The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-

Sinitic The Sinitic languages (漢語族/汉语族), often synonymous with "Chinese languages", are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is ...

members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the

Southeast Asian Massif The term Southeast Asian Massif was proposed in 1997 by anthropologist Jean Michaud to discuss the human societies inhabiting the lands above approximately in the southeastern portion of the Asian landmass, thus not merely in the uplands of conven ...

("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak Tibeto-Burman languages. The name derives from the most widely spoken of these languages, Burmese and the Tibetic languages, which also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 12th and 7th centuries respectively. Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail. Though the division of Sino-Tibetan into Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman branches (e.g. Benedict, Matisoff) is widely used, some

historical linguist Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...

s criticize this classification, as the non-Sinitic Sino-Tibetan languages lack any shared innovations in phonology or

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

to show that they comprise a clade of the

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

History

The origin and spread of the Sino-Tibetan language family

During the 18th century, several scholars noticed parallels between Tibetan and Burmese, both languages with extensive literary traditions. In the following century,

Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1800 or more likely 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals from the Himal ...

collected a wealth of data on the non-literary languages of the Himalayas and northeast India, noting that many of these were related to Tibetan and Burmese. Others identified related languages in the highlands of Southeast Asia and south-west China. The name "Tibeto-Burman" was first applied to this group in 1856 by James Logan, who added

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic la ...

in 1858. Charles Forbes viewed the family as uniting the Gangetic and Lohitic branches of Max Müller's

Turanian {{Short description, List of groups of people Turanian is a term that has been used in reference to diverse groups of people. It has had currency in Turanism, Pan-Turkism, and historic Turkish nationalism. Many of the uses of the word are obsolete. ...

, a huge family consisting of all the Eurasian languages except the Semitic, "Aryan" (

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...

) and Chinese languages. The third volume of the '' Linguistic Survey of India'' was devoted to the Tibeto-Burman languages of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Julius Klaproth Heinrich Julius Klaproth (11 October 1783 – 28 August 1835) was a German linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, orientalist and explorer. As a scholar, he is credited along with Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, with being instrumental in turnin ...

had noted in 1823 that Burmese, Tibetan and Chinese all shared common basic

vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...

, but that Thai,

Mon Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to: Places * Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar * Mon, India, a town in Nagaland * Mon district, Nagaland * Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India * Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons * A ...

and Vietnamese were quite different. Several authors, including Ernst Kuhn in 1883 and

August Conrady August Conrady (Chi. 孔好古) (28 April 1864, Wiesbaden - 4 June 1925, Leipzig) was a German sinologist and linguist. From 1897 he was professor at the University of Leipzig. Conrady first studied classical philology, comparative linguistics a ...

in 1896, described an "Indo-Chinese" family consisting of two branches, Tibeto-Burman and Chinese-Siamese. The

Tai languages The Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages ( th, ภาษาไท or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or Si ...

were included on the basis of vocabulary and typological features shared with Chinese. Jean Przyluski introduced the term ''sino-tibétain'' (Sino-Tibetan) as the title of his chapter on the group in

Antoine Meillet Paul Jules Antoine Meillet (; 11 November 1866 Moulins, France – 21 September 1936 Châteaumeillant, France) was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. He began his studies at the Sorbonne University, where he wa ...

and Marcel Cohen's ''Les Langues du Monde'' in 1924. The Tai languages have not been included in most Western accounts of Sino-Tibetan since the Second World War, though many Chinese linguists still include them. The link between Tibeto-Burman and Chinese is now accepted by most linguists, with a few exceptions such as Roy Andrew Miller and

Christopher Beckwith Christopher I. Beckwith (born October 23, 1945) is an American philologist and distinguished professor in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He has a B.A. in Chinese from Ohio State Univer ...

. More recent controversy has centred on the proposed primary branching of Sino-Tibetan into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman subgroups. In spite of the popularity of this classification, first proposed by Kuhn and Conrady, and also promoted by

Paul Benedict Paul Benedict (September 17, 1938 – December 1, 2008) was an American actor who made numerous appearances in television and films, beginning in 1965. He was known for his roles as The Number Painter on the PBS children's show '' Sesame Stree ...

(1972) and later

James Matisoff James Alan Matisoff ( zh, , t=馬蒂索夫, s=马蒂索夫, p=Mǎdìsuǒfū or zh, , t=馬提索夫, s=马提索夫, p=Mǎtísuǒfū; born July 14, 1937) is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a ...

, Tibeto-Burman has not been demonstrated to be a valid family in its own right.

Overview

Most of the Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in remote mountain areas, which has hampered their study. Many lack a written standard. It is generally easier to identify a language as Tibeto-Burman than to determine its precise relationship with other languages of the group. The subgroupings that have been established with certainty number several dozens, ranging from well-studied groups of dozens of languages with millions of speakers to several isolates, some only newly discovered but in danger of extinction. These subgroups are here surveyed on a geographical basis.

Southeast Asia and southwest China

The southernmost group is the Karen languages, spoken by three million people on both sides of the Burma–Thailand border. They differ from all other Tibeto-Burman languages (except Bai) in having a subject–verb–object word order, attributed to contact with Tai–Kadai and

Austroasiatic languages The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are t ...

. The most widely spoken Tibeto-Burman language is Burmese, the national language of Myanmar, with over 32 million speakers and a literary tradition dating from the early 12th century. It is one of the

Lolo-Burmese languages The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Names Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with derogatory characters in Chinese, and for this reas ...

, an intensively studied and well-defined group comprising approximately 100 languages spoken in Myanmar and the highlands of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Southwest China. Major languages include the

Loloish languages The Loloish languages, also known as Yi in China and occasionally Ngwi or Nisoic, are a family of fifty to a hundred Sino-Tibetan languages spoken primarily in the Yunnan province of China. They are most closely related to Burmese and its rela ...

, with two million speakers in western Sichuan and northern Yunnan, the

Akha language Akha is the language spoken by the Akha people of southern China (Yunnan Province), eastern Burma ( Shan State), northern Laos, and northern Thailand. Western scholars group Akha, Hani and Honi into the Hani languages, treating all three as se ...

and

Hani language The Hani language (Hani: or '; ; vi, Tiếng Hà Nhì) is a language of the Loloish (Yi) branch of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic group spoken in China, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam by the Hani people. Distribution In China, Hani is spoken most ...

s, with two million speakers in southern Yunnan, eastern Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, and

Lisu Lisu may refer to: *Lisu people, an ethnic group of Southeast Asia *Lisu language, spoken by the Lisu people * Old Lisu Alphabet or Fraser Alphabet * Lisu syllabary *Lisu (Unicode block), the block of Unicode characters for the Lisu language. *Lisu ...

and Lahu in Yunnan, northern Myanmar and northern Thailand. All languages of the Loloish subgroup show significant Austroasiatic influence. The

Pai-lang Bailang or Pai-lang () is the earliest recorded Tibeto-Burman language, known from three short songs, totalling 44 four-syllable lines, recorded in a commentary on the ''Book of the Later Han''. The language is clearly either Lolo–Burmese or cl ...

songs, transcribed in Chinese characters in the 1st century, appear to record words from a Lolo-Burmese language, but arranged in Chinese order. Ethnolinguistic map of China 1983

The Tibeto-Burman languages of south-west China have been heavily influenced by Chinese over a long period, leaving their affiliations difficult to determine. The grouping of the

Bai language The Bai language (Bai: ; ) is a language spoken in China, primarily in Yunnan Province, by the Bai people. The language has over a million speakers and is divided into three or four main dialects. Bai syllables are always open, with a rich se ...

, with one million speakers in Yunnan, is particularly controversial, with some workers suggesting that it is a sister language to Chinese. The Naxi language of northern Yunnan is usually included in Lolo-Burmese, though other scholars prefer to leave it unclassified. The hills of northwestern Sichuan are home to the small Qiangic and Rgyalrongic groups of languages, which preserve many archaic features. The most easterly Tibeto-Burman language is Tujia, spoken in the

Wuling Mountains The Wuling Mountains () are a mountain range located in Central China, running from Chongqing Municipality and East Guizhou to West Hunan. They are home to many ethnic groups, including as the Tujia, Han, Miao, Dong, and Bai. Wulingyuan The ...

on the borders of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Chongqing. Two historical languages are believed to be Tibeto-Burman, but their precise affiliation is uncertain. The Pyu language of central Myanmar in the first centuries is known from inscriptions using a variant of the

Gupta script The Gupta script (sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script)Sharma, Ram. '' 'Brahmi Script' ''. Delhi: BR Publishing Corp, 2002 was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcon ...

. The

Tangut language Tangut (Tangut: ; ) is an extinct language in the Sino-Tibetan language family. Tangut was one of the official languages of the Western Xia dynasty, founded by the Tangut people in northwestern China. The Western Xia was annihilated by the Mongo ...

of the 12th century Western Xia of northern China is preserved in numerous texts written in the Chinese-inspired Tangut script.

Tibet and South Asia

Over eight million people in the Tibetan Plateau and neighbouring areas in

Baltistan Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gil ...

, Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

speak one of several related Tibetic languages. There is an extensive literature in

Classical Tibetan Classical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetic after the Old Tibetan period. Though it extends from the 12th century until the modern day, it particularly refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from o ...

dating from the 8th century. The Tibetic languages are usually grouped with the smaller

East Bodish languages The East Bodish languages are a small group of non-Tibetic Bodish languages spoken in eastern Bhutan and adjacent areas of Tibet and India. They include: * Dakpa (Tawang Monpa) * Dzala * Nyen, including Mangde and Phobjib * Chali * Bumthang * ...

of Bhutan and

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

as the Bodish group. Many diverse Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. Sizable groups that have been identified are the West Himalayish languages of Himachal Pradesh and western Nepal, the

Tamangic languages The Tamangic languages, TGTM languages, or West Bodish languages, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in the Himalayas of Nepal. They are called "West Bodish" by Bradley (1997), from ''Bod'', the native term for Tibet. TGTM stands for ...

of western Nepal, including

Tamang The Tamang (; Devanagari: तामाङ; ''tāmāṅ'') are an Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group of Nepal. In Nepal Tamang/Moormi people constitute 5.6% of the Nepalese population at over 1.3 million in 2001, increasing to 1,539,830 as of the 2011 c ...

with one million speakers, and the

Kiranti languages The Kiranti languages are a major family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Nepal and India (notably Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kumai) by the Kirati people. External relationships George van Driem had formerly proposed that the Ki ...

of eastern Nepal. The remaining groups are small, with several isolates. The

Newar language Newar (), or Newari and known officially in Nepal as Nepal Bhasa, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Newar people, the indigenous inhabitants of Nepal Mandala, which consists of the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding regions in Nepal. ...

(Nepal Bhasa) of central Nepal has a million speakers and literature dating from the 12th century, and nearly a million people speak

Magaric languages The Magar languages (or Magaric languages) are a small proposed family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Nepal, notably including Magar and Kham. ''( Ethnologue'' considers each to be a cluster of languages.) They are often classified as part ...

, but the rest have small speech communities. Other isolates and small groups in Nepal are

Dura Dura may also refer to: Đura such as, for example, Đura Bajalović Geography * Dura language, a critically endangered language of Nepal * Dura, Africa, an ancient city and former bishopric, now a Catholic titular see * Dura-Europos, an anci ...

, Raji–Raute, Chepangic and Dhimalish. Lepcha is spoken in an area from eastern Nepal to western Bhutan. Most of the languages of Bhutan are Bodish, but it also has three small isolates, 'Ole ("Black Mountain Monpa"), Lhokpu and Gongduk and a larger community of speakers of

Tshangla Tshangla is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Bodish branch closely related to the Tibetic languages. Tshangla is primarily spoken in Eastern Bhutan and acts as a lingua franca in the region; it is also spoken in the adjoining Tawang tract in the ...

. The

Tani languages Tani (alternatively Miric, ''Adi–Galo–Mising–Nishi-Tagin'' (Bradley 1997), or ''Abor–Miri–Dafla'' (Matisoff 2003)), is a branch of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken mostly in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and neighboring regions. Background T ...

include most of the Tibeto-Burman languages of Arunachal Pradesh and adjacent areas of Tibet. The remaining languages of Arunachal Pradesh are much more diverse, belonging to the small Siangic,

Kho-Bwa The Kho-Bwa languages, also known as Bugunish and Kamengic, are a small family of languages spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. The name ''Kho-Bwa'' was originally proposed by George van Driem (2001). It is based on the reconstructed ...

(or Kamengic), Hruso, Miju and Digaro languages (or Mishmic) groups. These groups have relatively little Tibeto-Burman vocabulary, and Bench and Post dispute their inclusion in Sino-Tibetan. The greatest variety of languages and subgroups is found in the highlands stretching from northern Myanmar to northeast India. Northern Myanmar is home to the small Nungish group, as well as the

Jingpho–Luish languages The Jingpho-Luish, Jingpho-Asakian, Kachin–Luic, or Kachinic languages are a group of Sino-Tibetan languages belonging the Sal branch. They are spoken in eastern India and Burma, and consist of the Jingpho (also known as Kachin) language and ...

, including Jingpho with nearly a million speakers. The Brahmaputran or

Sal languages The Sal languages are a branch of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeast India, parts of Bangladesh, and Burma. Alternative names '' Ethnologue'' calls the group "Jingpho–Konyak–Bodo", while Scott DeLancey (2015) refers to it as "Bodo- ...

include at least the Boro–Garo and

Konyak languages The Konyak languages, or alternatively the Konyakian or Northern Naga languages, is a branch of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by various Naga peoples in southeastern Arunachal Pradesh and northeastern Nagaland states of northeastern India. They ...

, spoken in an area stretching from northern Myanmar through the Indian states of

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...

, Meghalaya, and

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east ...

, and are often considered to include the Jingpho–Luish group. The border highlands of

, Manipur and western Myanmar are home to the small Ao, Angami–Pochuri,

Tangkhulic The Tangkhulic and Tangkhul languages are a group of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken mostly in northeastern Manipur, India. Conventionally classified as "Naga," they are not clearly related to other Naga languages, and (with Maringic) are conserva ...

, and Zeme groups of languages, as well as the Karbi language. Meithei, the main language of Manipur with 1.4 million speakers, is sometimes linked with the 50 or so

Kuki-Chin languages The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of ...

are spoken in

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from " Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...

and the Chin State of Myanmar. The

Mru language Mru, also known as Mrung (Murung), is a Sino-Tibetan language of Bangladesh and Myanmar. It is spoken by a community of Mrus (Mros) inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh with a population of 22,000 according to the 1991 census, ...

is spoken by a small group in the

Chittagong Hill Tracts The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeas ...

between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Classification

There have been two milestones in the classification of Sino-Tibetan and Tibeto-Burman languages, and , which were actually produced in the 1930s and 1940s respectively.

Shafer (1955)

Shafer's tentative classification took an agnostic position and did not recognize Tibeto-Burman, but placed Chinese (Sinitic) on the same level as the other branches of a Sino-Tibetan family. He retained Tai–Kadai (Daic) within the family, allegedly at the insistence of colleagues, despite his personal belief that they were not related. ; Sino-Tibetan : I. ''

'' : II. ?? '' Daic'' : III. ''Bodic'' ::a. Bodish ( Gurung,

, Gyarong, Tibetic) ::b.

West Himalayish The West Himalayish languages, also known as Almora and Kanauric, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages centered in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and across the border into Nepal. LaPolla (2003) proposes that the West Himalayish languages may b ...

(incl. Thangmi, Baram, Raji–Raute) ::c. West Central Himalayish ( Magar, Chepang, Hayu isplaced ::d. East Himalayish ::e. Newarish ::f. Digarish ::g. Midźuish ::h. Hruish ::i. Dhimalish ::j. Miśingish ::k. Dzorgaish : IV. ''Burmic'' ::a. Burmish ::b. Mruish ::c. Nungish ::d. Katśinish ( Jingpho) ::e. Tśairelish ::f. Luish ::g. Taman ::h. Kukish : V. ''Baric'' ::a. Barish ::b. Nagish : VI. '' Karenic''

Benedict (1972)

A very influential, although also tentative, classification is that of , which was actually written around 1941. Like Shafer's work, this drew on the data assembled by the Sino-Tibetan Philology Project, which was directed by Shafer and Benedict in turn. Benedict envisaged Chinese as the first family to branch off, followed by Karen. :Sino-Tibetan :# Chinese :# Tibeto-Karen :#* Karen :#* Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman family is then divided into seven primary branches: I. '' Tibetan–Kanauri'' (a.k.a. Bodish–Himalayish) : A. Bodish ::( Tibetic, Gyarung, Takpa, Tsangla, Murmi & Gurung) : B. Himalayish :: i. "major"

Himalayish The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak ...

:: ii. "minor"

:::(Rangkas, Darmiya, Chaudangsi, Byangsi) ::(perhaps also Dzorgai, Lepcha, Magari) II. '' Bahing–Vayu'' : A. Bahing (

Sunuwar The Sunuwar or Koinch (; ''Sunuwār Jāti'') is a Kirati tribe native to Nepal, parts of India (West Bengal and Sikkim) and southern Bhutan. They speak the Sunuwar language. According to the 2001 census of Nepal, 17% of the tribe follow the K ...

, Khaling) : B. Khambu ( Sampang, Rungchenbung, Yakha, and Limbu) : C.

Vayu Vayu (, sa, वायु, ), also known as Vata and Pavana, is the Hindu god of the winds as well as the divine massenger of the gods. In the '' Vedic scriptures'', Vayu is an important deity and is closely associated with Indra, the king of ...

– Chepang :(perhaps also

Newar Newar (; new, नेवार, endonym: Newa; new, नेवा, Pracalit script:) or Nepami, are the historical inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley and its surrounding areas in Nepal and the creators of its historic heritage and civilisatio ...

) III. '' Abor–Miri–Dafla'' :(perhaps also

Aka Aka, AKA or a.k.a. may refer to: * "Also known as", used to introduce an alternative name Languages * Aka language (Sudan) * Aka language, in the Central African Republic * Hruso language, in India, also referred to as Aka * a prefix in the n ...

, Digaro, Miju, and Dhimal) IV. '' Kachin'' :(perhaps including Luish) V. '' Burmese–Lolo'' : A. Burmese–Maru : B. Southern Lolo : C. Northern Lolo : D. Kanburi Lawa : E.

Moso Moso or MoSo can refer to: * MoSo, a music and technology festival in Saskatoon, Canada * Moso (island), an island in Vanuatu * Missouri Southern State University, sometimes nicknamed "MoSo" * ''Phyllostachys edulis'', a species of bamboo also ca ...

: F. Hsi-fan ( Qiangic and

Jiarongic languages The Gyalrongic languages (also known as Rgyalrongic or Jiarongic) constitute a branch of the Qiangic languages of Sino-Tibetan, although some propose that it may be part of a larger Rung languages group, and do not consider it to be particularly ...

apart from Qiang and Gyarung themselves) : G. Tangut :(perhaps also Nung) VI. '' Boro-Garo'' : A. Boro : B. Garo ( A·chik) : C. Tripuri (Kokborok) : D. Dimasa : E. Mech : F. Rava ( Koch) : G. Tiwa (Lalung) : H. Sutiya : I. Saraniya : J. Sonowal :(Perhaps also " Naked Naga" a.k.a. Konyak) VII. '' Kuki–Naga'' (a.k.a. Kukish) :(perhaps also

Karbi Karbi may refer to: Places * Karbi, Armenia * Karbi Anglong Plateau, an extension of the Indian Plate in Assam, India * Karbi Anglong district, a district of Assam, north-eastern India Other uses * Karbi people, an ethnic group of North-ea ...

, Meithei, Mru)

Matisoff (1978)

proposes a modification of Benedict that demoted Karen but kept the divergent position of Sinitic. Of the 7 branches within Tibeto-Burman, 2 branches (Baic and Karenic) have SVO-order languages, whereas all the other 5 branches have SOV-order languages. :Sino-Tibetan :# Chinese :# Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Burman is then divided into several branches, some of them geographic conveniences rather than linguistic proposals: *Kamarupan (geographic) ** Kuki-Chin–Naga (geographic) ** Abor–Miri–Dafla ** Boro–Garo *

(geographic) ** Mahakiranti (includes

, Magar,

Kiranti The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirant or Kiranti, are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group. They are peoples of the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state of Sikkim ...

) ** Tibeto-Kanauri (includes Lepcha) * Qiangic *Jingpho–Nungish–Luish ** Jingpho ** Nungish ** Luish *

Lolo–Burmese The Lolo-Burmese languages (also Burmic languages) of Burma and Southern China form a coherent branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Names Until ca. 1950, the endonym ''Lolo'' was written with derogatory characters in Chinese, and for this reas ...

– Naxi * Karenic * Baic * Tujia (unclassified) Matisoff makes no claim that the families in the Kamarupan or Himalayish branches have a special relationship to one another other than a geographic one. They are intended rather as categories of convenience pending more detailed comparative work. Matisoff also notes that Jingpho–Nungish–Luish is central to the family in that it contains features of many of the other branches, and is also located around the center of the Tibeto-Burman-speaking area.

Bradley (2002)

Since Benedict (1972), many languages previously inadequately documented have received more attention with the publication of new grammars, dictionaries, and wordlists. This new research has greatly benefited comparative work, and

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

(2002) incorporates much of the newer data. I. Western (= Bodic) : A. Tibetan–Kanauri :: i. Tibetic :: ii. Gurung :: iii. East Bodic (incl. Tsangla) :: iv. Kanauri : B. Himalayan :: i. Eastern (

) :: ii. Western (

, Chepang, Magar, Thangmi, Baram) II. '' Sal'' : A. Baric ( Boro–Garo– Northern Naga) : B. Jinghpaw : C. Luish (incl.

Pyu Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions requ ...

) : D.

Kuki-Chin The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of th ...

(incl. Meithei and

) III. ''Central'' (perhaps a residual group, not actually related to each other. Lepcha may also fit here.) : A. Adi–Galo–Mishing–Nishi : B. Mishmi ( Digarish and

Keman (Japanese phoneticization from the Sanskrit ''kusumamālā'' "Garland of Flowers"), is a Buddhist ritual decoration, placed hanging on the beam of the inner sanctuary before the enshrined Buddha, in the main hall of the temple. (revised editio ...

) : C. Rawang IV. ''North-Eastern'' : A. Qiangic : B. Naxi– Bai : C. Tujia : D. Tangut V. ''South-Eastern'' : A. Burmese–Lolo (incl. Mru) : B.

van Driem

George van Driem rejects the primary split of Sinitic, making Tibeto-Burman synonymous with Sino-Tibetan.

Matisoff (2015)

The internal structure of Tibeto-Burman is tentatively classified as follows by Matisoff (2015: xxxii, 1123–1127) in the final release of the ''

Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus The ''Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus'' (commonly abbreviated ''STEDT'') was a linguistics research project hosted at the University of California at Berkeley. The project, which focused on Sino-Tibetan historical linguistics, s ...

'' (STEDT).Matisoff, James A. 2015
''The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus''
Berkeley: University of California.
PDF
Bruhn, Daniel; Lowe, John; Mortensen, David; Yu, Dominic (2015). ''Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus Database Software''. Software, UC Berkeley Dash. *Northeast Indian areal group **"North Assam" *** Tani *** Deng **

**"

Naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions * Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata'' * Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Ri ...

" areal group ***Central Naga ( Ao group) *** Angami–Pochuri group *** Zeme group ***

** Meithei **Mikir /

** Mru ** Sal *** Boro–Garo ***Northern Naga / Konyakian *** Jingpho–Asakian *Himalayish ** Tibeto-Kanauri *** Western Himalayish *** Bodic *** Lepcha *** Tamangish *** Dhimal **

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...

- Magar- Chepang *Tangut-Qiang ** Tangut ** Qiangic ** rGyalrongic * Nungic * Tujia *Lolo-Burmese–Naxi ** Lolo-Burmese ** Naxi * Karenic * Bai

Other languages

The classification of Tujia is difficult due to extensive borrowing. Other unclassified Tibeto-Burman languages include Basum and the recently described

Lamo Lamo is a surname of Italian origin that may refer to: * Adrian Lamo (1981–2018), American threat analyst * Augusto Lamo Castillo (1938–2002), Spanish football referee * Pierre Lamo (died 1578), Italian painter * Regina de Lamo (1870–1947), S ...

language. New Tibeto-Burman languages continue to be recognized, some not closely related to other languages. Recently recognized distinct languages include Koki Naga.

Randy LaPolla Randy John LaPolla () is a professor and former Head of Division at thDivision of Linguistics and Multilingual Studiesin Nanyang Technological University. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, elected 2008. He is curren ...

(2003) proposed a Rung branch of Tibeto-Burman, based on morphological evidence, but this is not widely accepted.

Scott DeLancey Scott DeLancey (born 1949) is an American linguist from the University of Oregon. His work focuses on typology and historical linguistics of Tibeto-Burman languages as well as North American indigenous languages such as the Penutian family, par ...

(2015)DeLancey, Scott. 2015. "Morphological Evidence for a Central Branch of Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan)." ''Cahiers de linguistique - Asie oriental'' 44(2):122-149. December 2015. proposed a Central branch of Tibeto-Burman based on morphological evidence. Roger Blench and Mark Post (2011) list a number of divergent languages of

, in northeastern India, that might have non-Tibeto-Burman substrates, or could even be non-Tibeto-Burman language isolates: * Kamengic **

Bugun The Buguns (formerly Khowa) are one of the earliest recognized schedule tribe of India, majority of them, inhabiting the Singchung Sub-Division of West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh. Their total population is approximately 3000. The notab ...

(Khowa) ** Mey (Sherdukpen) of Shergaon ** Mey (Sherdukpen) of Rupa ** Sartang ** Chug and Lish * orthernMishmi (Digarish) ** Idu (Luoba) **

Taraon Taraon is a village in the Ghazipur District of Uttar Pradesh, India. The village of Taraon falls under the jurisdiction of the Taraon Panchayat. It is located East of Ghazipur, on the border of the Ghazipur and Buxer districts. It is from n ...

(Digaru) * Siangic ** Koro **

Milang Milang ( ) is a town and locality located in the Australian state of South Australia on the west coast of Lake Alexandrina about south-east of the state capital of Adelaide and about north-east of the municipal seat of Goolwa. Milang is with ...

* Puroik (Sulung) -

East Kameng District East Kameng district is one of districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in northeastern, India. It shares an international border with China in the north and district borders with West Kameng district to the west, Pakke-Kessang district to the sou ...

* Hruso (Aka) - Thrizino Circle,

West Kameng District West Kameng (pronounced ) is a district of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. It accounts for 8.86% of the total area of the state. The name is derived from the Kameng river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, that flows through the distric ...

* Miji (Sajolang, Dimai, Dhimmai) * Miju Blench and Post believe the remaining languages with these substratal characteristics are more clearly Sino-Tibetan: *East Bodish ** Meyor (Zakhring) ** Monpa of Tawang -

Tawang District Tawang district (Pron:/tɑ:ˈwæŋ or təˈwæŋ/) is the smallest of the 26 administrative districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in northeastern India. With a population of 49,977, it is the eighth least populous district in the country (out o ...

** Monpa of Kalaktang (Tshangla) ** Monpa of Zemithang **Monpa of Mago-Thingbu *Tani:

Nah Nah or NAH may refer to: Places * Naha Airport (Indonesia) (IATA airport code: NAH), Tahuna, Sangir Islands, North Sulawesi, Indonesia * Nehbandan or Nah, a city in South Khorasan Province, Iran Other uses * NaH, the chemical formula of sodium hy ...

Notes

References

Notes Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **

External links

Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT)

''Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area''
(journal)
Himalayan languages site
(by George van Driem)
Sino-Tibetan Branches Project (STBP)

Tibeto-Burman bibliography website
{{Authority control Languages of Tibet