Sino-Tibetan languagesSino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3billion native speakers of Sinitic languages. Other Sino-Tibetan languages with large numbers of speakers include Burmese (33million) and the Tibetic languages (6million).Cai–Long languagesThe Cai–Long (Chinese: 蔡龙语支) or Ta–Li languages are a group of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in western Guizhou, China. Only Caijia is still spoken, while Longjia and Luren are extinct. The branch was first recognized by Chinese researchers in the 1980s, with the term Cai–Long (Chinese: 蔡龙语支) first mentioned in Guizhou (1982: 43). Cai–Long languages are primarily spoken in China's southern regions, particularly in China's southwest in Guizhou.Macro-Bai languagesThe Macro-Bai or simply Bai languages (Chinese: 白语支) are a putative group of Sino-Tibetan languages proposed in 2010 by the linguist Zhengzhang, who argued that Bai and Caijia are sister languages. In contrast, Sagart argues that Caijia and the Waxiang language of northwestern Hunan constitute an early split off from Old Chinese. Additionally, Longjia and Luren are two extinct languages of western Guizhou closely related to Caijia.Caijia languageCaijia (Chinese: 蔡家话) is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken in an area centred on Bijie, in the west of the Chinese province of Guizhou. It was first documented by Chinese researchers in the 1980s. It has been described by different authors as a relative of Bai or an early split from Old Chinese. The autonym is men³¹ni³³. According to Lu (2022), Caijia speakers in Xingfa 兴发乡, Hezhang County refer to their language as meŋ²¹ni³³ŋoŋ³³.
Old ChineseThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see .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 1250 BC, in the Late Shang period.Bai languageBai (Bai: Baip‧ngvp‧zix; simplified Chinese: 白语; traditional Chinese: 白語; pinyin: Báiyǔ; lit. 'white language') is a Sino-Tibetan 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 set of vowels and eight tones.
GuizhouProvince in Southwestern ChinaPlace in ChinaZhuang nameZhuangGveicouh贵州Bouyei nameBouyeiGvisxulYi nameYiꇭꍏGuizhou is an inland province in Southwestern China with its capital and largest city as Guiyang, located in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the south, Yunnan to the west, Sichuan to the northwest, the municipality of Chongqing to the north, and Hunan to the east. Guizhou has a humid subtropical climate.
Language classificationIn linguistics, language classification is the grouping of related languages into the same category. There are two main kinds of language classification: genealogical and typological classification. Genealogical (or genetic) classificationLanguages are grouped by diachronic relatedness into language families.
Manchu peopleThe Manchus are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Qing (1636–1912) dynasties of China were established and ruled by the Manchus, who are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in northern China.
Laurent SagartLaurent Sagart (French:; born 1951) is a senior researcher at the Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l'Asie orientale (CRLAO – UMR 8563) unit of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). BiographyBorn in Paris in 1951, he earned his Ph.D. in 1977 at the University of Paris 7 and his doctorat d'État in 1990 at University of Aix-Marseille 1. His early work focused on Chinese dialectology.List of unrecognized ethnic groups of GuizhouThere are dozens of ethnic groups in Guizhou province of China that are not officially recognized.
Waxiang ChineseWaxiang (simplified Chinese: 瓦乡话; traditional Chinese: 瓦鄉話; pinyin: Wǎxiānghuà; ɕioŋ˥tsa˧) is a divergent variety of Chinese, spoken by the Waxiang people, an unrecognized ethnic minority group in the northwestern part of Hunan province, China. Waxiang is a distinct language, and is very different from the surrounding Southwestern Mandarin, Xiang Chinese, and the Eastern Miao (Xong) languages. ClassificationWaxiang is widely considered a Chinese variety.
Appendix:Macro-Bai comparative vocabulary listRelated word or term.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.