SINO-TIBETAN LANGUAGES

漢藏語系
Tedo Menabde
General information
Sino-Tibetan is one of the primary language families of the world. By the number of
speakers it is the second-largest after Indo-European family. It proposes that some of the
biggest East Asian linguistic groups, notably Tibetan, Chinese and Burmese languages, are
genetically related to each-other and share a common ancestor, Proto-Sino Tibetan (PST).

Figure 1. Yang-shao culture (Wikipedia)
even older).
Origins
There remains considerable disagreement about the
time period and homeland of PST. In classical literature,
the unified Sino-Tibetan speaking people are associated
with the Yang-Shao culture, which originated in the
Yellow River Valley (central China)1. Other possible areas
of origin include the Himalayan Plateau, where the great
rivers of southeastern and eastern Asia have their source;
the modern Sichuan province and Central China between
Yellow and Yangtze rivers2. Due to linguistic diversity of
Sino-Tibetan language family, it is assumed that PST must
have been at least as old as Proto-Indo-European (if not

The first split that happened between the Sino-Tibetans was likely the division between
Sinitic (Chinese) and Tibeto-Burman groups 3. The Tibeto-Burman peoples began spreading
southwards along the great rivers of southeastern Asia, however they penetrated into
peninsular Southeast Asia only in the middle of 1 st millennium A.D. Here they made contact
with local Austronesian and Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic) languages. Similar to Tibeto-
Burman group, Tai speakers also migrated from the north, making the region even more
linguistically diverse. The last to arrive on the territory south of China were Hmong-Mien
people, most of whom still live in southern China to this day 4.

Distribution and Subgroups

Currently Sino-Tibetan Languages are found in China, Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal,
Bhutan, Northern India, Laos and Vietnam (see the map for details). The most spoken
language of the family is Han Chinese ( 汉 语 ， 普 通 话 ). It is also the language with the

1
Routledge: The Sino-Tibetan Languages p.3
2
What is Sino-Tibetan? Snapshot of a Field and a Language Family in Flux-Zev Handel p.423
3
see source 2 p.3
4
The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus: The Sino-Tibetan Language Family
biggest amount of native speakers in the world (921
million). Han Chinese is the official language of
People’s Republic of China and partially recognized
Democratic Republic of China aka Taiwan.

Essentially, Sino-Tibetan language family is

divided into two major branches: Sinitic/Chinese and
Tibeto-Burman. Yet there are few languages that do
not fall into either of these wider divisions (Bai and,
to a lesser degree, Tangut)5.

Officially the languages within the Sinitic branch Figure 2. The distribution of Sino-Tibetan
languages (Wikipedia)
are considered mere “dialects” by PRC. However,
Figure 4. Benedict
linguistically they are mutually unintelligible enough
to be considered separate languages. Yet it is rather difficult to differentiate a dialect from a
full-fledged language, since some dialects of the same group can still be mutually
unintelligible. Sinitic branch traditionally consists of Northern Chinese ( 北 方 话 / 北 方 話 ),
Xiang (湘), Gan (赣/贛), Wu (吴/吳), Yue (粤/粵), Hakka/Kejia (客家) and Min (闽/閩) dialect
groups. However after 1930’s three more dialect groups have been identified: Jin (晋/晉), Hui
(徽) and Pinghua, spoken in Guangxi (平话/平話)6.

As seen on the map, southern China is much more diverse

when it comes to languages compared to the north. All of the
modern Sinitic languages (with the exception of Min dialects)
have evolved from Middle Chinese language, spoken during
the second half of the 1st millennium A.D. Linguistic research
has also led to the discovery of an even older language, Old
Chinese, spoken during the early Zhou dynasty at the
beginning of the first millennium B.C 7, but also attested
during the Shang dynasty.

Tibeto-Burmese branch is much more difficult to research

due to the large number of languages it encompasses. It is not
as uniform as the Sinitic
Figure 3. The Sinitic Languages
branch and includes
hundreds of languages and dialects. There are
approximately 400 Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Southern China and its neighbouring
5
Routledge: The Sino-Tibetan Languages p.6
6
synchrony and diachrony of sinitic languages: a brief history of Chinese dialects by Hilary Chappell p.4-5
7
The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus-The Sino-Tibetan Language Family
areas. Due to such diversity there are multiple theories about which languages share closer
genetic relationship. Linguist Zev Handel lists these categorisations:

1) Paul K. Benedict: Karen, Burmese-Lolo,

Tibeto-Kanuri, etc. (fig.4). Benedict focuses
more on the relationship between the
languages rather than historical relation
between them. He considered
Kachin/Jingphaw the central language both
geographically and typologically. That is
why he does not provide us with a
traditional tree-style scheme8.
2) James Matisoff: Kamarupan, Himalaysh,
Qiangic, Jingpho-Nungish-Luish, Lolo-
Burmese-Naxi, Karenic, Baic. (fig.5)
3) Graham Thurgood: Lolo-Burmese, Bodic
(including Tibetan), Bodo-Konyak-
Jinghpaw (which he grouped after the
word ‘sal’ meaning sun in these languages),
Kuki-Chin-Naga, Rung, Karenic.
4) Sun Hongkai, who, like most Chinese Figure 5. Matisoff
scholars, includes Hmong-Mien and Tai-
Kadai languages in the ST family: Tibetan-
Himalayish, Bodo-Naga-Chin, Qiang-
Jingphaw, Lolo-Burmese and Karenic.
5) George van Driem: Baric-Sal-Kamarupan,
Sinitic, Himalayish-Bodic, Lolo-Burmese,
Karenic, Qiang-Rung. (fig.6)
Figure 6. Van Driem
As stated before, the position of Baic in the
family is still questionable: Some classify it as
Sinitic, others-Tibeto-Burman. There are some who even separate it as a distinct group or a
family isolate.

Lolo-Burmese
This branch is the most well-defined group of Tibeto-Burman languages and is included in
all classifications of ST languages. It is divided into two smaller language groups: Burmish

8
What is Sino-Tibetan? Snapshot of a Field and a Language Family in Flux-Zev Handel p.427
and Loloish/Yi. Burmese is one of the well-attested languages in the whole family due to the
fact that it has a writing system (abugida). Burmish branch consists of 6 languages, including,
obviously, Burmese (official language of Myanmar).

Similar to Burmese, northern Loloish Nuosu language (Yi) language also has an indigenous
script (a syllabary derived from a logography). Loloish languages are much more numerous
and spread over a bigger territory. In China six Yi languages have official recognition: Nuosu
(Northern Yi-a prestige language of northern Yi people), Lalo (Western Yi), Lolopo (central
Yi), Nisu (Southern Yi), Sani (Southeastern Yi) and Nasu (Eastern Yi). Traditionally Lolo
languages have been divided into northern and southern branches. However another
divisions exists: Northern, Central, Southern and Southwestern.

Proto-Lolo-Burmese has abundance of borrowings from Mon-Khmer language group.

Burmese has a significant Mon influence. All the Loloish languages show Mon-Khmer
influence and some Chinese influence, with those Loloish languages now located in Thailand
containing numerous Thai loanwords9.

Karenic
Karenic languages are spoken by the Karen people
in the borderlands of Myanmar and Thailand.
Generally they are written using adapted Burmese
script. Unlike Lolo-Burmese branch, Karenic
languages have an uncommon SVO word order,
which sets it apart from regional ST languages. This is
most likely due to the fact that it neighbours two SVO
language families: Mon-Khmer and Tai-Kadai. There
is also quite a big amount of loanwords from those
two10. Some linguists assume that Karen’s such Figure 7. Areas where Karen languages are
spoken
divergence is only due to the influence of other
languages and it shouldn’t be taken as a sign of Karenic branching off earlier from Proto-
Tibeto-Burman (like Paul K. Benedict did in fig.4)11.

Karen languages are divided into four groups: Northern (Pa’o), Central, Southern (Pwo
and Sgaw Karen) and Padaung. Sgaw Karen has over a million speakers and is the most
spoken Karenic language. Other than Sgaw, Pa’o and Pwo are also widely spoken.

9
Routledge: The Sino-Tibetan Languages p.9
10
see source 9 p.18
11
The Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus-The Sino-Tibetan Language Family
Bodic/Tibetic Languages
Bodic (also included in Tibeto-Kanauri and Western
Tibeto-Burman) is a large group of languages spoken in
Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan and some central
provinces of China. The term ‘Bodic’ originates from
Tibetan endonym ‘Bod’. Bodic branch unifies Tibetan
Dialects (Central/Ü-Tsang, Western Archaic dialects,
Western Innovative dialects and Southern), the Tamang-
Gurung-Thakali-Manang languages (abbreviated as
TGTM) and Takpa12. Graham Thurgood also includes
Figure 8. 'Bod' written in Tibetan script
Tshangla into this group under the category “others”.

This branch also includes classical Tibetan, which has an abundance of written sources.
Officially recognized languages of the Bodic group are Standard Tibetan (based on Central
and Lhasa Tibetan dialects) in China and Dzongkha (southern Tibetan branch) in the
kingdom of Bhutan.

The majority of Bodic languages are written using the Tibetan script-an abugida based on
a Brahmic writing system (particularly the Gupta Script). Tshangla also uses Tibetan writing
system. The TGMT languages, which are spoken predominantly in Nepal, mostly use
Devanagari in writing. Takpa is also written with the Tibetan abugida.

“Without exception, all members of the Tibetan group listed above share the innovation
of a second person pronoun *khyot ‘thou’ and, although the reconstruction leaves much to be
desired, the innovation of a third person singular, roughly *kho.”- Graham Thurgood

TGTM and Takpa share the innovation of the second person pronoun with the Tibetan
group. This became the main reason why they are included in the Bodic branch. As for
Tshangla, it has an innovated the first person pronoun, but not the second. This is the reason
why some linguists avoid grouping it into Bodic branch, says Thurgood.

The ‘Sal’ Languages (Bodo-Konyak-Jingphaw / Brahmaputran

languages)
Robbins Burling has created this group based on multiple lexical similarities, particularly
the innovation of sal ‘sun’. That is also where the name of this language group comes from. It
is divided into three branches: Bodo-Koch (Bodo, Garo and Koch languages), Konyak
languages and Jingphaw languages (two of which are extinct).

12
Routledge: The Sino-Tibetan Languages p.10
 Jingphaw language is spoken by Kachin people, the largest subset of which are the
Jingphaw ethnic group. They inhabit the Kachin state of Myanmar, a small part of Yunnan
Province in China and Arunachal Pradesh State of India. A significant number of Kachin
people are bilingual in their mother tongue as well as a Burmish language (mostly Zaiwa).
Jingphaw has a large amount of borrowings from Burmese and its relatives. It is written with
a Latin alphabet developed by Baptist missionaries and is considered to have the simplest
orthography compared to its relatives.

Bodoic languages are spoken in Assam province of India. The most spoken one is
Boro/Bodo with its 1.4 million speakers and has an official status in Bodoland Territorial
Region of Assam. Bodo is written using Devanagari. Initially the regional government
wanted to use a Latin alphabet to avoid Assamese dominance, however this proposal was
denied by the central government with the argument that Latin alphabet was foreign. This is
the reason why Bodo uses Devanagari.

Garo language is spoken by over a million of

ethnic Garos in the Garo Hills district of
Meghalaya state as well as parts of Assam and
Bangladesh. It has an official status and is
written with a Latin alphabet. However initially
Bengali script was used. Unlike other sal
languages, Garo lacks tones.
Figure 9. Note: This tree is missing Konyak languages
The
four Koch languages are a part of Bodo-
Koch/Bodo-Garo branch of Sal languages. This group consists of four languages: Koch, Atong,
Ruga and Rabha. Ruga language is currently either extinct or nearly extinct (according to
2003 census, only 100 people spoke Ruga). Among Koch languages, Atong is the most spoken
one (more than 130,000 speakers by 2011 census). Koch proper is spoken in Bangladesh and
northeastern India-Assam and neighbouring territories.

The Konyak languages are spoken by Naga ethnic groups in northeastern India and
neighbouring territories in Myanmar. Approximately, Nagas speak over 89 languages and
dialects. The Nagas in India are predominantly concentrated in the state of Nagaland. In
Myanmar, Nagas live in the Naga Self-Administered Zone, which borders Nagaland. The
dominant among the Konyak languages is the Konyak proper. Konyak itself has more than 30
dialects with Tableng being the standard. It is noteworthy that not all Nagas speak languages
that are of the same branch in the Sino-Tibetan language family.
The Kuki-Chin-Naga Branch
This language group is located in the most diverse linguistic environment-The Indo-
Burman border. Kuki-Chin-Naga languages are spread south of the Sal language group. It is
divided into following Branches:

- The Ao group/Central Naga consists of four languages and are spoken approximately
by 600,000 various Naga people in Nagaland.
- The Angami–Pochuri group consisting of 5 Angami and 4 Pochuri languages. This
branch, like the Ao languages, are often categorized as Naga languages. This is due to
the fact that they are spoken my numerous Naga ethnic groups.
- The Zemeic group/Western Naga consisting of 7 languages (including Zeme proper)
- Tangkhul–Maring group consisting of 6 Tangkhul and 2 Maring languages.
- The Mizo-Kuki-Chin/South-Central Tibeto-Burman consisting of 50 or so languages is
divided into two branches: Chin (Northern, Central including Mizo and Southern) and
Kuki (8 languages/dialects).
- Karbi/Arleng-Questionable Naga languages. Categorization remains vague.
- Meithei-Similar to Karbi, categorization of this language is not clear.

Rung Branch
This branch was proposed by linguist Randy LaPolla on the basis of morphological
evidence such as pronominal paradigms. However currently the Rung branch is not widely
accepted. It unites up to seven language groups:

- Gyalrongic/rGyalrongic languages spoken in Sichuan. This group consists of seven

languages, five of which belong to the Gyalrongic proper (Situ, Japhug, Tshobdun, Zbu
and south-central Gyalrong). Others are Khroskyabs and Horpa dialectal clusters. This
branch is often classified as Qiangic. The Gyalrongic proper is written using the
Tibetan script. The name Gyalrong is an abbreviation of Tibetan ཤར་རྒྱལ་མོ་ཚ་བ་རོང shar rgyal-
mo tsha-ba rong “Eastern Queen’s Fever Ravine”, which used to be a historical
province of Kham, one of Tibetan traditional regions. Currently it is located in Sichuan
(as mentioned above). Gyalrongic languages have major Tibetan and Chinese
influences in vocabulary.
- Nungish languages spoken in Yunnan and northern Myanmar. Nungish group consists
of three languages: Derung (Dulong), Rawang and Nung (Anong).
- Kiranti language cluster, spoken in northwestern India and Nepal by Kiranti people.
The Kiranti people are often associated with Kirātas mentioned in Vedic literature.
The genetic connection between approximately 32 languages/dialects is not entirely
definite due to lack of evidence and multiple other factors. “Contact influence has
 played a significant role in shaping these languages. Most of these are endangered – by
contact; all are heavily influenced by Nepali. The languages themselves seem to be the
result of relatively recent migration into the area and share features with languages
outside the geographical area13”.
- Kinauri-Almora group (also called West Himalayish) is a group consisting of two
branches: Kinauri and Almora. Kinauri branch consists of 12/13 languages, Almora
branch has four.
- Unclassified languages: Kham, Magar and Chepang

Qiangic Languages
This subgroup of Tibeto-Burman languages is quite complex and not yet fully understood
by linguists. The most evidential members of this branch are Qiang and Prinmi languages.
There are multiple other languages that often get classified as Qiangic. Some consider Qiang
to be related with rGyalong due to lexical similarities, but it may be some other sort of a
linguistic relation than a genetic one. Qiangic languages have an influence of Chinese 14.

Other Minor Subgroups and Isolate/unclassified languages

- Tani languages are a group of 13 languages with unknown linguistic relation. They are
either related or have influenced each-other due to long contact.
- Sherdukpen-Bugun-Sulung-Lishpa group of four languages, of which Sulung is so hard
to classify some scholars even doubted whether it belonged to ST family in the first
place.
- Hrusish group of three languages
- The Idu-Digaru group of three languages
- The Miju/Kaman group with a single language
- The three unsubgrouped TB languages are Pyu, Naxi and Tujia

Pyu is an ancient extinct language that used to be spoken predominantly in northern

Burma, whereas southern Burma was a part of the Mon kingdom. “The former influence of
the Pyu is reflected in the fact that early Burmese inscriptions were occasionally written in
the Pyu script and in the references to them found in Chinese records of the time” 15.

The Naxi dialectal continuum is spoken by 350.000 Naxi and Mosuo people in Yunnan
and Tibet. Some linguists consider it to be a Loloish language, but some list it as a separate
branch “Naic”. Naic is further classified as either Lolo-Burmese, Qiangic or Burmo-Qiangic.

13
Routledge: The Sino-Tibetan Languages p.16
14
see 13 p.17
15
see 13 p.20
 Tujia consists of two mutually unintelligible “dialects” (northern and southern). It is
spoken by 70.000 ethnic Tujia (out of 8 million of them). Due to heavy influence of
neighbouring languages classification of Tujia remains a serious challenge.

The Bai language is still shrouded in mystery and linguists still can’t decide which group it
should belong to. Some classify it as Sinitic, others as Tibeto-Burman with heavy Sinitic
influence or even a separate, isolate branch in the family. “It has been difficult for scholars to
determine whether the similarities between Chinese and Bai reflect the results of long-term
contact or reflect inherited features, because Bai has been under the influence of both
Tibeto-Burman languages (for instance, Lisu, Yi, and Naxi) and Chinese.” 16

16
Routledge: The Sino-Tibetan Languages p.20