Оңтүстік Кореяның кең таралған диалектісі

Major dialect in South Korea

The Gyeongsang dialects (hangul=경상도 사투리) are also known as Southeastern Korean (hangul=동남 방언). They are variants of the Korean language originating from the historic administrative district of Gyeongsangdo (hangul=경상도) which was abolished in 1895 and is organised today as Daegu, Busan, Ulsan, North Gyeongsang Province & South Gyeongsang Province. Gyeongsang dialects vary. A native speaker can distinguish the dialect of Daegu from that of the Busan Ulsan area although the first city is less than 100 kilometers away from the latter two cities. Dialectal forms are relatively similar along the midstream of Nakdong River but are different near Busan and Ulsan, Jinju and Pohang as well as along the eastern slopes of Mount Jiri. After Standard Korean, it is the next most prevalent Korean dialect. There are approximately 13,000,000 speakers.

Most Gyeongsang dialects have six vowels, a (ㅏ), e (ㅔ), i (ㅣ), eo (ㅓ), o (ㅗ), u (ㅜ). In most areas, the vowelsㅐ(ae) and ㅔ (e) are conflated. A 2015 study found that Gyeongsang dialect speakers merged these sounds more significantly than speakers from central regions of Korea, but less so than speakers from southwestern Korea in Jeonbuk or Jeonnam. The study also identified a key difference between northern & southern Gyeongsang dialects: in the north, the sounds ㅡ(eu) and ㅓ(eo) are distinct, whereas in the south they are indistinguishable.

While most Korean speakers favour their home dialects, Gyeongsang speakers do not view their own dialect positively and prefer Standard Korean. In 1993, a study of 1365 people from across Korea revealed that Gyeongsang speakers felt less affection and pride towards their dialect compared to speakers of other dialects. In a 2010 study by the National Institute of Korean Language, 20% of speakers from the Gyeongsang region reported feeling 'awkward' when conversing with Standard Korean speakers.