Proto-Tibeto-Burman (commonly abbreviated PTB) is the reconstructed ancestor of the

Tibeto-Burman languages 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 sp ...

, that is, the

Sino-Tibetan languages Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages ...

, except for Chinese. An initial reconstruction was produced by Paul K. Benedict and since refined by

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 ...

. Several other researchers argue that the Tibeto-Burman languages ''sans'' Chinese do not constitute a

monophyletic group A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

within Sino-Tibetan, and therefore that Proto-Tibeto-Burman was the same language as

Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Sino-Tibetan (PST) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Sino-Tibetan language family and the common ancestor of all languages in it, most prominently the Chinese languages, the Tibetan language, Yi, Bai, Burmese, Karen, Tangut, ...

Issues

Reconstruction is complicated by the immense diversity of the languages, many of which are poorly described, the lack of

inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...

in most of the languages, and millennia of intense contact with other Sino-Tibetan languages and languages of other families. Only a few subgroups, such as Lolo-Burmese, have been securely reconstructed. Benedict's method, which he dubbed "teleo-reconstruction", was to compare widely separated languages, with a particular emphasis on

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 ...

, Jingpho,

Written Burmese The Burmese alphabet ( my, မြန်မာအက္ခရာ ''mranma akkha.ra'', ) is an abugida used for writing Burmese. It is ultimately adapted from a Brahmic script, either the Kadamba or Pallava alphabet of South India. The Burmese ...

, Garo, and

Mizo Mizo may refer to: *Mizo people, an ethnic group native to north-eastern India, western Myanmar (Burma) and eastern Bangladesh * Mizo language, a language spoken by the Mizo people *Mizoram, a state in Northeast India *Lusei people, an ethnic group ...

. Although the initial consonants of cognates tend to have the same

place Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** O ...

and

manner of articulation In articulatory phonetics, the manner of articulation is the configuration and interaction of the articulators ( speech organs such as the tongue, lips, and palate) when making a speech sound. One parameter of manner is ''stricture,'' that is ...

, voicing and aspiration are often unpredictable. Matisoff attributes this to the effects of prefixes that have been lost and are often unrecoverable. The reconstruction also features "allofams", variant forms of a root postulated to explain inconsistent reflexes in daughter languages. The reconstruction of such "allofams" has been heavily criticized by other researchers in the field.

Homeland

Contrary to other hypotheses suggesting a Proto-Sino-Tibetan homeland in the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

valley of northern China, Matisoff (1991, 2015) suggests that the Proto-Sino-Tibetan (PST) homeland was located "somewhere on the Himalayan plateau," and gives Proto-Tibeto-Burman a date of approximately 4000 B.C., which is roughly on a par with the age of

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

. Language diversification occurred as speakers then moved downstream through various river valleys.

Phonology

The phonology of Proto-Tibeto-Burman here is from Matisoff's 2003 reconstruction, much of which is based on Benedict's earlier reconstructions.

Consonants

Proto-Tibetan–Burman has at least 23 consonants (Matisoff 2003:15). Some descendants of Proto-Tibetan–Burman, especially the

Qiangic languages Qiangic (''Ch'iang, Kyang, Tsiang'', Chinese: 羌語支, "''Qiang'' language group"; formerly known as Dzorgaic) is a group of related languages within the Sino-Tibetan language family. They are spoken mainly in Southwest China, including Sich ...

, have developed dozens of sibilant fricatives and affricates. Proto-Tibeto-Burman, in Matisoff's opinion, also has many final nasals, stops, and liquids.

Vowels

In Matisoff's reconstruction, Proto-Tibeto-Burman vowels can be split into primary and secondary sets. Modern-day Tibeto-Burman languages have anywhere from five vowels (Written Tibetan and Jingpho) to dozens of monophthongs and diphthongs ( Loloish and

) (Matisoff 2003:157). Matisoff (2003) also notes that languages which have greatly simplified or eliminated final consonants tend to have more vowels. The

open front unrounded vowel The open front unrounded vowel, or low front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. It is one of the eight primary cardinal vowels, not directly intended to correspond to a vowel sound of a specific language b ...

*a is by far the most common and stable vowel in Tibeto-Burman languages. Matisoff (2003) reinterprets

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...

s from Paul Benedict's reconstruction as long vowels.

Preservation of stops

According to Matisoff, Sino-Tibetan languages go through a series of four stages in which final stops and nasals gradually decay (Matisoff 2003:238-239). #The six final stops and nasals, *-p, *-t, *-k, *-m, *-n, *-ŋ, are all intact. Written Tibetan, Lepcha, Kanauri, Garo, and Cantonese are currently on this stage. #One or more final consonants have been reduced or dropped. In Jingpho and Nung, the velars (*-k) are replaced by glottal stops (-ʔ), while in other languages they are completely dropped. In

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

, all final stops are dropped, and *-m has merged with *-n. #All finals stops become glottal stops or constrictions (such as creaky voices), and final nasals may be replaced by nasality in the preceding consonant. Languages currently in this stage include modern Burmese and Lahu. #There are no glottal or nasal traces of the former final consonants left in the syllables.

Syntax

Proto-Tibeto-Burman was a verb-final ( subject–object–verb or SOV) language. Most modern-day Tibeto-Burman branches also display SOV word order. However, due to syntactic convergence within the

Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area The Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area is a sprachbund including languages of the Sino-Tibetan, Hmong–Mien (or Miao–Yao), Kra–Dai, Austronesian and Austroasiatic families spoken in an area stretching from Thailand to China. Neighbou ...

, three Tibeto-Burman branches, Karenic, Mruic, and Bai, display SVO (verb-medial) word order. This syntactic realignment has also occurred in

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 ...

, which

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 ...

(2011) argues to be a result of

creolization Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge. Creolization was first used by linguists to explain how contact languages become creole languages, but now scholars in other social sciences use the term to describe ne ...

through intensive language contact and multilingualism during the

Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

Morphology

Syllable structure

According to

, Proto-Tibeto-Burman syllables typically consist of the following structure (Matisoff 2003:11-13). *P₁: first prefix - optional *P₂: second prefix - optional *C_i: initial consonant *G: glide - optional *V: vowel (optionally lengthened) *C_f: final consonant *s: suffix - optional The following types of changes in syllable structure have been attested in Tibeto-Burman languages (Matisoff 2003:155). (''Note'': '' Sesquisyllable'', otherwise known as a ''minor syllable'', is a word coined by

meaning "one-and-a-half syllables.") *disyllable **disyllable → sesquisyllable **disyllable → complex monosyllable **disyllable → simple monosyllable *sesquisyllable **sesquisyllable → disyllable **sesquisyllable → complex monosyllable **sesquisyllable → simple monosyllable *complex monosyllable **complex monosyllable → sesquisyllable **complex monosyllable → simple monosyllable *simple monosyllable **simple monosyllable → disyllable Below are the ''sources'' of the syllable changes (i.e., reversal of the list above). *disyllable **from sesquisyllable **from simple monosyllable *sesquisyllable **from disyllable **from complex monosyllable *complex monosyllable **from disyllable **from sesquisyllable *simple monosyllable **from disyllable **from sesquisyllable **from complex monosyllable However,

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and w ...

(2019) argues that Proto-Sino-Tibetan did not have

sesquisyllabic Primarily in Austroasiatic languages (also known as Mon–Khmer), in a typical word a minor syllable is a reduced (minor) syllable followed by a full tonic or stressed syllable. The minor syllable may be of the form or , with a reduced vowel, as ...

structure; instead, sesquisyllabicity in present-day Sino-Tibetan branches had been borrowed from

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 ...

due to typological convergence.

Verbs

According to many authors such as James Bauman,

George van Driem George "Sjors" van Driem (born 1957) is a Dutch linguist associated with the University of Bern, where he is the chair of Historical Linguistics and directs the Linguistics Institute. Education * Leiden University, 1983–1987 (PhD, ''A Grammar ...

and

, a system of verbal agreement should be reconstructed for proto-Tibeto-Burman. Verbal agreement has disappeared in Chinese, Tibetan, Lolo-Burmese and most other branches, but was preserved in

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 Kir ...

in particular. This is a topic of scholarly debate, however, and the existence of a PTB verbal agreement system is disputed by such authors as

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 ...

Prefixes

Matisoff postulates the following derivational prefixes. * *s- — This prefix is used for the ''directive, causative, or intensive''. It also appears in words for animals and body parts. * *ʔa- / *(ʔ)ə / *ʔə̃ / *ʔaŋ / *ʔak — This glottal prefix is used for ''kinship functions'' and the ''third person possessive''. * *m- — Before verb roots, this prefix signifies ''inner-directed states or actions'', such as stativity, intrasitivity, durativity, and reflexivity. Before noun roots, it is used as a third person possessive prefix. * *r- — Before verbs, this prefix is used as a "''directive''." It is also used before a wide variety of semantically unrelated noun roots. * *b- — This prefix is often used before ''transitive verbs'', and usually marks the past (with suffix *-s, creating a *b- -s

circumfix A circumfix (abbreviated ) (also confix or ambifix) is an affix which has two parts, one placed at the start of a word, and the other at the end. Circumfixes contrast with prefixes, attached to the beginnings of words; suffixes, attached at the ...

) and future (with a null suffix). * *g- — This velar prefix has a ''third person pronominal function'' before noun roots. It is also used before a wide variety of semantically unrelated noun roots. Before verb roots, it is used for the ''present and future tenses''. In Proto-Lolo–Burmese, the unvoiced velar prefix *k- is used commonly used before ''animal names''. Other constructed prefixes include *l- and *d-.

Circumfixes

Circumfixes have also been reconstructed for Proto-Tibeto-Burman. In Written Tibetan, s- -n and s- -d are collective circumfixes used in kinship terms (Matisoff 2003:453).

Suffixes

According to Matisoff, three Proto-Tibeto-Burman dental suffixes, *-n, *-t, and *-s, are highly widespread, but their semantics are difficult to reconstruct (Matisoff 2003:439). The suffixes *-s, *-h, and *-ʔ are often developed into tones in many Tibeto-Burman languages, and are thus highly "tonogenetically potent" (Matisoff 2003:474). * *-n – This suffix has a variety of functions, including ''nominalizing'', ''transitivizing'', and ''collectivizing'' (or pluralizing). The nominalizing function is attested in Lepcha as -m or -n and in Written Tibetan as -n. The transitivizing form is rare, and has only been attested in Kanauri. Finally, the collectivizing/pluralizing function is found not only in many modern-day Tibeto-Burman languages but also in

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...

as well. * *-t – This suffix is used as a ''nominalizer''. It occurs in Jingpho as -t and Written Tibetan as -d. Other functions include ''verbalizing noun roots'' and making intransitive or stative verbs into ''transitive'' or ''causative'' ones (Matisoff 2003:457). In other cases, *-t appears to have no obvious function. The *-t suffix also occurs in

, but its semantic function is unclear. * *-s – Not easily distinguishable from *-t, this proto-suffix is preserved in written Tibetan, West Himalayish languages, Chepang,

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 ...

(as -ʔ) and some

. It can serve as a nominalizer (Qiang and Tibetan),

locative In grammar, the locative case ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...

, ''subordinator'' (Kuki-Chin languages), a ''stative, inner-directed, or "middle" meaning'' (Himalayish languages such as Kanauri), and

causative In linguistics, a causative ( abbreviated ) is a valency-increasing operationPayne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 173–186. that indicates that a subject either ...

(

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 ...

and

). * *-k – This velar suffix occurs in the Kukish languages and also in

. Its semantic function is still unknown. However, Pulleyblank assigns a ''distributive'' sense to the *-k suffix, but only in relation to ''pronominal'' forms (LaPolla 2003:26). * *ʔay – This proto-morpheme means "to go", and can be attached to various roots as a palatal suffix to signify ''motion away from the deictic center''. This fully syllabic proto-morpheme has now been grammaticalized and reduced to palatal offglides in modern-day Tibeto-Burman languages. * *ya / *za / *tsa / *dza – Meaning "child" or "little one", this proto-morpheme appears in Tibeto-Burman languages as a palatal suffix (-j), and has also been reconstructed in several ways. Its purpose is mainly

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...

. Matisoff (2003) also notes that high front vowels tend to be used for diminutive functions. * *-way / *-ray – This proto-copula can also appear as a palatal suffix (-j) and occurs in ''roots carrying abstract grammatical meanings'', such as articles, pronouns, and deictics (Matisoff 2003:487).

Vocabulary

Among other researchers, Paul K. Benedict and

have proposed reconstructed vocabulary items for Proto-Tibeto-Burman. Matisoff's Proto-Tibeto-Burman reconstruction is by far the most cited, and with his last version published in the final release of the '' Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus'' (2015).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. ''Allofams'' (a term coined by Matisoff to mean alternate proto-forms) are marked using ⪤.

Stable roots

Matisoff (2009) lists 47 stable Tibeto-Burman roots (i.e., etyma that have cognates widely distributed in branches throughout the family) and their Proto-Tibeto-Burman reconstructions. *Body parts (10 words): ''blood; bone; ear; eye; hair (body)/fur/feather; hand; nose; tail; tongue; tooth'' *Animals (5 words): ''animal; dog; fish; pig; snake'' *Numerals (6 words): ''three; four; five; six; eight; hundred'' *Natural objects and units of time (5 words): ''day (of 24 hours); fire; moon; smoke; sun/daytime'' *People and habitation (6 words): ''child/son; grandfather/elder brother; house; husband/male; man/person; name'' *Plants and ingestibles (2 words): ''medicine/juice/paint; poison'' *Pronouns (2 words): ''I (1st person); thou (2nd person)'' *Verbs (8 words): ''bitter; die; dream; eat; ill; kill; lick; steal'' *Abstract (3 words): ''copula; negative; negative imperative'' ;Body parts * *s-hywəy 'blood' (STEDT
230
* *s-rus ⪤ *m-rus ⪤ *g-rus 'bone' (STEDT
232
* *r-na 'ear' (STEDT
811
* *s-mik ⪤ *s-myak 'eye' (STEDT
33
* *mil ⪤ *mul 'hair (body)/fur/feather' (STEDT
363
* *l(y)ak ⪤ *dyak; k(r)ut'hand' (STEDT
377

712
* *may ⪤ *mey ⪤ *mi 'tail' (STEDT
1288
* *l(y)a ⪤ *lay ⪤ *ley 'tongue' (STEDT
621
* *g-na 'nose' (STEDT
803
* *swa; džway'tooth' (STEDT
632

635
;Animals * *sya-n 'animal/meat/flesh' (STEDT
571134
* *kʷəy 'dog' (STEDT
1764
* *ŋ(y)a 'fish' (STEDT
1455
* *pʷak 'pig' (STEDT
1006
* *s-b-ruːl 'snake/vermin' (STEDT
2623
;Numerals * *g-sum 'three' (STEDT
2666
* *b-ləy 'four' (STEDT
2409
* *b-ŋa ⪤ *l-ŋa 'five' (STEDT
2623
* *d-k-ruk 'six' (STEDT
2621
* *b-r-gyat ⪤ *b-g-ryat 'eight' (STEDT
2259
* *b-r-gya 'hundred' (STEDT
2258
;Natural objects and units of time * *r(y)ak 'day (24 hours)/spend the night' (STEDT
2636
* *mey; bar ⪤ *par'fire' (STEDT
2136

2152
* *s-la ⪤ *g-la 'moon/month' (STEDT
1016
* *kəw ⪤ *kun ⪤ *kut 'smoke' (STEDT
2361
* *nəy 'sun/daytime' (STEDT
85
;People and habitation * *tsa ⪤ *za 'child/son' (STEDT
2727
* *bəw ⪤ *pəw 'grandfather/elder brother' (STEDT
2582
* *k-yim ⪤ *k-yum 'house' (STEDT
1612
* *pʷa 'husband/male' (STEDT
1612
* *r-mi(y) 'human/person' (STEDT
1002
* *r-miŋ; s-braŋ'name' (STEDT
2450

2169
;Plants and ingestibles * *tsəy; s-man'medicine/paint/juice' (STEDT
5427

5434
* *duk ⪤ *tuk 'poison' (STEDT
2530
;Pronouns * *ŋa-y; ka-y'1st person' (STEDT
2530
* *naŋ ⪤ *na '2nd person' (STEDT
2489
;Verbs * *ka-n 'bitter' (STEDT
229
* *səy 'die' (STEDT
27
* *r-maŋ 'dream' (STEDT
126
* *dzya 'eat' (STEDT
36
* *na ⪤ *nan ⪤ *nat 'ill' (STEDT
160
* *g-sat 'kill' (STEDT
1018
* *m-lyak; *s-lyam 'lick/tongue' (STEDT
629
* *r-kəw 'steal' (STEDT
2365
;Abstract * *way ⪤ *ray 'copula' (STEDT
1821
* *ma 'negative' (STEDT
2436
* *ta ⪤ *da 'negative imperative' (STEDT
2681

Reconstructed branches

Proto-language In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unattes ...

reconstructions for Tibeto-Burman branches include: *Proto- TGTM (Mazaudon 1994)
list
*Proto- Tibetic (Tournadre 2014Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.) (

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...

) *Proto- Western Tibetan (Backstrom 1994) (

) *Proto-

(Michailovsky 1991; Opgenort 2011; Jacques 2017)
list 1list 2list 3
*Proto-

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 ...

(several proto-forms reconstructed by Widmer 2014, 2017) (

) *Proto- Dura (several proto-forms reconstructed by Schorer 2016) (

) *Proto-Himalayish ncestral proto-language of Kiranti, Magar, and Kham(Watters 2002) *Proto-

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 ...

(Watters 2002Watters, David E. 2002. ''A grammar of Kham, Cambridge grammatical descriptions''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ) (

) *Proto- Siangic (Post & Blench 2011) (

) *Proto- Puroik (Lieberherr 2015Lieberherr, Ismael. 2015. A progress report on the historical phonology and affiliation of Puroik
North East Indian Linguistics (NEIL), 7
Canberra, Australian National University: Asia-Pacific Linguistics Open Access.) (

) *Proto- Hrusish (Bodt & Lieberherr 2015) (

) *Proto- Tani (Sun 1993)
list
*Proto-

East Bodish 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 * ...

(Hyslop 2014) (

) *Proto- Central Naga o(Bruhn 2014)
list
*Proto-

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 ...

(Mortensen 2012)
list
*Proto-

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 ...

(VanBik 2009)
list
*Proto- Bodo–Garo (Joseph & Burling 2006; Wood 2008) (

) *Proto- Northern Naga onyak(French 1983)
list
*Proto- Luish (Huziwara 2012; Matisoff 2013) (

) *

Proto-Karenic Proto-Karenic or Proto-Karen is the reconstructed ancestor of the Karenic languages. Reconstruction The foundation of the reconstruction of Proto-Karen was laid by André-Georges Haudricourt in 1946, with revisions in 1953 and 1975. Haudricour ...

(Jones 1961; Luangthongkum 2013, 2019)
list
*Proto- Rma (Sims 2017Sims, Nathaniel. 2017. ''The suprasegmental phonology of proto-Rma (Qiang) in comparative perspective''. Presented at the 50th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Beijing, China.)
list
*Proto- Prinmi (Sims 2017)
list
*Proto- Ersuic (Yu 2012Yu, Dominic. 2012.
Proto-Ersuic
'. Ph.D. dissertation. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Department of Linguistics.) (

) *Proto- Naish (Jacques & Michaud 2011) (

) *Proto- Lolo-Burmese (Matisoff 2003)
list
*

Proto-Loloish Proto-Loloish is the reconstructed ancestor of the Loloish languages. Reconstructions include those of David Bradley (1979), James Matisoff (2003), and Ziwo Lama (2012). In later publications, in place of ''Loloish'', David Bradley instead use ...

(Bradley 1979)
list
*Proto- Bai (Wang 2006) (

) *Proto- Tujia (Zhou 2020Zhou, Yulou. 2020
Proto-Bizic: A Study of Tujia Historical Phonology
B.A. honors thesis, Stanford University.)
list

References

*Bauman, James. 1975. Pronouns and pronominal morphology in Tibeto-Burman. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. * * * * * *

Book reviews

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External links

The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus

STEDT database

STEDT Proto-Tibeto-Burman reconstructionsSino-Tibetan Branches Project (STBP)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Proto-Tibeto-Burman Language Tibeto-Burman languages

Tibeto-Burman 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 spea ...