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Phylogenetic evidence for Sino-Tibetan origin in northern China in the Late Neolithic

Author

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  • Menghan Zhang

    (Fudan University
    Fudan University)

  • Shi Yan

    (Fudan University
    Fudan University)

  • Wuyun Pan

    (Fudan University
    Shanghai Normal University)

  • Li Jin

    (Fudan University
    Fudan University
    CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS)

Abstract

The study of language origin and divergence is important for understanding the history of human populations and their cultures. The Sino-Tibetan language family is the second largest in the world after Indo-European, and there is a long-running debate about its phylogeny and the time depth of its original divergence1. Here we perform a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis to examine two competing hypotheses of the origin of the Sino-Tibetan language family: the ‘northern-origin hypothesis’ and the ‘southwestern-origin hypothesis’. The northern-origin hypothesis states that the initial expansion of Sino-Tibetan languages occurred approximately 4,000–6,000 years before present (bp; taken as ad 1950) in the Yellow River basin of northern China2–4, and that this expansion is associated with the development of the Yangshao and/or Majiayao Neolithic cultures. The southwestern-origin hypothesis states that an early expansion of Sino-Tibetan languages occurred before 9,000 years bp from a region in southwest Sichuan province in China5 or in northeast India6, where a high diversity of Tibeto-Burman languages exists today. Consistent with the northern-origin hypothesis, our Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of 109 languages with 949 lexical root-meanings produced an estimated time depth for the divergence of Sino-Tibetan languages of approximately 4,200–7,800 years bp, with an average value of approximately 5,900 years bp. In addition, the phylogeny supported a dichotomy between Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman languages. Our results are compatible with the archaeological records, and with the farming and language dispersal hypothesis7 of agricultural expansion in China. Our findings provide a linguistic foothold for further interdisciplinary studies of prehistoric human activity in East Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Menghan Zhang & Shi Yan & Wuyun Pan & Li Jin, 2019. "Phylogenetic evidence for Sino-Tibetan origin in northern China in the Late Neolithic," Nature, Nature, vol. 569(7754), pages 112-115, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:569:y:2019:i:7754:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1153-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1153-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Ping Che & Jianghu Lan, 2021. "Climate Change along the Silk Road and Its Influence on Scythian Cultural Expansion and Rise of the Mongol Empire," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Junru Wu & Junyuan Zhao, 2023. "Systematic correspondence in co-evolving languages," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Chi-Chun Liu & David Witonsky & Anna Gosling & Ju Hyeon Lee & Harald Ringbauer & Richard Hagan & Nisha Patel & Raphaela Stahl & John Novembre & Mark Aldenderfer & Christina Warinner & Anna Di Rienzo &, 2022. "Ancient genomes from the Himalayas illuminate the genetic history of Tibetans and their Tibeto-Burman speaking neighbors," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Hongdi Ding & Sicong Dong, 2023. "Elevation and fog-cloud similarity in Tibeto-Burman languages," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Sizhe Yang & Xiaoru Sun & Li Jin & Menghan Zhang, 2024. "Inferring language dispersal patterns with velocity field estimation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.

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