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'{{Short description|Problem of relating Japanese and Okinawan to other languages}} {{More footnotes|date=January 2015}} The '''classification of the Japonic languages''' ([[Japanese language|Japanese]] and the [[Ryukyuan languages]]) is unclear. Linguists traditionally consider the [[Japonic languages]] to belong to an independent family; indeed, until the classification of Ryukyuan as separate languages within a Japonic family rather than as dialects of Japanese, Japanese was considered a [[language isolate]]. Among more distant connections, the possibility of a [[genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetic relationship]] to the [[Koguryoic languages]] (Koreanic) or languages like [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] and or [[Kra–Dai languages|Kra–Dai]], are discussed. A Japonic–Korean grouping is considered plausible by some linguists, while others reject any relation between Japonic and Korean.<ref>[http://www2.furman.edu/academics/asianstudies/meet-our-faculty/Pages/Alexander-Francis-Ratte.aspx Proto-Korean-Japanese: A New Reconstruction of the Common Origin of the Japanese and Korean Languages, by Alexander Takenobu Francis-Ratte]</ref><ref name="ReferenceA" /> Independent of the question of a Japonic–Korean connection, both the Japonic languages and Korean were sometimes included in the largely discredited<ref name="Campbell & Mixco 2007">"While 'Altaic' is repeated in encyclopedias and handbooks most specialists in these languages no longer believe that the three traditional supposed Altaic groups, Turkic, Mongolian and Tungusic, are related." Lyle Campbell & Mauricio J. Mixco, A Glossary of Historical Linguistics (2007, University of Utah Press), pg. 7.</ref><ref name="Nichols 1992">"When cognates proved not to be valid, Altaic was abandoned, and the received view now is that Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic are unrelated." Johanna Nichols, Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time (1992, Chicago), pg. 4.</ref><ref name="Dixon 1997">"Careful examination indicates that the established families, Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic, form a linguistic area (called Altaic)...Sufficient criteria have not been given that would justify talking of a genetic relationship here." R.M.W. Dixon, The Rise and Fall of Languages (1997, Cambridge), pg. 32.</ref><ref name="Pereltsvaig 2012">"...[T]his selection of features does not provide good evidence for common descent....we can observe convergence rather than divergence between Turkic and Mongolic languages--a pattern than is easily explainable by borrowing and diffusion rather than common descent," Asya Pereltsvaig, Languages of the World, An Introduction (2012, Cambridge). This source has a good discussion of the Altaic hypothesis on pp. 211-216.</ref> [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] family. ==Korean theory== In ancient times, Koreanic languages, then established in southern [[Manchuria]] and northern [[Korean peninsula]], are alleged to have expanded southward to central and southern parts of the Korean peninsula, possibly displacing Japonic languages that may have been spoken there and causing the [[Yayoi period|Yayoi migrations]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Global Prehistory of Human Migration|last1=Bellwood|first1=Peter|date=2013|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=9781118970591|location=Malden}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=Vovin|first1=Alexander|date=2013|title=From Koguryo to Tamna: Slowly riding to the South with speakers of Proto-Korean|journal=Korean Linguistics|volume=15|issue=2|pages=222–240}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Korean language|last1=Lee|first1=Ki-Moon|last2=Ramsey|first2=S. Robert|date=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-66189-8|location=Cambridge}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite journal|last1=Whitman|first1=John|date=2011|title=Northeast Asian Linguistic Ecology and the Advent of Rice Agriculture in Korea and Japan|journal=Rice|volume=4|issue=3–4|pages=149–158|doi=10.1007/s12284-011-9080-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The role of contact in the origins of the Japanese and Korean languages|last1=Unger|first1=J. Marshall|date=2009|publisher=University of Hawai?i Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3279-7|location=Honolulu}}</ref> There is disagreement over the protohistorical or historical period during which this expansion occurs, ranging from the [[Liaoning bronze dagger culture|Korean Bronze Age]] period to the [[Three Kingdoms of Korea]] period. As there is disagreement among experts when the expansion of Koreanic languages started, there is room for interpretation on the proto-historical and historical extent of the Japonic language presence in the central and southern Korean peninsula. John Whitman and Miyamoto Kazuo believe that Koreanic and Japonic share a common origin and that proto-Japonic speakers migrated at first from their homeland in Manchuria to parts of Korea and lasted there until [[Mumun pottery period]]. After the Mumun pottery period and beginning with [[Liaoning bronze dagger culture|Korean Bronze Age]], proto-Koreanic speakers started expanding from Manchuria southward towards the Korean peninsula, displacing the Japonic-branch and causing the Yayoi migrations into Japan.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Miyamoto|first1=Kazuo|date=2016|title=Archaeological Explanation for the Diffusion Theory of the Japonic and Koreanic Languages|journal=Japanese Journal of Archaeology|volume=4|pages=53–75}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Alexander Vovin]] believes that they are not related and that Japonic was completely replaced and assimilated by Koreanic speakers before and during the Yayoi-period.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> ===Similarities between Japanese and Koreanic languages=== {{see|Japanese–Koguryoic languages|Comparison of Japanese and Korean|History of Korean|Korean language#Classification|Japanese language#History}} === History === The Japanese–Koguryoic proposal dates back to [[Shinmura Izuru]]'s (1916) observation that the attested [[Goguryeo numerals]]—3, 5, 7, and 10—are very similar to Japanese.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Shinmura|first1=Izuru|title=國語及び朝 鮮語の數詞について [Regarding numerals in Japanese and Korean]|journal=Geibun|date=1916|volume=7.2-7.4}}</ref> The hypothesis proposes that Japanese is a relative of the [[extinct language]]s spoken by the Buyeo-Goguryeo cultures of [[Korea]], southern [[Manchuria]], and [[Liaodong]]. The best attested of these is the language of [[Goguryeo]], with the more poorly attested [[Koguryoic languages]] of [[Baekje]] and [[Buyeo (state)|Buyeo]] believed to also be related. A monograph by [[Christopher Beckwith]] (2004) has established about 140 lexical items in the Goguryeo [[text corpus|corpus]]. They mostly occur in place-name collocations, many of which may include grammatical morphemes (including [[cognate]]s of the Japanese genitive [[marker (linguistics)|marker]] ''no'' and the Japanese adjective-attributive [[morpheme]] -''sa'') and a few of which may show [[syntax|syntactical]] relationships. He postulates that the majority of the identified Goguryeo corpus, which includes all of the grammatical morphemes, is related to Japanese. Japanese and Korean languages also share some [[linguistic typology|typological]] similarities, such as an [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]] morphology, a [[subject–object–verb]] (SOV) normal word order, important systems of honorifics (however, the two languages' systems of honorifics are different in form and usage; see [[Japanese honorifics]] and [[Korean honorifics]]), besides a few lexical resemblances. Factors like these led some historical linguists to suggest a genetic relationship between the two languages.<ref>Sohn (2001), p. 29.</ref> [[William George Aston]] suggested in 1879 in the ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' that Japanese is related to Korean.<ref>[http://www.eai.cam.ac.uk/Aston-and-Korea.pdf] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529111209/http://www.eai.cam.ac.uk/Aston-and-Korea.pdf |date=May 29, 2008 }}</ref> A relationship between Japanese and Korean was endorsed by the Japanese scholar Shōsaburō Kanazawa in 1910. Other scholars took this position in the twentieth century (Poppe 1965:137). Substantial arguments in favor of a Japanese–Korean relationship were presented by [[Samuel Martin (linguist)|Samuel Martin]], a leading specialist in Japanese and Korean, in 1966 and in subsequent publications (e.g. Martin 1990). Linguists who advocate this position include John Whitman (1985) and Barbara E. Riley (2004), and [[Sergei Starostin]] with his lexicostatistical research, ''The Altaic Problem and the Origins of the Japanese Language'' (Moscow, 1991). A Japanese–Korean connection does not necessarily exclude a Japanese–Koguryo or an Altaic relationship. The two languages have previously been thought to not share any [[Cognate|cognates]] (other than [[Loanword|loanwords]]),<ref name="Samuel Martin">Martin 1966, 1990</ref> for their vocabularies do not phonetically resemble each other. However, a recent 2016 paper proposing a common lineage between Korean and Japanese claims to traces around 500 core words that show a common origin including several numerals such as [[5]] and [[10]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Takenobu|first=Francis-Ratte, Alexander|date=2016|title=Proto-Korean-Japanese: A New Reconstruction of the Common Origin of the Japanese and Korean Languages|url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/pg_10?0::NO:10:P10_ETD_SUBID:113782|language=en}}</ref> A claim heavily criticized by Vovin (2019)<ref>Vovin 2019 in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics</ref> === Evidence === The possible lexical relationship between Korean and Japanese can be briefly exemplified by such basic vocabulary items as are found in the tables below. {| class="wikitable" !c=en| word/term ! [[w:Korean language|Korean]]<br/>([[Yale romanization of Korean|Yale]]) ! [[w:Japanese language|Japanese]]<br/>([[Hepburn romanization|Hepburn]]) ! Notes |- | '''we''' | ''wuli'' | ''wareware'', ''warera'' | The Japanese forms are plurals (by reduplication and suffixation, respectively) of Japanese first-person singular personal pronoun ''ware''. The Korean form may be from an earlier *''ur-hŭi'', with ''-hŭi'' as in the second-person plural personal pronoun ''nə-hŭi'' and the humble first-person plural personal pronoun ''jə-hŭi'', but the plain first-person singular personal pronoun in Korean is ''na'' rather than *''ur''. |- | '''not''' | ''ani'', ''an'' | -''na''-, -''nu'' | |- | '''to scratch''' | ''kulk''- | ''kak''- | |- | '''sun''' | ''hay'' | ''hi'', ''-bi'' | [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] approximates {{IPA|/hɛ/}} and {{IPA|/hi/}}, respectively. The Korean word may also mean "year." The Japanese word may also mean "day" or "fire." |- | '''water''' | ''mwul'' | ''mizu'' | |- | '''lake''' | ''mos'' | ''mizuumi'' | |- | '''cloud''' | ''kwulum'' | ''kumo'' | |- | '''island''' | ''sem'' | ''shima'' | |- | '''bear''' | ''kom'' | ''kuma'' | |- | '''to be hard''' | ''kut''- | ''kata''- | |- | '''crane''' | ''twulwumi'' | ''tsuru'' | |} <!-- Note: kudu 구두 is a bad example because it's actually a loanword from Japanese kutsu: http://krdic.naver.com/detail.nhn?docid=4115800 -->Both languages also have similar elaborate, multilevel systems of [[honorifics]]. They are cited as the two most elaborate honorific systems, perhaps unrivaled by any other languages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Lucien|year=2008|title=Contrasts Between Korean and Japanese Honorifics|journal=Rivista Degli Studi Orientali|volume=81|issue=1/4|pages=369–385|jstor=41913346}}</ref> It has been argued that certain honorific words share a common origin.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237116691_Grammaticalization_in_Sentence-Final_Politeness_Marking_in_Korean_and_Japanese</ref> Martine Robbeets and Remco Bouckaert from the "Max Planck Institute for the science of human history" used in 2018 for the first time a ''Bayesian phylogenetic inference'' analysis about "Transeurasian". Their study resulted in a "high probability" for a "Koreano-Japonic" group. Their study has not gained acceptance among mainstream linguists.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Robbeets, Bouckaert|first=Martine, Remco|date=2018|title=Bayesian phylolinguistics reveals the internal structure of the Transeurasian family|url=https://watermark.silverchair.com/lzy007.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAjowggI2BgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggInMIICIwIBADCCAhwGCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMCkEojnxRPBdPBErmAgEQgIIB7Z5I2n7ZsHKqYeX4ABJTZ9IKrelaYW54DN_YzXPZY6QZPTLwIehOyDIDld1GeACvTVklyv31yJ7uekTpkrBG07O32dQB-073IjozV1F3xX58QKdPb-8-T1cFDOH-FKmgslhv8XxSRFjefR7jqgKBzQ3Mf_ycahVc3h7CgLE80sBfaLUtl0q10zc_vM7ZFQkcFwaWC1Oex5_e4tyaPNB44RYKUPIdIC5tdIb5lu78G9Dl6Jb1l1jk69aVodkQW09UWHw8kpdZM3al_AVCuoJN3JkLQWTDGOCMIOSiMHGi5-gzy9K6wTCTpfBvcfegXpwVhjrxMAwd7m0MBKKd5J2JJfgJvSDCawU2YMfLRudLX_H81yS0OoQzDKK5I_wC8VgfBjZfivD5L1ieeZg81oCD9SxHZahCLyYrI7tNeC37o6ecM5WtbWWXMcJW1wYH1UW-icPzFjBn2dyG_LWgzAoj4gYRSnQfJXP5_pxbypFWT0Ww6VCc5IcnFYiXOHLcpJ4aE8m2ejgzyO0FagKhBFqX8ry5HJu-hMDB2z8l3_t5cnoNrIjyB_cbrdf55hKEkptOB5LHlQpoOKJ7A6oFDZ8t6cWPDuqgJdtfRUEnWf2U0jMzPGPW2yXMeRIIEn6DeBSaJh5VaT0bhpMM-NNEL9g|journal=Journal of Language Evolution|volume=|pages=|via=}}</ref> === Critic === This theory has been criticized for serious methodological flaws, such as rejecting mainstream reconstruction of Chinese and Japanese and using different owns instead.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pellard|first1=Thomas|date=2005|title=Koguryo, the Language of Japan's Continental Relatives: An Introduction to the Historical-Comparative Study of the Japanese-Kgouryoic Languages with a Preliminary Description of Archaic Northeastern Middle Chinese (review)|url=http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/19/41/11/PDF/review-Beckwith-Koguryo.pdf|journal=Korean Studies|volume=29|pages=167–170|doi=10.1353/ks.2006.0008}}</ref> Other critics like [[Alexander Vovin]] and [[Toh Soo Hee]] argued that the connections between Japanese and Goguryeo are due to earlier Japonic languages that were present in parts of Korea and that Goguryeo language was closer to Sillan and Korean.<ref>Toh Soo Hee, About Early Paekche Language Mistaken as Being Koguryo Language, Ch'ungnam University</ref> Vovin suggests that [[Japonic languages]] were spoken in parts of Korea, especially southern Korea, and were than replaced and assimilated from proto-Korean speakers.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Further studies (2019) deny and criticize a relation between Korean and Japanese. Vovin also argues that the claimed cognates are nothing more than early loanwords when Japonic was still spoken on southern Korea.<ref>Vovin 2019 in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics</ref> The idea of a Japanese–Korean relationship overlaps the extended form of the Altaic hypothesis (see below), but not all scholars who argue for one also argue for the other. For example, Samuel Martin, who was a major advocate of a Japanese–Korean relationship, only provided cautious support to the inclusion of these languages in Altaic, and Talat Tekin, an Altaicist, includes Korean, but not Japanese, in Altaic (Georg et al. 1999:72, 74). ==Altaic theory== The [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] language family is a theoretical group composed of, at its core, languages categorized as [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]], and [[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]]. [[Gustaf John Ramstedt|G.J. Ramstedt's]] ''Einführung in die altaische Sprachwissenschaft'' ('Introduction to Altaic Linguistics') in 1952–1957 included Korean in Altaic. [[Roy Andrew Miller]]'s ''Japanese and the Other Altaic Languages'' (1971) included Japanese in Altaic as well. The most important recent work that favored the expanded Altaic family (i.e. that Korean and Japanese could both be included under the Altaic language family) is ''An Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'' (3 volumes) by Sergei Starostin, Anna V. Dybo, and Oleg A. Mudrak (2003). Robbeets(2017) considers Japonic to be a "Transeurasian" ([[Altaic languages|Altaic]]) language that is genetically unrelated to Austronesian, and argues that lexical similarities between Japonic and Austronesian are due to contact. The Altaic proposal has largely been rejected (in both its core form of Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic as well as its expanded form that includes Korean and/or Japanese) but is still a discussed possibility.<ref name="Campbell & Mixco 2007" /><ref name="Nichols 1992" /><ref name="Dixon 1997"/><ref name="Pereltsvaig 2012" /> The best-known critiques are those by [[Gerard Clauson]] (1956) and [[Gerhard Doerfer]] (1963, 1988). Current critics include [[Stefan Georg]] and Alexander Vovin. Critics {{who|date=March 2017}} attribute the similarities in the putative Altaic languages to pre-historic areal contact having occurred between the languages of the expanded group (e.g. between Turkic and Japonic), contact which critics and proponents agree took place to some degree.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} However, linguists agree today that typological resemblances between [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Korean language|Korean]] and [[Altaic languages]] cannot be used to prove genetic relatedness of languages,<ref>Vovin 2008: 1</ref> as these features are typologically connected and [[areal feature|easily borrowed]] from one language to the other<ref>Trask 1996: 147–51</ref> (e.g. due to geographical proximity with [[Manchuria]]). Such factors of typological divergence as Middle Mongolian's exhibition of gender agreement<ref>Rybatzki 2003: 57</ref> can be used to argue that a genetic relationship with Altaic is unlikely.<ref>Vovin 2008: 5</ref> ==Austronesian and/or Kra-Dai (Austro-Tai) theory== Several linguists have proposed that the Japonic language is genetically related to the [[Austronesian languages]].<ref>Benedict (1990), Matsumoto (1975), Miller (1967).</ref> Some linguists think it is more plausible that Japanese was instead influenced by Austronesian languages, perhaps by an Austronesian [[substratum]]. Those who propose this scenario suggest that the Austronesian family once covered the islands to the north as well as to the south. The phonological [[Austronesian languages#Japanese|similarities of Japanese to the Austronesian languages]], and the geographical proximity of Japan to Formosa and the [[Malay Archipelago]] have led to the theory that Japanese may be a kind of [[mixed language]], with a Korean (or Altaic) [[superstratum]] and an Austronesian [[substratum]].<ref>Lewin (1976), Matsumoto (1975), Miller (1967), Murayama (1976).</ref> The linguist Ann Kumar (2009) believes that some Austronesians migrated to Japan, possibly an elite-group from [[Java]], and created the Japanese-hierarchical society and identifies 82 plausible cognates between Austronesian and Japanese.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kumar |first=Ann |year=2009 |title=Globalizing the Prehistory of Japan: Language, Genes and Civilization. |location=Oxford |publisher=Routledge}}</ref> The morphology of Proto-Japanese shows similarities with several languages in Southeast-Asia and southern China.<ref name="Vovin 2008">{{cite book|title=Proto-Japanese: Issues and Prospects|surname=Vovin|given=Alexander|publisher=John Benjamins|year=2008|isbn=978-90-272-4809-1|editor1-surname=Frellesvig|editor1-given=Bjarne|pages=141–156|chapter=Proto-Japanese beyond the accent system|doi=10.1075/cilt.294.11vov|editor2-surname=Whitman|editor2-given=John|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/19253123/Proto-Japanese_beyond_the_accent_system}}</ref> [[Paul K. Benedict]] (1992) suggests a genetic relation between Japanese and the [[Austro-Tai languages]], that includes Kra-Dai and Austronesian. He proposes that Kra-Dai and Japanese form a genetic mainland group while Austronesian is the insular group.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Solnit|first=David B.|date=1992|title=Japanese/Austro-Tai By Paul K. Benedict (review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/452870/summary|journal=Language|language=en|volume=68|issue=1|pages=188–196|doi=10.1353/lan.1992.0061|issn=1535-0665}}</ref> Vovin (2014) proposed that the location of the [[Japonic languages|Japonic]] Urheimat (linguistic homeland) is in Southern China. There is typological evidence that Proto-Japonic may have been a monosyllabic, SVO syntax and isolating language; which are features that the [[Kra-Dai]] languages also exhibit. He considers the relationship between Kra-Dai and Japanese not to be genetic, but rather a contact one. The following lexical comparisons between Proto-Japonic and Proto-Tai are cited from Vovin (2014)<ref name="Vovin 2014">Vovin, Alexander. 2014. [https://www.academia.edu/7869241/Out_of_Southern_China "Out of Southern China? – Philological and linguistic musings on the possible Urheimat of Proto-Japonic"]. Presentation given at ''Journées de CRLAO'' 2014. June 27–28, 2014. INALCO, Paris.</ref>: {| class="wikitable" |- !Gloss !Proto-Japonic !proto-Japonic<br>accent !Proto-Tai !Tone in proto-Tai |- |Leaf || '''*pa''' || H || '''*Ɂbaï''' || A1 |- |Side || '''*pia'''|| H || '''*Ɂbaïŋ''' ?< [[Old Chinese|OC]] '''*b^ʕâŋ''' || C1 |- |Top || '''*po''' || H || '''*ʔboŋ''' || A1 |- |Aunt || '''*-pa''' in '''*wo-n-pa''' || H || '''*paa''' 'elder sister of a parent' || C1 |- |Wife, woman || '''*mia''' || L || '''*mia''' 'wife' || A2 |- |Water || '''*na''' || L || '''*r-nam''' || C2 |- |Fire || '''*poy''' || L || '''*vVy''' || A2 |- |Tooth || '''*pa''' || L || '''*van'''<br>secondary voicing in Tai<br>branch || A2 |- |Long || '''*nan-ka'''<br>(space & time) || L-L || '''*naan'''<br> (time) || A2 |- | Edge || '''*pa''', cf. also '''*pasi''' || H, HH || '''*faŋ'''<br>'shore, bank' || B1 |- |Insert || '''*pak-''' 'wear shoes, trousers' || H || '''*pak''' || D1S |- |Mountain || '''*wo''' 'peak' || L || '''*buo''' || A2, A1 in [[Northern Tai languages|NT]] |- |Split || '''*sak-''' || H || '''*čaak''' 'be separated' || D1L, š- in [[Northern Tai languages|NT]] |- |Suck || '''*sup-''' || H || '''*ču[u]p''' onomatopoetic? || D1S/L, š- in [[Northern Tai languages|NT]] |- |Get soaked || '''*sim-''' || H || '''*čim''' 'dip into' ?< Chin. || B1, C1, š- in [[Northern Tai languages|NT]] |- |Slander || '''*s^ə/o-sir-''' cf. nono-sir- || H/L?, but<br> philology<br>indicates H || '''*sɔɔ''' 'slander, indicate' || A1 |- |Cold || '''*sam-pu-''' cf. sam-as- 'cool it',<br> samë- 'get cool' || L || [[Northern Tai languages|NT]] '''*ǯam''' > šam || C2 |- |Door || '''*to''' || H || proto-Tai '''*tu''',<br>but proto-Kam-Sui '''*to''',<br>''pace'' Thurgood's '''*tu''' (1988:211) || A1 |- |Wing || '''*pa''' > [[Old Japanese]] ''pa'' 'wing, feather' || H || proto-Kam-Sui '''*pwa''' || C1 |- |Inside || '''*naka''' < '''*na-ka''' 'inside-place' || LH || proto-Tai '''*ʔd-naï''' || [[Southwestern Tai languages|SW]], Sukhothai A2,<br>[[Central Tai languages|CT]], [[Northern Tai languages|NT]] A1 |- |} *Proto-Tai items are taken from [[Li Fang-Kuei|Li, Fang Kuei]] 1977. ''A Handbook of Comparative Tai''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. *Li Fang-Kuei '''ï''' is equivalent to '''ɯ'''. *NT = Northern Tai, CT = Central Tai, SW = Southwestern Tai. ====Robbeets (2017)==== According to [[Martine Robbeets]] (Robbeets et al. 2017)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320915864_Austronesian_influence_and_Transeurasian_ancestry_in_Japanese_A_case_of_farminglanguage_dispersal|title=(PDF) Austronesian influence and Transeurasian ancestry in Japanese: A case of farming/language dispersal|website=ResearchGate|language=en|access-date=2019-02-14}}</ref> Japanese (and Korean) originated as a hybrid language, in the today [[Liaoning]] province, between an [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]]-like language and [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] (Transeurasian) elements. She suggests that proto-Japanese had an additional influence from Austronesian on the Japanese archipelago. She lists the following agricultural vocabulary in proto-Japonic with parallels in Austronesian languages: ;mortar *proto-Japonic *usu ‘(rice and grain) [[mortar and pestle|mortar]]’ *[[proto-Austronesian]] *lusuŋ ‘(rice) mortar’ ;rice *proto-Japonic *kəmai ‘dehusked rice’ *proto-Austronesian *Semay ‘cooked rice’ *[[Old Chinese]] {{linktext|糜}} *C.maj ‘rice gruel; destroy, crush’ ;early ripening crop *proto-Japonic *wasara ~ *wǝsǝrǝ ‘early ripening crop, early ripening rice’ *proto-Austronesian *baCaR ‘broomcorn millet (''[[Panicum miliaceum]]'')’ *proto-[[Koreanic languages|Koreanic]] *pʌsal ‘hulled variety of grain, rice’ But her view is not uncontroversial as she takes the Altaic/Transeurasian theory for granted. ==Austroasiatic substrate theory== According to Vovin (1998), the [[Yayoi people]] may have spoken an [[Austroasiatic language|Austroasiatic]] language, based on the reconstructed Japonic terms: * *(z/h)ina-Ci 'rice (plant)' * koma-Ci '(hulled) rice' * pwo 'ear of grain' Vovin assumes that these words and other terms are agricultural terms of Yayoi origin. According to him (1998) these Austroasiatic tribes of the [[Yayoi period]] ([[Wajin (ancient people)|Wajin]]) were assimilated from another group that migrated into Japan during the [[Kofun period]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.at/books?id=48iKiprsRMwC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=vovin+japanese+austroasiatic&source=bl&ots=aFKKoa0FHz&sig=ACfU3U1_I6vqJm_EwTLb8L0DY7i3uEeZ8A&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjG4YSA0KLhAhVMz6YKHXncC9YQ6AEwBXoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=vovin%20japanese%20austroasiatic&f=false|title=Archaeology and Language II: Archaeological Data and Linguistic Hypotheses|last=Blench|first=Roger|last2=Spriggs|first2=Matthew|date=2003-09-02|publisher=Routledge|year=|isbn=9781134828692|location=|pages=|language=en|quote=However, the above evidence suggests that mounted invaders from the mainland subjugated the native Yayoi population once and for all, assimilating them linguistically... (Page 375 and 376)}}</ref> Vovin claims an ultimate origin of the Japonic languages in southern China.<ref name="Vovin 2014" /> Similarly, [[Juha Janhunen]] found similarities between Proto-Japanese and several languages of southern China.<ref>ユハ・ヤンフネン 「A Framework for the Study of Japanese Language Origins」『日本語系統論の現在』(pdf) 国際日本文化センター、京都、2003年、477-490頁。</ref> The linguist [[George van Driem]] (2017) suggests that Austroasiatic was spoken in southern China and was than replaced or assimilated by Kra-Dai tribes. Although it is not known when this event happened, it is possibly the cause of the Yayoi migration into Japan and parts of Korea.<ref>The domestications and the domesticators of Asian rice - George van Driem - Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Bern, Switzerland (2017)</ref> ==Other hypotheses== === Proto-Asian hypothesis === The “Proto-Asian hypothesis” or “Macro-Asian” (from the linguist Larish 2006) argues for a relation of the languages Southeast-, East- and Northeast-Asia. Japanese is grouped together with Korean as one group of the Macro-Asian languages. (Typically included are: the [[Austric languages]], Kra-Dai, Hmong-Mien, Sino-Tibetan, Korean-Japanese and possibly the Altaic and Uralic languages as well.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sil-philippines-languages.org/ical/papers/larish-proto_asian.pdf|website=sil-philippines-languages.org|access-date=2019-01-07}}</ref> ===Sino-Tibetan hypothesis=== Another theory was raised by the Japanese linguist Īno Mutsumi. He suggested after his analysis of proto-Sino-Tibetan that Japanese is related to the proto-form of [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], especially to the [[Burmese language]]. Because of similar grammar rules (SOV, syntax), similar non-loan basic-vocabulary and the fact that early Sino-Tibetan was non-tonal like still today some small languages, he proposed the Sinitic origin theory.<ref>飯野睦毅 (1994)『奈良時代の日本語を解読する』東陽出版</ref><ref>Taw Sein Ko 1924, p. viii.</ref> The linguist [[Juha Janhunen]] found during his analysis of Asian languages strong similarities between proto-Japanese and language like [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], [[Tai-Kadai]] and [[Hmong-Mien languages]]. He says, similar to Vovin, that proto-Japanese originated somewhere in southeast China or the [[Shandong Peninsula]] and was influenced by these languages.<ref>ユハ・ヤンフネン 「A Framework for the Study of Japanese Language Origins」『日本語系統論の現在』(pdf) 国際日本文化センター、京都、2003年、477-490頁。</ref> === Dravido-Korean hypothesis === {{see|Dravidian language family|Dravido-Korean languages}}A more rarely encountered hypothesis is that Japanese (and Korean) are related to the [[Dravidian languages]]. The possibility that Japanese might be related to Dravidian was raised by [[Robert Caldwell]] (cf. Caldwell 1875:413) and more recently by [[Susumu Shiba]], [[Akira Fujiwara]], and [[Susumu Ōno]] (n.d., 2000). The Japanese professor Tsutomu Kambe claimed to have found more than 500 similar words about agriculture between [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and Japanese in 2011.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://timesofindia.com/city/chennai/researchers-find-tamil-connection-in-japanese/articleshow/7308952.cms|title=Researchers find Tamil connection in Japanese - Times of India|work=The Times of India|access-date=2017-05-21}}</ref> The comparative linguist Kang Gil-un proposes 1300 Dravidian [[Tamil language|Tamil]] words about agriculture in Korean,<ref>{{cite book|last=Kang|first=Gil-un|publisher=새문사|year=1990|script-title=ko:고대사의 비교언어학적 연구}}</ref> which would significantly outnumber the number of Dravidian cognates he claims are found in Tungusic, Turkic or Ainu. Nevertheless, he suggests that among currently researchable languages, the [[Nivkh language]] is probably most closely related to Korean. According to his theory, the proto-Korean supposedly related to the proto-Nivkh was influenced by Dravidian, Ainu, Tungusic and maybe Turkic vocabulary. === Uralic hypothesis === The Japanese linguist [[Kanehira Joji]] believes that the Japanese language is related to the Uralic languages and show similar basic words, similar morphology and phonology, that become more and more similar the closer we get to the proto-languages. He further believes that the “Siberian characteristics” in the today Japanese language is from the Uralic family. Early Japanese got influenced from Chinese, Austronesian and Ainu. He refers his theory to the “dual-structure model” of Japanese origin between Jōmon and Yayoi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jojikanehira.com/|title=日本語の意外な歴史|last=|date=|year=|publisher=|pages=|language=ja-JP|format=|archiveurl=|archivedate=|deadurl=|accessdate=2018-08-21|quote=|periodical=|month=|day=}}</ref><ref>日本語の意外な歴史　第1話　金平譲司　Joji Kanehira</ref> === Ainu hypothesis === The Japanese linguist [[Tatsumine Katayama]] found many similar basic words between Ainu and Japanese. Because of a great amount of similar vocabulary, phonology, similar grammar, and geographical and cultural connections, he and [[Takeshi Umehara]] suggested that Japanese was closely related to the Ainu languages, and was influenced by other languages, especially Chinese and Korean.<ref>Tatsumine Katayama (2004) "Japanese and Ainu (new version)" Tokyo: Suzusawa library</ref> A linguistic analysis in 2015 resulted in the Japonic languages being related with the [[Ainu languages]] and to the [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]] languages.<ref name="Jager2015">Gerhard Jäger, "[http://www.pnas.org/content/112/41/12752.full Support for linguistic macrofamilies from weighted sequence alignment]." ''PNAS'' vol. 112 no. 41, 12752–12757, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1500331112. Published online before print September 24, 2015.</ref> However, similarities between Ainu and Japonic are also due to extensive past [[Language contact|contact]]. Analytic grammatical constructions acquired or transformed in Ainu were likely due to contact with Japanese and the Japonic languages, which had heavy influence on the Ainu languages with a large number of loanwords borrowed into the Ainu languages, and to a smaller extent, vice versa.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QB3DD8qSVnAC&pg=PA499&dq=Ainu+language+influenced+by+Japanese&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj34cP1xobVAhXhDsAKHS7CC8sQ6AEILTAC#v=onepage&q=Ainu+language+influenced+by+Japanese&f=false|title=The Languages of Japan and Korea|last=Tranter|first=Nicolas|date=25 June 2012|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730210909/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QB3DD8qSVnAC&pg=PA499&dq=Ainu+language+influenced+by+Japanese&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj34cP1xobVAhXhDsAKHS7CC8sQ6AEILTAC#v=onepage&q=Ainu+language+influenced+by+Japanese&f=false|archivedate=30 July 2017|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref> Today, a relation between Ainu and Japanese (or Austroasiatic) is not supported and Ainu remains a [[language isolate]].<ref>Vovin, Alexander. 2016. "On the Linguistic Prehistory of Hokkaidō." In ''Crosslinguistics and linguistic crossings in Northeast Asia: papers on the languages of Sakhalin and adjacent regions'' (Studia Orientalia 117).</ref> ==See also== *[[Linguistic reconstruction]] *[[Comparison of Japanese and Korean]] *[[Korean language]] *[[Ainu language]] *[http://www.ezglot.com/common-words.php?l=kor&l2=jpn Common words for Korean and Japanese], mostly foreign words found. *[[Austric languages]]. *[[Eurasiatic languages]] *[[Nostratic languages]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Bibliography== === Works cited === * {{cite journal | last1 = Aston | first1 = William George | year = 1879 | title = A comparative study of the Japanese and Korean languages | url = | journal = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Britain and Ireland, New Series | volume = 11 | issue = | pages = 317–364 | doi=10.1017/s0035869x00017305}} * Beckwith, Christopher I. 2004. ''Koguryo: The Language of Japan's Continental Relatives: An Introduction to the Historical-Comparative Study of the Japanese-Koguryoic Languages.'' Leiden: Brill. * {{cite journal | last1 = Beckwith | first1 = Christopher I | year = 2005 | title = The ethnolinguistic history of the early Korean peninsula region: Japanese-Koguryŏic and other languages in the Koguryŏ, Paekche, and Silla kingdoms | url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090226195328/http://www.historyfoundation.or.kr/Data/DataGarden/Journal%2802-2%29%282%29.pdf | journal = Journal of Inner and East Asian Studies | volume = 2 | issue = 2 | pages = 34–64 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Beckwith | first1 = Christopher I | year = 2006 | title = Methodological observations on some recent studies of the early ethnolinguistic history of Korea and vicinity | url = | journal = Altai Hakpo | volume = 16 | issue = | pages = 199–234 }} * Benedict, Paul K. 1990. ''Japanese/Austro-Tai''. Ann Arbor: Karoma. * Caldwell, Robert. 1875. ''A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages'', second edition. London: Trübner. * Georg, Stefan, Peter A. Michalove, Alexis Manaster Ramer, and Paul J. Sidwell. 1999. [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=A7D36A55C4A29AEB34AA39715F46F706.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=17033 "Telling general linguists about Altaic."] ''Journal of Linguistics'' 35, 65-98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Greenberg, Joseph H. 2000–2002. ''Indo-European and Its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family'', 2 volumes. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * Greenberg, Joseph H. 2005. ''Genetic Linguistics: Essays on Theory and Method'', edited by William Croft. Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Kanazawa, Shōsaburō. 1910. ''The Common Origin of the Japanese and Korean Languages.'' Tokyo: Sanseidō. * {{cite journal | last1 = Lewin | first1 = Bruno | year = 1976 | title = Japanese and Korean: The Problems and History of a Linguistic Comparison | url = | journal = Journal of Japanese Studies | volume = 2 | issue = 2| pages = 389–412 | doi=10.2307/132059}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Martin | first1 = Samuel E | year = 1966 | title = Lexical evidence relating Korean to Japanese | journal = Language | volume = 12 | issue = 2| pages = 185–251 | jstor=411687}} * Matsumoto, Katsumi. 1975. "Kodai nihongoboin soshikikõ: naiteki saiken no kokoromi". ''Bulletin of the Faculty of Law and Letters'' (Kanazawa University) 22.83–152. * Martin, Samuel E. 1990. "Morphological clues to the relationships of Japanese and Korean." In ''Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology'', edited by Philip Baldi. Berlin:de Gruyter. * Miller, Roy Andrew. 1971. ''Japanese and the Other Altaic Languages.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press. * Miller, Roy Andrew. 1967. ''The Japanese language''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. * {{cite journal | last1 = Murayama | first1 = Shichiro | year = 1976 | title = The Malayo-Polynesian Component in the Japanese Language | url = | journal = Journal of Japanese Studies | volume = 2 | issue = 2| pages = 413–436 }} * Ōno, Susumu. n.d. [http://arutkural.tripod.com/tolcampus/jap-tamil.htm "The genealogy of the Japanese language: Tamil and Japanese."] * Ōno, Susumu. 2000. 日本語の形成. 岩波書店. {{ISBN|4-00-001758-6}}. * Poppe, Nicholas. 1965. ''Introduction to Altaic Linguistics.'' Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. * Riley, Barbara E. 2003. ''Aspects of the Genetic Relationship of the Korean and Japanese Languages.'' PhD thesis, University of Hawaii. * Shibatani, Masayoshi. 1990. ''The languages of Japan''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. * Starostin, Sergei A. 1991. ''Altajskaja problema i proisxoždenie japonskogo jazyka'', 'The Altaic Problem and the Origin of the Japanese Language'. Moscow: Nauka. * Starostin, Sergei A., Anna V. Dybo, and Oleg A. Mudrak. 2003. ''Etymological Dictionary of the Altaic Languages'', 3 volumes. Leiden: Brill. (Also: [http://starling.rinet.ru/maps/maps23.php?lan=en database version.]) * Trombetti, Alfredo. 1922–1923. ''Elementi di glottologia'', 2 volumes. Bologna: Nicola Zanichelli. * Vovin, Alexander. 2003. 日本語系統論の現在：これからどこへ 'The genetic relationship of the Japanese language: Where do we go from here?'. In 日本語系統論の現在 'Perspectives on the Origins of the Japanese Language', edited by Alexander Vovin and Toshiki Osada. Kyoto: International Center for Japanese Studies. {{ISSN|1346-6585}}. * Whitman, John Bradford. 1985. ''The Phonological Basis for the Comparison of Japanese and Korean.'' PhD thesis, Harvard University. ===Further reading=== *Francis-Ratte, Alexander Takenobu. 2016. ''[https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1460644060 Proto-Korean-Japanese: A New Reconstruction of the Common Origin of the Japanese and Korean Languages]''. PhD dissertation: Ohio State University. * {{cite book | surname = Janhunen | given = Juha | author-link = Juha Janhunen | chapter = A Framework for the Study of Japanese Language Origins | chapter-url = http://publications.nichibun.ac.jp/region/d/NSH/series/niso/2003-12-26-1/s001/s025/pdf/article.pdf | pages = 477–490 | title = Nihongo keitōron no ima | script-title = 日本語系統論の現在 | trans-title = Perspectives on the Origins of the Japanese Language | editor1-surname = Vovin | editor1-given = Alexander | editor1-link = Alexander Vovin | editor2-surname = Osada | editor2-given = Toshiki | publisher = International Research Center for Japanese Studies | year = 2003 | url = http://publications.nichibun.ac.jp/en/item/kyke/2003-12-26/pub | isbn = 978-4-9015-5817-4 }} * Katsumi, Matsumoto. 2007. 世界言語のなかの日本語 ''Sekaigengo no nakano Nihongo'', 'Japanese in the World's Languages'. Tokyo: 三省堂 Sanseido. * {{cite journal | last1 = Lewin | first1 = Bruno | year = 1976 | title = Japanese and Korean: The problems and history of a linguistic comparison | journal = Journal of Japanese Studies | volume = 2 | issue = 2| pages = 389–412 | jstor=132059}} * Martin, Samuel E. 1968. "Grammatical elements relating Korean to Japanese." In ''Proceedings of the Eighth Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences'' B.9, 405-407. * Martin, Samuel E. 1975. "Problems in establishing the prehistoric relationships of Korean and Japanese." In ''Proceedings, International Symposium Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Korean Liberation.'' Seoul: National Academy of Sciences. * Martin, Samuel E. 1991. "Recent research on the relationships of Japanese and Korean." In ''Sprung from Some Common Source: Investigations into the Prehistory of Languages'', edited by Sydney M. Lamb and E. Douglas Mitchell. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * Martin, Samuel E. 1996. ''Consonant Lenition in Korean and the Macro-Altaic Question.'' Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. * Miller, Roy Andrew. 1980. ''Origins of the Japanese Language: Lectures in Japan during the Academic Year 1977-78''. Seattle: University of Washington Press. * Miller, Roy Andrew. 1996. ''Languages and History: Japanese, Korean and Altaic.'' Oslo: Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture. * Robbeets, Martine. 2004a. [http://www.hmn.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/eurasia/newsletter/08.pdf "Belief or argument? The classification of the Japanese language."] ''Eurasia Newsletter'' 8. Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University. *Robbeets, Martine. 2004b. [http://www.orientalistik.uni-mainz.de/robbeets/2004_Swadesh_100.pdf "Swadesh 100 on Japanese, Korean and Altaic."] Tokyo University Linguistic Papers, TULIP 23, 99–118. * Robbeets, Martine. 2005. ''Is Japanese related to Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic?'' Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. * {{cite journal | last1 = Robbeets | first1 = Martine | year = 2007 | title = How the actional suffix chain connects Japanese to Altaic | url = | journal = Turkic Languages | volume = 11 | issue = 1| pages = 3–58 }} * {{cite journal | given = J. Marshall | surname = Unger | author-link = James Marshall Unger | title = No rush to judgment: the case against Japanese as an isolate | journal = NINJAL Project Review | volume = 4 | number = 3 | pages = 211–230 | year = 2014 | doi = 10.15084/00000755 | doi-access = free }} [[Category:Japanese language|Classification]] [[Category:Japonic languages|*]] [[Category:Language classification|Japanese]]'