The purpose of this study is to identify perceptions of South Korean activists who have been in contact with North Korean defectors, as well as to identify the characteristics of the voices in the field in comparison to the existing research results coming from academic circles. We conducted an in-depth interview with six South Korean activists who had long interacted with North Korean defectors. The research results are as follows. First, in the field, North Korean defectors’ language was viewed as one of the migrants who had been exposed to various environments rather than a sample of North Korean speech. Second, most informants hesitated to generalize the characteristics of North Korean defectors' speech. Rather, they pointed the speech variations found among North Korean defectors depending on various factors such as class, region of origin, generation, length of stay in South Korea, and age at time of entry. Third, they were wary of generalizing “straightness” as a characteristic of North Korean defectors' speech in recognition of the negative implications of the term. These suggest that there exists some gap between the results of academic circles done regarding North Korean defectors’ speech and language awareness in the field.

Abstract
1. 서론
2. 연구 설계
    2.1. 학계의 탈북민 화법 인식
    2.2. 연구 설계
3. ‘탈북민 화법 = 북한 화법’에 대한 입장
4. ‘탈북민의 화법 특성 일반화’에 대한 입장
5. ‘탈북민 화법의 직설성’에 대한 입장
6. 결론
참고문헌

• 이주랑(이화여자대학교) | Lee Jurang
• 양수경(서울대학교) | Yang Sookyung 교신저자