The classification of the  Japonic languages (Japanese  and Ryukyuan) is unclear. Linguists traditionally consider the Japonic languages to belong to an independent family; indeed, until the classification of Ryukyuan as separate languages within a Japonic family rather than as dialects of Japanese, Japanese was considered a language isolate. Among more distant connections, the possibility of a genetic relationship to the Goguryeo (Koguryo) languages, or perhaps to Kara (Gaya), has the most currency. Goguryeo itself may be related to Old Korean Peninsula, and a Japonic–Korean grouping is widely considered plausible. Independent of the question of a Japonic–Korean connection, both the Japonic languages and Korean were often included in the largely discredited Altaic family. The relevance for Old Korean and modern Korean is unknown.