word flow better, something found often in both Korean and Jejueo.
AH means Addressee Honorific. It indicates a politeness particle.
An interesting aspect found in both Korean and Jejueo is the use of “descriptive verbs.” These verbs are usually considered adjectives in English. For example, “to be beautiful” in Jejueo is said 곱닥ᄒᆞ다 (kobdag hawda) which translates literally to “to do beautiful.” In this case, 간세ᄒᆞ다 (ganse hawda) literally means “to do laziness.”
In this piece, I keep every allomorphy as different “versions” to explain how the language works but those who speak Korean may find these easier to understand.
I have no affiliation with them but found they had a large library of interesting and tough-to-find books. I doubt it’ll be the last time I use them!