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

doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1153-z

. 2019 May;569(7754):112-115.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1153-z. Epub 2019 Apr 24.

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

Menghan Zhang^#^{1

2}, Shi Yan^#^{3

4}, Wuyun Pan^{5

6}, Li Jin^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Institute of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
³ Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Institute for Humanities and Social Science Data, School of Data Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Institute of Linguistics, College of Humanities and Communications, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. lijin@fudan.edu.cn.
⁸ Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. lijin@fudan.edu.cn.
⁹ Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, China. lijin@fudan.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 31019300
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1153-z

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

Menghan Zhang et al. Nature. 2019 May.

. 2019 May;569(7754):112-115.

doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1153-z. Epub 2019 Apr 24.

Authors

Menghan Zhang^#^{1

2}, Shi Yan^#^{3

4}, Wuyun Pan^{5

6}, Li Jin^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Institute of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
³ Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Department of Anthropology and Human Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Institute for Humanities and Social Science Data, School of Data Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Institute of Linguistics, College of Humanities and Communications, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. lijin@fudan.edu.cn.
⁸ Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. lijin@fudan.edu.cn.
⁹ Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, China. lijin@fudan.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 31019300
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1153-z

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 China^2-4, 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.

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Comment in

The origin and spread of the Sino-Tibetan language family.
LaPolla RJ. LaPolla RJ. Nature. 2019 May;569(7754):45-47. doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-01214-6. Nature. 2019. PMID: 31036967 No abstract available.

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References

1. Handel, Z. What is Sino-Tibetan? Snapshot of a field and a language family in flux. Lang. Linguist. Compass 2, 422–441 (2008). - DOI
1. LaPolla, R. J. in Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics (eds Dixon, R. M. W. & Aikhenvald, A. Y.) 225–254 (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2001).
1. Matisoff, J. A. Sino-Tibetan linguistics: present state and future prospects. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 20, 469–504 (1991). - DOI
1. LaPolla, R. J. & Thurgood, G. Sino-Tibetan Languages (Routledge, London, 2016). - DOI
1. van Driem, G. in The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics (eds Sagart, L. et al.) 81–106 (Routledge, London, 2005).

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[1] Handel, Z. What is Sino-Tibetan? Snapshot of a field and a language family in flux. Lang. Linguist. Compass 2, 422–441 (2008). - DOI

[2] Handel, Z. What is Sino-Tibetan? Snapshot of a field and a language family in flux. Lang. Linguist. Compass 2, 422–441 (2008). - DOI

[3] LaPolla, R. J. in Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics (eds Dixon, R. M. W. & Aikhenvald, A. Y.) 225–254 (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2001).

[4] LaPolla, R. J. in Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics (eds Dixon, R. M. W. & Aikhenvald, A. Y.) 225–254 (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 2001).

[5] Matisoff, J. A. Sino-Tibetan linguistics: present state and future prospects. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 20, 469–504 (1991). - DOI

[6] Matisoff, J. A. Sino-Tibetan linguistics: present state and future prospects. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 20, 469–504 (1991). - DOI

[7] LaPolla, R. J. & Thurgood, G. Sino-Tibetan Languages (Routledge, London, 2016). - DOI

[8] LaPolla, R. J. & Thurgood, G. Sino-Tibetan Languages (Routledge, London, 2016). - DOI

[9] van Driem, G. in The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics (eds Sagart, L. et al.) 81–106 (Routledge, London, 2005).

[10] van Driem, G. in The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics (eds Sagart, L. et al.) 81–106 (Routledge, London, 2005).

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

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

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