Editing Goguryeo language (section)

== Other data ==
[[File:Chungju Goguryeo Stele.JPG|thumb|right|Goguryeo monument in Jungwon, Chungju]]
Other data on the language of Goguryeo is extremely sparse,{{sfnp|Whitman|2015|p=423}} and its affiliation remains unclear.{{sfnp|Georg|2017|p=151}}

A small number of inscriptions have been found in Goguryeo territory, including the [[Gwanggaeto Stele]] (erected in [[Ji'an, Jilin|Ji'an]] in 414), four inscriptions on the walls of [[Pyongyang Castle]], and a [[Goguryeo Monument, Chungju|stele in Jungwon, Chungju]] (590s).{{sfnp|Nam|2012|p=42}}
All are written in Chinese, but some of them contain irregularities, including a few examples of [[subject–object–verb|object–verb]] order (as found in Korean and other northeast Asian languages) instead of the usual Chinese [[subject–verb–object|verb–object]] order, and some uses of the characters {{lang|und-Hani|之}} and {{lang|und-Hani|伊}}, which some authors have connected to their use to represent Korean particles in later [[Idu script|Idu]] texts from [[Unified Silla]].{{sfnp|Vovin|2005|pp=117–119}}{{sfnp|Nam|2012|pp=42, 49}}

Beckwith identified a dozen names of places and people in Chinese histories that he argued were Goguryeo words.{{sfnp|Beckwith|2004|pp=32, 37–46, 52–53, 250}}
In his review of Beckwith's book, Byington criticized the historical basis of these identifications, as well as Beckwith's theories of Goguryeo origins in western [[Liaoning]].{{sfnp|Byington|2006|pp=148–150, 153}}

Chinese histories contain a few glosses of Goguryeo words:
* Chapter 30 of the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' (late 3rd century) states that {{lang|und-Hani|溝漊}} ([[Eastern Han Chinese]] *{{IPA|koro}}, [[Middle Chinese]] {{transliteration|ltc|kuw-luw}}) is the Goguryeo word for 'castle'.{{sfnp|Gardiner|2012b|p=98}} Beckwith compared this word with Old Japanese {{transliteration|ojp|kura}} 'storehouse'.{{sfnp|Beckwith|2004|p=41}} [[Alexander Vovin]] compared it with [[Middle Mongolian]] {{transliteration|xng|qoto-n}} and [[Manchu language|Manchu]] {{transliteration|mnc|hoton}} 'fortified town', but with lenition of ''t'' as in Korean.{{sfnp|Vovin|2013|pp=230–231}}
* Chapter 100 of the ''[[Book of Wei]]'' (mid-6th century) gives {{lang|und-Hani|謁奢}} {{transliteration|ltc|ʔjot-syæ}} 'big elder brother' and {{lang|und-Hani|太奢}} {{transliteration|ltc|thaj<sup>H</sup>-syae}} 'little elder brother'. Vovin compared {{transliteration|ltc|ʔjot}} with [[Late Middle Korean]] {{transliteration|okm|nyěys}} 'old' and {{transliteration|ltc|thaj<sup>H</sup>}} with an Early Middle Korean word 'small, young' transcribed as {{transliteration|ltc|ʔæ<sup>H</sup>-thwoj<sup>H</sup>}} ({{lang|und-Hani|亞退}}) in the ''[[Jilin leishi]]'' (1103–1104). The word {{transliteration|ltc|syæ}} is closely matched by [[Old Japanese]] {{transliteration|ojp|se}} 'elder brother', but this has a limited distribution in Japonic, and may be a loanword.{{sfnp|Vovin|2013|pp=228–230}}
* The same chapter gives the name of [[Dongmyeong of Goguryeo|Jumong]], the legendary founder of Goguryeo, as {{lang|und-Hani|朱蒙}} (Middle Chinese {{transliteration|ltc|tsyu-muwng}}), glossed as 'good archer'. This name appears in the Gwanggaeto Stele as {{lang|und-Hani|鶵牟}} (Eastern Han Chinese *dẓo-mu, Middle Chinese {{transliteration|ltc|tsrhju-mjuw}}). Vovin compared the first syllable with Middle Korean {{transliteration|okm|tywǒh-}} 'be good', but was unable to identify a match for the second part.{{sfnp|Vovin|2013|pp=231–232}}
* Chapter 41 of the ''[[Book of Zhou]]'' (early 7th century) gives {{lang|und-Hani|骨蘇}} {{transliteration|ltc|kwot-su}} 'ceremonial headgear', which Vovin compared with the first part of Middle Korean {{transliteration|okm|kwoskál}} 'ceremonial headgear'.{{sfnp|Vovin|2013|p=230}}

Vovin also pointed to Koreanic loanwords in [[Jurchen language|Jurchen]] and [[Manchu language|Manchu]], and argued that the Goguryeo language was the ancestor of Koreanic, and spread southwards to replace the Japonic languages of the Samhan.{{sfnp|Vovin|2013|pp=224–226, 237–238}} [[James Marshall Unger|James Unger]] has proposed a similar model on historical grounds.{{sfnp|Unger|2009|p=87}}

Other authors suggest that the Goguryeo language was a Tungusic language.{{sfnp|Sohn|1999|p=39}}
[[Juha Janhunen]] argues for a Tungusic affiliation based on historical evidence that the [[Jurchens]] of the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] and later the [[Manchus]] of the [[Qing dynasty]] that rose from the former territory of Goguryeo were Tungusic speakers.{{sfnp|Janhunen|2005|p=84}}