Manchu-Tungus Studies in Korea: Focusing on the Studies of Third-Generation Scholars

The purpose of this paper is to predict the direction of future research by introducing the achievements on the Manchu-Tungus language by the third-generation Korean scholars. Since the subjects and methods of scholars' research tend to be fixed to some extent, it is thought that understanding the results of research so far will be able to estimate the direction of future research. Manchu-Tungusic research, if the scope of it is broadened, it can include comparison or contrast studies with other languages and typological studies, but in this paper, only Manchu-Tungusic research will be introduced. Also, since this is an introduction to research trends, specific examples and evaluations are deferred to a later date. Studies on the Manchu-Tungus language up to the second generation in Korea mainly focused on books on Qing studies published by the bureau of interpretaion in Joseon dynasty, research on Manchu books published in the Qing Dynasty, and collect and analysis of spoken Manchu-Tungus data in China and Russia was made. The third generation is those born after the 1970s. While the previous generations mainly studied Manchu language philologically and phonologically, they have been conducting grammatical research mainly within the theoretical framework of modern linguistics for the past 10 years. It is also characterized by the fact that they attempt to analyze spoken Manchu-Tungus following the second generation. Research on spoken language materials is expected to become more active in the future as some scholars are carrying out the “Studies of linguistic transcription and annotation of three endangered Tungus languages” project supported by the government.