From: Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale@...>
Date: 2007-03-12T03:08:07+09:00
Subject: Re: the name of Matz

On 3/11/07, John Joyce <dangerwillrobinsondanger@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Mar 11, 2007, at 5:15 AM, Rick DeNatale wrote:
> >
> > I've also heard that there are certain linguistic similarities which
> > indicate that Japanese and Finnish are close relatives, not that I
> > know what those are or have any clue why it might be so.
>
> No, there are none. Japanese has a strong relation to Korean. Both
> have a relation to Mongolian.

Well it appears that there are at least some linquists who beleive
that there may be a relationship between Finnish and Japanese,
although not as close as I implied.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ural-Altaic_languages

Describes a (controversial) theory that they are related by a common
extinct ancestor language.

Ural-Altaic
   Ural
      Finno-Permic
         Finnish
   Altaic
     Mongolic
        Mongolian
      Japonic
         Japanese,
     Korean

Which would make Finnish and Japanese second cousins.

There are actually two levels of controversy in these theories.  One
is whether or not there really was a prototypical Ural-Altaic which
was a common ancestor of the Ural and Altaic families.  Second is
whether or not the Japonic family (which includes Japanese, Okinawan,
and some others I haven't heard of), and Korean which forms it's own
family, should really be considered members of the Altaic family.


-- 
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/