Korean is the language of the Korean peninsula in northeast Asia. It is believed that the ancestors of the Korean people arrived in the Korean peninsula and in Manchuria around 4,000 BC. They displaced, or assimilated, the earlier Paleosiberian-speaking settlers. Many small Korean tribal states were established in these locations between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. There are many theories about the origin and affiliation of the Korean language. What makes Korean linguistic affiliation very difficult to establish is its long history of contact with Chinese and Japanese. According to the so-called Southern theory, Korean belongs to the Austronesian language family. However, according to the Northern theory, supported by a number of linguists, Korean is a member of the Altaic language family. At the same time, some linguists point to some similarities between Korean and Japanese, suggesting that it might belong in the Japonic group of languages. With the issue of the affiliation of Korean being unresolved, many sources classify it as a language isolate. During the Japanese occupation of Korea, Japanese was declared the official language of Korea, and the use of Korean was officially banned. Koreans were even forced to change their family names to Japanese ones. With the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, despite national division and civil war, Korean was once again established as the official language of both Koreas. After the division of the country in 1945, each Korea developed its own national standard and language policy. Today, Modern Korean is used in all spheres of life in both Koreas.
The reason why people are continuously interested in learning the history of languages is that it provides a historical and social context of a language that help people contextualize and familiarize with languages' historical applications and their modern relevance. It is also how linguists predict how languages changed and will change over time. There are many different reasons for language change. Changes can take originate in language learning, or through language contact, social differentiation, and natural processes in usage. Example of a type of change can be sound change. By learning the pattern of language changes from the past to the present, linguists can assume and predict that the same pattern will occur from the present to the future. However, it is just not that simple regarding various changes in societies, cultures and interactions between cultures.
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Thank you for sharing your learning on the history of the Korean language. I feel as though when we learn about how a language came to be, we appreciate the language that much more. Personally, knowing about the Portuguese language history, has motivated me to learn the language even more. I wonder how Korean and other languages will change and develop over time.