IF JAPANESE IS ALTAIC, HOW CAN IT BE SO SIMPLE?

Abstract

origin and classification of the Japanese language is one of the hot spots in historical linguistics today.1 most plausible hypothesis is that Japanese is related to Korean and the Altaic languages. However, linguistic literature reflects a wide range of opinions on the Altaic question for Japanese, ranging from a negative stance (Doerfer 1963-1975, 1974; Unger 1990; Nichols 1992; Janhunen 1992: 1994; Kiyose 2002; Shogaito 2002; Vovin 2003b) to an agnostic attitude (Lewin etc. 1989: 114; Shibatani 1990: 118; Comrie 1990: 856; Lyovin 1997: 114; Johanson 1999: 2; Trask 2000: 16; Lee and Ramsey 2000: 5) to a positive stance (Ramstedt 1924; Murayama 1958; Miller 1971; Menges 1975; Miller & Street 1975; Street 1977; Finch 1987; Starostin 1991; Vovin 1994; Kortlandt 1993: 1997; Ho-min Sohn 1999: 22; Wang 1999; Itabashi 2001; Starostin, Dybo & Mudrak 2003; Robbeets 2003, 2005). One of the obstacles that prevents us from reaching a consensus about the genetic affiliation of Japanese is its syllabic structure. occurrence of consonant clusters in medial position is a phonological feature that is shared by Korean and the Altaic languages, but, on the face of it, not by Japanese. Japanese is a textbook example of a language with a relatively simple syllable structure, and the structure of Old Japanese was even simpler. All Old Japanese syllables had a (C)V structure and V syllables were restricted to word-initial position. In his survey of the languages of Japan, Shibatani (1990: 101) refers to this problem by saying: The most embarrassing problem for anyone attempting to relate Japanese to the Altaic family or to Korean is the phonological discrepancy between the former and the latter. Japanese, especially Old Japanese, basically has a CV syllable structure, whereas Altaic languages and Korean abound in closed syllables with a variety of syllable-final consonants. In a manuscript dealing with Altaic elements in Old Japanese, the same problem was