Japanese language traced back to farmers in China's northeast: int'l research group

November 16, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)

TOKYO -- The origin of the Japanese language can be traced back to farmers who lived near the West Liao River in northeast China about 9,000 years ago, announced an international team of researchers.

The team, led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History based in Germany, consists of linguists, archaeologists, and anthropologists specializing in genetics from Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, the United States and other countries. The findings were published in the British scientific journal Nature on Nov. 10 (Nov. 11 JST).

The origin and spread of Transeurasian languages, including Japanese (as well as the Ryukyuan language), Korean, Mongolic, Tungusic and Turkish, is a debated topic in prehistoric studies on Asia. The recent study has garnered attention as a groundbreaking new theory that elucidates these origins and poses the hypothesis that the dispersal of these languages was driven by agriculture.

The team examined the residential areas and dispersal routes, as well as their time periods, of the common ancestors of Transeurasian language speakers. Through the combination of extensive references in each academic field, including the vocabulary of 98 languages associated with farming, DNA analysis of ancient human bones, and an archaeological database, the analysis was conducted with a high-level of accuracy and credibility.

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https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211116/p2a/00m/0na/020000c