Siangic languages

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Not to be confused with Siang language.
Siangic
Geographic
distribution:
Arunachal Pradesh
Linguistic classification: possibly Sino-Tibetan or an independent family
Subdivisions:
Glottolog: koro1317[1]

The Siangic languages are a small family of possibly Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. They are Koro and Milang. The latter used to be classified as a divergent member of the Tani languages.

The Siangic languages have a large proportion of non-Sino-Tibetan core vocabulary. It is not yet clear whether this is a substrate in an otherwise Sino-Tibetan family, shared to a lesser extent with the Tani languages, or whether Siangic is an independent language family that has undergone extensive Sino-Tibetan influence.

Greater Siangic[edit]

Greater Siangic
(proposed)
Geographic
distribution:
Arunachal Pradesh
Linguistic classification: possibly Sino-Tibetan or an independent family
Subdivisions:
Glottolog: macr1268[1]
mish1241[2]

Roger Blench (2014) proposes a Greater Siangic family that includes the Digaro languages (Idu Mishmi and Taraon) and Pre-Tani, the hypothetical substrate language branch of Tani before it became relexified by Sino-Tibetan.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Koro–Holon". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Glottolog" defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Mishmic [Digaro]". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 

Bibliography[edit]

  • Post, Mark W. and Roger Blench (2011). "Siangic: A new language phylum in North East India", 6th International Conference of the North East India Linguistics Society, Tezpur University, Assam, India, Jan 31 – Feb 2.
  • Blench, Roger (2014). Fallen leaves blow away: a neo-Hammarstromian approach to Sino-Tibetan classification. Presentation given at the University of New England, Armidale, 6th September, 2014.