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<P>Sorry, Gary, but "Silla language appears certain as being the direct ancestor of ModKor" is also quite a strong statement as long as nobody has much knowledge about the language of Silla....It is very regretful that our colleagues in and out of Korea seem to have abandoned to seriously try to find out. The two books you mention - while presenting a lot of material, which I am very thankful for - in my eyes have to be read with a lot of caution: both the methodology and the basis for comparisons must be seen as outdated. How much I wished more linguists would return to the question of so-called "Old Korean"...Best wishes, and Happy New Year, Your Werner Sasse<BR><BR></P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: "??? Gary Rector/Yu" <GARY@KOREALORE.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <KOREANSTUDIES@KOREAWEB.WS>
<DIV></DIV>>To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <KOREANSTUDIES@KOREAWEB.WS>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: RE: RE: [KS] Koguryo part of China?
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 13:38:46 +0900
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Statements such as
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>> > And, once again, Koguryo people were not linguistic ancestors of the
<DIV></DIV>> > present-day Koreans, from what we know it appears that their language was
<DIV></DIV>> > probably closer to Japanese.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>have been repeated a few times in this thread. While it appears certain that
<DIV></DIV>>the direct "ancestor" of modern Korean is the language of Silla, such
<DIV></DIV>>statements can be misleading because they seem to imply that there
<DIV></DIV>>was no relationship or only a distant one between the language of Goguryeo
<DIV></DIV>>and that of Silla (or of modern-day Korean). Though the extremely limited
<DIV></DIV>>amount of available documentation makes it difficult to access ancient
<DIV></DIV>>Korean, through analysis of idu representations of place names, personal
<DIV></DIV>>names,
<DIV></DIV>>titles, and so on and of stories and bits of ancient Korean vocabulary found
<DIV></DIV>>in Chinese
<DIV></DIV>>and Japanese writings, some linguists have presented good evidence that
<DIV></DIV>>the languages of Silla, Baekje, and Goguryeo were extremely closely related
<DIV></DIV>>and may have been dialects that were to a great extent mutually
<DIV></DIV>>intelligible.
<DIV></DIV>>Ryu Ryeol (1983, Senarasigiuy ridue daehan yeongu 'Research on the Idu
<DIV></DIV>>of the Three Kingdoms Period') and Gim Su-Gyeong (1989, Senarasigi
<DIV></DIV>>eoneoryeoksa-e gwanhan namjoseonhakgyeuy gyeonhae-e daehan
<DIV></DIV>>bipanjeok gochal, 'A Critical Study of South Korean Academic Views of
<DIV></DIV>>the Linguistic History of the Three Kingdoms Period') are two whose works
<DIV></DIV>>happen to be close at hand here. They are both North Koreans.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Gary Rector
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
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