Understanding Korea materials - Hangeul: Appendix/Korean and the Altaic Family

Korean and the Altaic Family

Along with Japanese, Korean is known as part of the Altaic Family; however, this classification is disputed. While there is a minor issue over whether Korean and Japanese belong to the Altaic Family or not, a bigger controversy exists regarding the Altaic Family itself. A recent typology research suggests that Korean is not a part of the Altaic Family.

According to WALS, there are 65 languages in the Altaic Family. These are divided into three genera: Mongolic (13 languages), Tungusic (11 languages) and Turkic (41 languages).

This figure illustrates that Korean does not belong to the Altaic Family. WALS suggests there is only one language, Korean, belonging to the Korean Family and the Korean Genus. This may be a testament to how d ifficult it is to identify the genealogy of Korean. Relatedly, Ethnologue: Languages of the World classifies Korean as a language isolate.