What language is spoken on Jeju Island? It is often referred to as a saturi or bangeon - dialect - but it also attracts the suffix -eo or mal, suggesting a language. Which is it: dialect or language?

William O’Grady, University of Hawaii linguist, made the case for the latter at Jeju National University Foreign Language Institute on Wednesday, Oct. 30, supported by Professor Yang Changyong of the Department of English Education. You can read The Jeju Weekly's coverage of the event here.

Classed as moribund, there are just 5 to 10 thousand “Jejueo” speakers left - the bulk of whom are over 70 - from a population of 600 thousand. UNESCO classes it as “in a critical situation” and it was listed as “endangered” in 2010.

The Jeju Weekly wants to hear your voice on this issue.

Should the Jeju language be saved? Is it a language at all? There is a growing preservation movement but such a project attracts a mixed response from both locals and non-locals due to the resources required and the perception of the language (or dialect).

The government has published materials using the local vernacular (see photo above) and there are many speech events at elementary school level, but true revitalization demands a great deal of resources and thorough language aquisition programmes across all education levels, from primary to tertiary.

The Jeju Weekly will give a pair of free tickets to Action Drawing Hero (see video below), at Halla Art Hall, Halla College, to the best responses on this issue. The best argument for preservation or against preservation wins the tickets. Please complete one of the two sentences below within 100 words within the comments section on this page. Answers should be in by midnight Nov. 13 to be in contention and the decision of the editor is final. Thank you and good luck.

- The Jeju language should be saved because...

- The Jeju language should not be saved because...