Here’s a fascinating study on the dialects of the Japanese. It turns out that their language seems to have developed not from indigenous people of the islands, but rather from former inhabitants of the Korean Peninsula who migrated there. Not surprisingly, agriculture appears to be the driving force for this migration, as was common among hunter-gatherer groups tens of thousands of years ago. Along with the journey towards more bountiful lands, these small primitive societies also carried their language.
Given the huge weather changes and lack of advances in agriculture, prehistoric man faced many more challenges than we would consider today. Besides the benefits we currently have with modern farming and land development, we have the benefit of a relatively stable climate. In the time around Ice Ages, man was not nearly so fortunate. Extinction lurked in every epoch, and as is now commonly known, humanity’s numbers at one point dwindled down into the low tens of thousands across the entire planet.
In this instance, archaeology has also contributed to the discovery of language origins. We know from excavations that there were two separate migrant groups in Japan, the Jomon and the Yayoi. The Jomon came to Japan first, during an ice age when they were able to travel via a land bridge to the Japanese islands. They prospered in their new home until about 2,400 years ago, when they gave way to the Yayoi, who had developed more effective means of agriculture, namely, wet-rice farming. While the languages of the Jomon and Yayoi tribes are not well known, the origins of modern Japanese language date back to a time period very close to the arrival of the Yayoi.
The question of where the Yayoi language and culture first appears still remains, however, and further study is needed to arrive at definite conclusions. To learn more about this fascinating study of language, culture, archaeology, and anthropology, visit the research article at the Proceedings of the Royal Society.