Editing Balhae (section)

==Language and script==
{{Infobox language
| name             = Balhae
| altname          = Bohai, Bohea
| region           = [[Northeast China]], [[North Korea]] and the [[Russian Far East]]
| states           = Balhae
| ethnicity        = Balhae
| extinct          = ?
| familycolor      = unclassified
| family           = [[unclassified language|Unclassified]] <br>[[Koreanic languages|Koreanic]]?<br>[[Tungusic languages|Tungusic]]?
| iso3             = none
| glotto           = none
| script           = recorded with [[Chinese characters]]
| image            = 貞恵公主墓誌.jpg
| imagecaption     = Replica of the epitaph of Princess Jeonghye (Zhenhui), the second daughter of [[Mun of Balhae]] (r. 737–793)
}}

Balhae used multiple languages. The indigenous language of Balhae is unclear, as no extant text or gloss of the language survived.<ref name="w"/>

One term that the people of Balhae used to describe "a king" was ''Gadokbu'', which is related to the words ''kadalambi'' (management) of the [[Manchu language]] and ''kadokuotto'' of the [[Nanai language]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Zhu and Wei|date=1996|title=History of Balhae|publisher=Eastern bookstore|isbn=978-4497954589|page=248}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Ueda takeshi|date=27 December 2001|title=渤海使の研究|publisher=明石書店|isbn=978-4750315072|page=126|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rT8zAQAAIAAJ&q=%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%95%E3%82%AF%E3%83%8E%E3%83%95%E3%80%80%E6%B8%A4%E6%B5%B7%E8%AA%9E}}</ref>

[[Alexander Vovin]] suggests that the Balhae elite spoke a Koreanic language, which has had a lasting impact on Khitan, Jurchen and Manchu languages.<ref name="w">{{cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/1804227 |author= Vovin, Alexander|chapter= Why Manchu and Jurchen Look so Un-Tungusic ?|title=Tumen jalafun jecen akū: Festschrift for Giovanni Stary's 60th birthday|editor=Juha Janhunenn |editor2=Alessandra Pozzi |editor3=Michael Weiers|publisher= Harrassowitz|year=2006|pages=255–266}}</ref><ref>{{Citation| last = Vovin| first = Alexander| title = Koreanic loanwords in Khitan and their importance in the decipherment of the latter| journal = Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae| volume = 70| pages = 207–215| date = 2017 | issue = 2| doi = 10.1556/062.2017.70.2.4| url = http://real.mtak.hu/56022/1/062.2017.70.2.4.pdf}}</ref> However, he also believes that the vast majority of the Balhae population were probably [[Tungusic peoples|Tungusic]], and at least partially [[Jurchen language|Jurchen]]-speaking.<ref name="vovin_script">{{cite book |last1=Vovin |first1=Alexander |editor1-last=Malchukov |editor1-first=Andrej L. |editor2-last=Whaley |editor2-first=Lindsey J. |title=Recent advances in Tungusic linguistics |date=2012 |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |location=Wiesbaden |url=https://www.academia.edu/1804240 |access-date=27 May 2022 |chapter=Did Wanyan Xiyin invent the Jurchen script?}}</ref> Some Korean historians believe that a record in ''[[Shoku Nihongi]]'' implies that the Balhae and Silla language were mutually intelligible: a student sent from Silla to Japan for Japanese language interpreter training assisted a diplomatic envoy from Balhae in communicating with the audience of a Japanese court.<ref name="Han2008">{{Citation|last=Han|first=Giu-cheol|title=The Study of the Ethnic Composition of Palhae State|date=2008|journal=The Journal of Humanities Research Institute|pages=143–174|publisher=[[Kyungsung University]]}}</ref><ref name="u">{{cite web|url=http://www.inews365.com/mobile/article.html?no=158476 |title=한중 이견속 발해는 고유문자 있었나|date=13 December 2010|publisher=충북일보|language=ko|access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref>

Diplomatic missions between Balhae, Japan and the Tang dynasty were primarily conducted in the Chinese language. Based on administrative and diplomatic records, a number of Japanese historians and linguists have further suggested that Chinese was the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of Balhae.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sakayori |first1=Masashi |title=渤海と古代の日本 |date=2001 |publisher=校倉書房 |isbn=978-4751731703 |pages=304–310}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yuzawa |first1=Tadayuki |title=八、九世紀東アジアにおける外交用言語 ； 日本・渤海間を中心として |journal=文芸言語研究 言語篇 |date=1997 |volume=31 |pages=56–80 |hdl=2241/13640 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2241/13640}}</ref> [[Classical Chinese]] was also used for the two unearthed tomb inscriptions for members of the Balhae royal family.{{sfn|Sloane|2014|p=368}}

Excavated epigraphic materials indicate that the Chinese script was the only widely used script in Balhae.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/epigraficheskie-materialy-bohaya-i-bohayskogo-vremeni-iz-primorya|script-title=ru:Эпиграфические материалы Бохая и бохайского времени из Приморья |trans-title=The epigraphic materials of the Bohai and Bohai times from Primorye|author1=Ivliev, Alexander Lvovich |work= Archeology, ethnography and culture |date=2014 |access-date=5 February 2019 |language=ru}}</ref> According to Russian scientific research, the Balhae writing system is based on Chinese characters, and among the characters used, many were used only in the state "[[Wu (state)|Wu]]". However, the recording was phonetic.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/epigraficheskie-materialy-bohaya-i-bohayskogo-vremeni-iz-primorya|title=Эпиграфические материалы Бохая и бохайского времени из Приморья|journal=Россия И Атр|year=2014|volume=4|issue=86|pages=207–217}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=о. в |first1=Дьякова |year=2013 |title=Первая верительная грамота племён мохэ |trans-title=The first credential letter of the Mohe tribes. |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/pervaya-veritelnaya-gramota-plemyon-mohe |journal=Общество И Государство В Китае |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=151–154}}</ref> Some of the names of Balhae's emissaries were similar to Chinese names while others were unique to Balhae: Wodala, Zhaoheshi, and Nansali. The unique Balhae names were the minority.{{sfn|Sloane|2014|p=378}} The ''[[Old Book of Tang]]'' records that Balhae had its own script, about which almost nothing is known. Vovin has suggested that the script was a prototype of the [[Jurchen script]]. While most Balhae inscriptions consisted of common Chinese characters, he has identified a small number of characters with Jurchen script signs or phonograms.<ref name="vovin_script"/>