Puyŏ and Han: Morphological and Lexical Analysis of Two Distinct Language Groups of the Early Korean Peninsula

Abstract

There were many different languages spoken on the Korean Peninsula in the past, and not all of them were 韓 Han (Koreanic). In the traditional approach, Puyŏ and Han – the two best attested non-Chinese languages of early Korea – are treated as daughter branches of a common Puyŏ-Han proto-language. Christopher I. Beckwith has solidly demonstrated that the Puyŏ or Puyo-Koguryoic languages form a unique branch of the Japanese-Koguryoic language family, unrelated to the Han or Koreanic languages. Nevertheless, speculation on Puyŏ-Han linguistic unity continues to persist. The comparative data in this paper, focusing on the earliest attested Puyo-Koguryoic grammatical morphemes and content words and their translational equivalents in early Han (Koreanic), thoroughly disproves the Puyŏ-Han hypothesis, demonstrating that Puyŏ (Puyo-Koguryoic) and Han (Koreanic) are two mutually distinct unrelated language groups.

Keywords

• Puyo-Koguryoic languages
• Koreanic languages
• historical-comparative linguistics
• ethnolinguistic contact
• history of the early Korean Peninsula