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[[Image:Map of Korean language.png|center|300px|Des jisme Korean bhasa waala log rahe hae]]
'''{{PAGENAME}}''' ek bhasa hae jon ki duuno [[North Korea]] aur [[South Korea]] ke official bhasa hae. Ii [[People's Republic of China]] ke [[Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture]] ke official bhasa bhi hae. Dunia bhar me 78 million log Korean bhasa me baaat kare hae.blishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992, the term ''Cháoxiǎnyǔ'' ({{lang|zh|朝鲜语}} or the short form: ''Cháoyǔ'' ({{lang|zh|朝语}})) has normally been used to refer to the standard language of North Korea and Yanbian, while ''Hánguóyǔ'' ({{lang|zh|韩国语}} or the short form: ''Hányǔ'' ({{lang|zh|韩语}})) is used to refer to the standard language of South Korea.
Some older English sources also used the name "Korean" to refer to the language, country, and people. The word "Korean" is derived from [[Goryeo]], which is thought to be the first dynasty known to western countries.
==Classification==
Since the publication of the article of [[Gustaf John Ramstedt|Ramstedt]] in 1928, some linguists<ref>eg Miller 1971, 1996, Starostin et al. 2003</ref> support the hypothesis that Korean can be classified as an [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] language or as a relative of proto-Altaic. Korean is similar to the Altaic languages in that they both lack certain grammatical elements, including [[Article (grammar)|articles]], fusional morphology and [[relative pronoun]]s. However, linguists agree today on the fact that typological resemblances cannot be used to prove genetic relatedness of languages<ref>eg Vovin 2008: 1</ref> as these features are typologically connected and [[areal feature|easily borrowed]].<ref>Trask 1996: 147-151</ref> Such factors of typological divergence as Middle Mongolian's exhibition of gender agreement<ref>Rybatzki 2003: 57</ref> can be used to argue that a genetic relationship is unlikely.<ref>Vovin 2008: 5</ref>
The hypothesis that ancient Korean might be related to [[Japanese language|Japanese]] has had some supporters due to some apparent overlap in vocabulary and similar grammatical features that have been elaborated upon by such researchers as [[Samuel Martin (linguist)|Samuel E. Martin]]<ref>eg Martin 1966, 1990</ref> and [[Roy Andrew Miller]].<ref>eg Miller 1971, 1996</ref> [[Sergei Starostin]] (1991) found about 25% of potential cognates in the Japanese-Korean 100-word [[Swadesh list]], which—if valid—would place these two languages closer together than other possible members of the Altaic family.<ref>{{cite paper|title=Altaiskaya problema i proishozhdeniye yaponskogo yazika (The Altaic Problem and the Origins of the Japanese Language)|url=http://www.alib.ru/findp.php4?author=%D1%F2%E0%F0%EE%F1%F2%E8%ED&title=%C0%EB%F2%E0%E9%F1%EA%E0%FF+%EF%F0%EE%E1%EB%E5%EC%E0+%E8+%EF%F0%EE%E8%F1%F5%EE%E6%E4%E5%ED%E8%E5+%FF%EF%EE%ED%F1%EA%EE%E3%EE+%FF%E7%FB%EA%E0+|author=Sergei Starostin}}</ref>
Other linguists, most notably [[Alexander Vovin]], argue, however, that the similarities are not due to any genetic relationship, but rather to a ''[[sprachbund]]'' effect and heavy borrowing especially from ancient Korean into Western Old Japanese.<ref>Vovin 2008</ref> A good example might be Middle Korean ''sàm'' and Japanese ''asa'' ‘hemp’.<ref>Whitman 1985: 232, also found in Martin 1966: 233</ref> This word seems to be cognate, but while it is well-attested in Western Old Japanese and Northern Ryūkyū, in Eastern Old Japanese it only occurs in compounds, and it is only present in three subdialects of the South-Ryūkyūan dialect group. Then, the doublet ''wo'' ‘hemp’ is attested in Western Old Japanese and Southern Ryūkyū. It is thus plausible to assume a borrowed term.<ref>Vovin 2008: 211-212</ref> See [[East Asian languages#Morphology|East Asian languages]] for morphological features shared among languages of the East Asian ''sprachbund'', and [[Classification of Japonic]] for further details on the discussion of a possible relationship.
==History==
{{Main|History of the Korean language}}
Korean is descended from [[Proto-Korean]], [[Old Korean]], [[Middle Korean]] and [[Modern Korean]]. Controversy remains over the proposed [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] language family and its inclusion of Proto-Korean. Since the [[Korean War]], contemporary [[Korean language North-South differences|North-South differences]] in Korean have developed, including variance in pronunciation, verb inflection, and vocabulary.
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