Earticle

In this paper I have examined the present-day status of regional dialects-- in particular Jeju dialect--claiming that the regression of regional dialects is closely related to the undesirable concentration of economy, politics, and culture on the Capital area. As society is reshuffled centering on the capital city, including the satellite cities, there emerges a trend that the locals take the Capital area residents as role models. This tendency leads to the dialect giving way to the so-called standard language, which may result in the loss of a valuable cultural asset. Based on the observations of the regression of regional dialects, the paper suggests possible remedies for this regression. Specifically, the paper argues for a broader utilization of mass media for the preservation of the regional dialect, a broader utilization of the dialect as tourist resource, its dissociation from negative image, and the invoking of the locals' pride in their own dialect. This research is significant in that the development and preservation of regional dialects may be a desirable substitute for the unwanted excessive use of foreign or loan words, in the end enlarging the expressive power of Hangul, the Korean alphabet.