해방기 남북한 아카데미즘의 국어/조선어 언어정책론

Abstract

The language policy of North and South Korea during the liberation period had the task of establishing a ‘National Language’ for the new nation-state. People from the Korean Language Society(조선어학회) were deeply involved in the language policies of South and North Korea, and this became the basis for commonality that allows communication even 70 years after liberation. In the debate surrounding South Korea‘s language policy, the leadership of the private academic community during the colonial period is confirmed. Graduates of Keijo Imperial University, who were established in the university system, took Japanese language studies during the colonial period as their prior research and actively spoke out on contemporary social issues. As a result, the forum for discussion surrounding ‘National Language’ in South Korea during the liberation period inherited the mainstream trends of the colonial period, while also converging with ‘Japanese research on Korea’ and Imperial University system. North Korea’s language policy during this period can be characterized by rapid institutionalization with state support and active participation by university faculty. In North Korea, controversies surrounding the abolition of Sinograph, like those that took place in South Korea, were rare, which clearly shows the characteristics of the state called North Korea, where “National Things” left behind in Seoul, including the public sphere, had to be newly created. The absence of existing public debate and academicism enabled faster progress in establishing and implementing national policies than in South Korea. Following the abolition of Sinograph, an issue that became an issue in North Korean academia was the alphabetization of Hangul. While Choi Hyun-bae’s argument for interpreting the Korean alphabet hastily resulted in a new font and its use, North Korean academics attempted to establish a theoretical basis through various approaches. However, behind the scenes, the obsession with Western modernity was something that neither North nor South Korea could overcome.