Vovin (East Asian languages, U. of Hawaii)reanalyzes the relationship between the Japonic (Japanese and Ryukyuan) portmanteau language family and the Korean language. Specialists in the last 50
years have suggested a genetic relationship between the languages, although that point of view has not been accepted by general historical linguists. Vovin, a long-time supporter of the genetic
relationship viewpoint, reanalyzed what is known about the topic with the intention of finding evidence to support that position. However, he became convinced instead that the similarities grew
from hundreds of years of contact and not from a theoretical common ancestor. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
