The State of the Art of the Genetic Relationship of Japonic: the Turanian and Altaic Hypotheses

要旨

Abstract The history of several attempts, both long-range and short-range, at linking the Japanese language is surveyed and scrutinized in the present paper. Special attention is given to some earlier proposals which are largely ignored by current scholarship, albeit it can be demonstrated that they still define certain long-range comparisons which continue to enjoy some popularity among modern scholars. The two most important hypotheses examined in the present paper are those linking Japanese (Japonic) with the languages that have been classified under the labels “Turanian” and “Altaic”. It is shown that the (Macro-)Altaic hypothesis, recently also called “Transeurasian”, has close historical connections with the Turanian hypothesis and its predecessors.

主題