Editing Korean language (section)

==Classification==
{{see also|Comparison of Japanese and Korean}}
Korean is a member of the [[Koreanic languages|Koreanic family]] along with the [[Jeju language]]. Some linguists have included it in the [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] family, but the core Altaic proposal itself has lost most of its prior support.{{sfnp|Cho|Whitman|2020|pp=11–12}} The [[Khitan language]] has several vocabulary items similar to Korean that are not found in other Mongolian or Tungusic languages, suggesting a Korean influence on Khitan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vovin |first=Alexander |date=June 2017 |title=Koreanic loanwords in Khitan and their importance in the decipherment of the latter |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=207–215 |doi=10.1556/062.2017.70.2.4 |url=http://real.mtak.hu/56022/1/062.2017.70.2.4.pdf |access-date=20 September 2019 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224042740/http://real.mtak.hu/56022/1/062.2017.70.2.4.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The hypothesis that Korean could be related to [[Japanese language|Japanese]] has had some supporters due to some overlap in vocabulary and similar grammatical features that have been elaborated upon by such researchers as [[Samuel E. Martin]]<ref>{{harvp|Martin|1966}}, {{harvp|Martin|1990}}</ref> and [[Roy Andrew Miller]].<ref>e.g. {{harvp|Miller|1971}}, {{harvp|Miller|1996}}</ref> [[Sergei Starostin]] (1991) found about 25% of potential [[cognate]]s in the Japanese–Korean 100-word [[Swadesh list]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Starostin|first=Sergei|url=http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/Starostin_AP.pdf|title=Altaiskaya problema i proishozhdeniye yaponskogo yazika|publisher=Nauka|year=1991|location=Moscow|language=ru|trans-title=The Altaic Problem and the Origins of the Japanese Language|access-date=22 November 2012|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509142850/http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/Starostin_AP.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
Some linguists concerned with the issue between Japanese and Korean, including Alexander Vovin, have argued that the indicated similarities are not due to any [[genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetic relationship]], but rather to a ''[[sprachbund]]'' effect and heavy borrowing, especially from [[Ancient Korean]] into Western [[Old Japanese]].{{sfnp|Vovin|2008}} A good example might be [[Middle Korean]] ''sàm'' and Japanese ''asá'', meaning '[[hemp]]'.<ref>{{harvp|Whitman|1985|p=232}}, also found in {{harvp|Martin|1966|p=233}}</ref> This word seems to be a cognate, but although it is well attested in Western Old Japanese and [[Northern Ryukyuan languages]], in [[Eastern Old Japanese]] it only occurs in compounds, and it is only present in three dialects of the [[Southern Ryukyuan languages|Southern Ryukyuan language group]]. Also, the [[Doublet (linguistics)|doublet]] ''wo'' meaning 'hemp' is attested in Western Old Japanese and Southern Ryukyuan languages. It is thus plausible to assume a borrowed term.{{sfnp|Vovin|2010|pp=173–174}}

Hudson & Robbeets (2020) suggested that there are traces of a pre-[[Nivkh languages|Nivkh]] substratum in Korean. According to the hypothesis, ancestral varieties of Nivkh (also known as ''Amuric'') were once distributed on the [[Korean Peninsula]] before the arrival of Koreanic speakers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hudson |first1=Mark J. | author-link1=Mark J. Hudson |last2=Robbeets |first2=Martine |author-link2=Martine Robbeets |date=2020 |title=Archaeolinguistic Evidence for the Farming/Language Dispersal of Koreanic |journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences |language=en |volume=2 |at=e52 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.49 |pmid=37588366 |pmc=10427439 |doi-access=free}}</ref>