Jeolla dialect

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Jeolla dialect (Hangul: 전라도 방언/사투리; Hanja: 全羅道方言) is used in the Jeolla (Honam) region of South Korea, including the city of Gwangju.

Along with Chungcheong dialect, it is considered by some Koreans to be coarse and improper. Perhaps the most obvious difference comes from common verb endings. In place of the usual -seumnida 습니다 [sɯmnita] or -sehyo 세요 [sɛjo] endings, a southern Jeolla person will use -rau 라우 [ɾau] or -jirau 지라우 [ʨiɾau] appended to the verb. For a causative verb ending, expressed in standard language with a -nika 니까 [nik͈a] ending, Jeolla people use -ngkeh 능게 [ŋk͈ei], so the past tense of the verb "did" ("because someone did it") , haesseunika 했습니까 [hɛssɯnik͈a], becomes haesseungkei 했승게 [hɛssɯŋk͈ei]. A similar sound is used for the quotative ending, "somebody said...". The usual verb endings are -dago 다고 [tako] and -rago 라고 [ɾako]. Jeolla dialect prefers -dangkei 당게 [taŋk͈ei].

Regarding pronunciation differences, there is often a tendency to pronounce only the second vowel in a diphthong. For example, the verb ending that indicates "since", -neundae, becomes -neundee 는디. The name of the large city Kwangju 광주 becomes Kangju 강주, and the verb 'to not have, to be absent', eopda 없다, becomes very close to 'oopta' 웂다. There are some words that are unique to the dialect as well: "utzzesuh" 웆제서 for "why", "shee-bahng" 시방 for "now", and "dwit-gahn" 뒷간 for "outhouse". Jeolla dialect speakers have a tendency to end their sentences with "eeng", 잉 especially when asking a favor. This can be compared to the word "eh," as used by some Canadians.