History of Korean Language

In South Korea, Korean is referred to as hangukeo, hangukmal, or gugeo (national language). It is also sometimes colloquially referred to as urimal (our language). People of Korean ancestry in the former Soviet union often refer to themselves as koryeo saram or koryeo in after the old Korean kingdom of Koryeo, and therefore call the language koryeomal.

There is some debate regarding the classification of modern Korean and there are two generally accepted theories. Many linguists support the theory that Korean is a member of the Altaic language family, along with Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic (Manchu-Tungus). Some scholars also include Japanese and Ainu.