Chungcheong dialect
The Chungcheong dialects of the Korean language are spoken in the Chungcheong region of South Korea, including the metropolitan city of Daejeon. It may also include several areas in Gyeonggi Province, most notably Pyeongtaek, that are adjacent to Chungcheong Province. Chungcheong dialect can be divided into two categories: the Northern Chungcheong dialect, notable for its similarity to the Gyeonggi dialect, and the Southern dialect, which is similar to the Jeolla dialect. This dialect is notable for its slow enunciations, vowel changes, and unique jargon. However, as Seoul expands and standard language supremacy spreads, young people in Chungcheong Province, including Daejeon and Sejong, do not use original dialect, or use very little of it. Most young people use standard language and dialect alternately, and in cities located just below the Seoul metropolitan area, like Cheonan, dialect is on the verge of extinction.
Pronunciation
Vowels
Similar to the Jeolla dialect, Chungcheong dialect often transforms the vowel <ㅑ> into <ㅕ>, <ㅐ> into <ㅑ> or <ㅕ>, and <ㅔ> into <ㅣ>. Linguist Do Suhee reports that the Chungcheong dialect experiences an umlaut, resulting in changes like <ㅏ> raising to <ㅔ> and <ㅡ> fronting to become <ㅣ>, triggered by a nearby high vowel /i/ or glide /j/.And there is a characteristic that is observed only in the Chungcheong dialect, which is that the vowel <ㅛ> is changed to <ㅠ>.
For example:
| Standard Korean | Chungcheong Dialect | English translation |
| "맞아요" or "그래요" | "맞어유" or "겨유/그려유" | "That's right" |
| "타세요" | "타슈" | "Get in" or "Hop in" |
| "맛있죠?" | "맛있쥬?" | "It's tasty, right?" |
Consonants
Do Suhee found that the Chungcheong dialect increases the tenseness of lax stops when in the initial position. For example, the lax stops <ㄱ,ㄷ,ㅂ> transform into /ㄲ, ㄸ, ㅃ/ when in the word-initial position.Grammar
In Standard Korean, various expressions are used like <-ni>, <-eo> and <-n geoya> when asked questions, while in Chungcheong dialect, most of them use <-n gyeo> when asked questions.For example:
| Standard Korean | Chungcheong Dialect | English translation |
| "가는 거야?" or "가니?" or "가?" | "가는 겨?" | "Are you going?" |
| "뭐하는 거야?" or "뭐하니?" or "뭐해?" | "뭐하는 겨?" | "What are you doing?" |
| "밥 먹었니?" or "밥 먹었어?" | "밥은 먹은 겨?" | "Did you eat?" |
Geographical subdivisions
Northern Chungcheong
The representative cities of this dialect region include Cheongju and Chungju.In the case of this region, the accent is also weaker than the dialect region of Southern Chungcheong, and the local identity is not clear because it borders more regions than South Chungcheong Province, such as Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province, and Gyeongsang Province.
Therefore, the northern part of North Chungcheong Province, where Chungju is located, was affected by the Gyeonggi dialect, and the northeastern part of North Chungcheong Province was affected by the Gangwon dialect and Gyeongsang dialect. In the central part of North Chungcheong Province, where Cheongju is located, was affected by the South Chungcheong Province dialect because it was in contact with Daejeon and Sejong, and in the southern part of North Chungcheong Province, was affected by the South Chungcheong Province dialect, Jeolla dialect, and Gyeongsang dialect.
Southern Chungcheong
The representative cities of this dialect region include Daejeon, Sejong and Cheonan.In this area, it can be divided into four dialect regions.
- The first Dialect Region
- * Areas belonging to this dialect region belong to Gyeonggi Province, such as Pyeongtaek and Anseong, but are adjacent to South Chungcheong Province, so they share dialects with each other.
- The second Dialect Region
- * This dialect symbolizes the dialect of the area adjacent to Gyeonggi Province, such as Cheonan and Asan.
- The third Dialect Region
- * The representative areas of this dialect region include Daejeon, Sejong and Gongju. Unlike most Chungcheong dialect regions, which are classified as central dialect, this dialect region is classified as southern dialect such as Jeolla dialect and Gyeongsang dialect.
- The fourth Dialect Region
- * In the case of this dialect, it is also called the Naepo dialect zone, and it includes the northwestern regions of South Chungcheong Province, which borders the West Sea. Typical areas include Yesan and Hongseong, where Chungnam Provincial Government is located. Baek Jong Won is from this dialect region.
Distinct phrases
The most widely known and representative of Chungcheong dialect is that the standard pronunciation <ㅛ> is changed to <ㅠ>. To be exact, the standard language honorifics <~요> is pronounced as <~유> and <~슈> in the dialect of Chungcheong.The Chungcheong dialect usually replaces the standard '~겠다' at the end of sentences with '~것다' and '근디' instead of '그런데'. Chungcheong people may occasionally pronounce the ending form '~이니까' with '~이니께'. Such phrases may also be found in Southern Gyeonggi, where influence from the Chungcheong dialect was often quite noticeable.
In North Chungcheong Province, people use '그려' instead of '맞아' or '그래' and in South Chungcheong Province, they also use '기여' in addition to '그려'.