Once again on the history and validity of the Sino-Tibetan bifurcate model

Georg Orlandi (Osaka University; Italian School of East Asian Studies, Kyoto; thegaygenius@gmail.com)

Journal of Language Relationship, № 19/3-4, 2021 - p.263-292

Abstract: Sino-Tibetan is the hypothesis that postulates a bifurcate genetic relationship between Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman. The history of the subgrouping of its components as well as its overall membership are briefly though exhaustively summarized. Special attention is given to the methodological shortcomings of a recent Bayesian approach that further professes to substantiate this bifurcate Sino-Tibetan model. Future directions and broader affinities of Trans-Himalayan are also discussed.

Keywords: Trans-Himalayan family, Sino-Tibetan family, Bayesian inference, language subgrouping

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