<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">I'd suggest that for those concerned with "similarities," that you start by reading this brief <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_%28linguistics%29">article on genetic relationships [of languages] in Wikipedia</a>. <br><br>One of my Japanese colleagues at Indiana University 40+ years ago who was working on Khitan or Jurchen, I forget which, explained to me [I am a language user not a linguistic analyzer] that it was useful to start from the point that similarites in languages can stem from either forces of divergence [from a common source, i.e., genetic relationship] or convergence [owing to imposed influence such as captivity, cultural swamping, etc.]. His view, as I understand and remember it after all these years, was that the Eastern Turkic languages and the Mongolian languages bore similarities to Korean as a result of convergence. I tend to
agree with that view [Roy Andrew Miller notwithstanding], but this is <span style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; font-style: italic;">not</span> my bailiwick. <br><br>After teaching for two years in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Indiana, I spent three years there teaching in what was then the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies, now called Central Eurasian Studies. Many of my colleagues then were specialized in linguistics. A number of those, as I recall, did not subscribe to the Altaic Theory.<br><br><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div id="RTEContent"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://koreanpoems.blogspot.com/">Dr. Edward D. Rockstein </a><br></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br>ed4linda@yahoo.com <br><br><em>Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as
those who steal from the public purse</em>--Adlai Stevenson<br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br><br>--- On <b>Mon, 5/28/12, Henny Savenije <i><webmaster@henny-savenije.pe.kr></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Henny Savenije <webmaster@henny-savenije.pe.kr><br>Subject: Re: [KS] Is Korean an Altaic language?<br>To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws><br>Date: Monday, May 28, 2012, 9:47 AM<br><br><div id="yiv1231707171">
<div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="yiv1231707171cite" cite="">In response to Henny's comment,
note that Eugene's question was not concerned with simple
"similarity" but with language families.
</blockquote><br>
It's my understanding that similarities indicate families, and the closer
the similarities the closer the relationship. <br><br>
the Indo-European family is quite large but has all kind of sub divisions
like Germanic, Romance and so on. For most Germanic language speakers
Romance languages aren't that easy to learn and vice versa but Germanic
speakers have a relative easy time learning other Germanic (and I
definitely don't mean German here) languages. <br><br>
<p>
_ _<br>
(o) (o)<br>
oOOO----(_)----OOOo---<br>
Henny (Lee Hae Kang)<br>
-----------------------------<br>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.henny-savenije.pe.kr</a> Portal to all my sites<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.hendrick-hamel.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.hendrick-hamel.henny-savenije.pe.kr</a> </u></font>(in
English) Feel free to discover Korea with Hendrick Hamel (1653-1666)<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.hendrick-hamel.henny-savenije.pe.kr/indexk2.htm">
http://www.hendrick-hamel.henny-savenije.pe.kr/indexk2.htm</a>
</u></font>In Korean <br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.hendrick-hamel.henny-savenije.pe.kr/Dutch">
http://www.hendrick-hamel.henny-savenije.pe.kr/Dutch</a> </u></font>In
Dutch<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.vos.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.vos.henny-savenije.pe.kr</a> </u></font>Frits Vos Article
about Witsen and Eibokken and his first Korean-Dutch dictionary<br>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.cartography.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.cartography.henny-savenije.pe.kr</a> (in English) Korea
through Western Cartographic eyes<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.hwasong.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.hwasong.henny-savenije.pe.kr</a> </u></font>Hwasong the
fortress in Suwon<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.oldkorea.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.oldKorea.henny-savenije.pe.kr</a> </u></font>Old Korea in
pictures<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.british.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.british.henny-savenije.pe.kr</a> </u></font>A British
encounter in Pusan (1797)<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.genealogy.henny-savenije.pe.kr/">
http://www.genealogy.henny-savenije.pe.kr/</a> </u></font>Genealogy<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u>
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.henny-savenije.pe.kr/phorum">
http://www.henny-savenije.pe.kr/phorum</a> </u></font>Bulletin board for
Korean studies<br><br>
<br>
</p></div>
</div></blockquote></td></tr></table>