Sinitic languages
| Sinitic | |
|---|---|
| Chinese | |
| Geographic distribution | East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, North Asia |
| Ethnicity | Sinitic peoples |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Sinitic |
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-5 | zhx |
| Glottolog | sini1245 (Sinitic)macr1275 (Macro-Bai) |
Map of Sinitic languages in China | |
The Sinitic languages[a] (simplified Chinese: 汉语族; traditional Chinese: 漢語族; pinyin: Hànyǔ zú), often synonymous with the Chinese languages, are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute a major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is a primary split between the Sinitic languages and the rest of the family (the Tibeto-Burman languages). This view is rejected by some researchers[4] but has found phylogenetic support among others.[5][6] The Macro-Bai languages, whose classification is difficult, may be an offshoot of Old Chinese and thus Sinitic;[7] otherwise, Sinitic is defined only by the many varieties of Chinese unified by a shared historical background, and usage of the term "Sinitic" may reflect the linguistic view that Chinese constitutes a family of distinct languages, rather than variants of a single language.[b]
- ^ Wang (2005), p. 107.
- ^ Wang (2005), p. 122.
- ^ Mair (1991), p. 3.
- ^ van Driem (2001), p. 351.
- ^ Zhang, Menghan; Yan, Shi; Pan, Wuyun; Jin, Li (2019). "Phylogenetic evidence for Sino-Tibetan origin in northern China in the Late Neolithic". Nature. 569 (7754): 112–115. Bibcode:2019Natur.569..112Z. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1153-z. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 31019300. S2CID 129946000.
- ^ Sagart et al. (2019).
- ^ van Driem (2001:403) states "Bái ... may form a constituent of Sinitic, albeit one heavily influenced by Lolo–Burmese."
- ^ Bradley (2012), p. 1.
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