Wiktionary:About Proto-Sino-Tibetan

Proto-Sino-Tibetan (PST) is the reconstructed form for the, the second largest established language family in the world by the number of speakers. Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese are three of the earliest documented among all the descendants and arguably the three most important branches of this family. The reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan and its descendant proto-languages (Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB), Old Chinese (OC), etc.) is an area of active research. Major references include Benedict (1972), Coblin (1986), and Matisoff (2003).

Wiktionary follows chiefly the reconstructions in the Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) database, a project headed by Prof. James Matisoff, which in turn draws a large proportion of its content from Matisoff (2003). Minor conversions exist between the forms in STEDT and those in Wiktionary, the most important being IPA-notating all proto-forms in Wiktionary (e.g. STEDT 'y' = Wiktionary 'j'). In the absence of a hitherto-proposed reasonable PST reconstruction for an etymon, the "Proto-Tibeto-Burman" (PTB) forms in STEDT are temporarily taken as equivalent to the PST forms, as the Old Chinese form is often considered when postulating the PTB forms, for example PTB.

Words
See Category:Proto-Sino-Tibetan roots.

Phylogeny

 * Old Chinese
 * Middle Chinese
 * Modern Mandarin
 * Beijing
 * Jin
 * Wu
 * Shanghai
 * Xiang
 * Gan
 * Hakka
 * Cantonese
 * Guangzhou
 * Min
 * Amoy
 * Kamarupan
 * North Assam
 * Tani
 * Deng
 * Kuki-Chin
 * Peripheral Chin
 * Northern Chin
 * Southern Plains Chin
 * Central Chin
 * Maraic
 * "Old Kuki"
 * "Naga"
 * Northern Naga
 * Central Naga (Ao Group)
 * Angami-Pochuri Group
 * Zeme Group
 * Tangkhulic
 * Meithei
 * Mikir
 * Mru
 * Bodo-Garo = Barish
 * Chairel
 * Himalayish
 * Tibeto-Kanauri
 * Western Himalayish
 * Bodic
 * Tibetan
 * Written Tibetan
 * Lepcha
 * Tamangic
 * Dhimal
 * Newar
 * Mahakiranti
 * Kham-Magar-Chepang-Sunwar
 * Kiranti
 * Eastern Kiranti = Rai
 * Western Kiranti
 * Tangut-Qiang
 * Tangut
 * Qiangic
 * rGyalrongic
 * Jingpho-Nung-Asakian
 * Jingpho
 * Nungic
 * Asakian
 * Tujia
 * Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
 * Lolo-Burmese
 * Burmish
 * Written Burmese
 * Loloish
 * Northern Loloish
 * Central Loloish
 * Southern Loloish
 * Naxi
 * Karenic
 * Bai

Old Chinese
Two reconstructions of Old Chinese should be listed: Baxter-Sagart (2014) (abbrev. B-S) and Zhengzhang (2003) (abbrev. ZS), when these exist.

Reconstruction by Baxter-Sagart (2014)
Base consonants

Vowels

Codas

 * -m, -n, -ŋ, -l/-i, -w, -ø
 * -b, -d, -g, -wɢ/-ug, -q/-ʔ, -s/-h

Written Tibetan
Allowed initials in Written Tibetan and their pronunciations in Modern Lhasa dialect:

Written Burmese
See Burmese transliteration.

Participants

 * User:Wyang