Archaeological Explanation for the Diffusion Theory of the Japonic and Koreanic Language

要旨

From a linguistic standpoint, it is assumed that the Japonic language family entered into the Korean Peninsula and from there spread to the Japanese archipelago at the beginning of the Yayoi period, around the 8th century BC, while the arrival of the Koreanic language family is associated with the advent of the Korean-style bronze dagger culture around 5th century BC (Whitman 2011). Evidence of demic diffusion in archaeological events (Miyamoto 2014) indicates the result of a linguistic founders effect, because both Koreanic and Japonic are relatively shallow language families (Whitman 2011). But Japonic has no vocabulary dedicated to rice (Whitman 2011). There is some contradiction between the absence of rice vocabulary in Japonic and the demic diffusion of rice farmers in the archeological evidence. In this paper, I would like to resolve this contradiction by offering a new explanation for the demic diffusion of Mumun culture, which possessed a Japonic language, on the Korean peninsula.

主題