Sinitic languages

The Sinitic languages[lower-alpha 1] (漢語族/汉语族), often synonymous with "Chinese languages", are a group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute the major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is a primary split between the Sinitic languages and the rest of the family (the Tibeto-Burman languages). This view is rejected by a number of researchers[4] but has found phylogenetic support among others.[5][6] The Greater Bai languages, whose classification is difficult, may be an offshoot of Old Chinese and thus Sinitic;[7] otherwise Sinitic is defined only by the many varieties of Chinese unified by a shared historical background, and usage of the term "Sinitic" may reflect the linguistic view that Chinese constitutes a family of distinct languages, rather than variants of a single language.[lower-alpha 2]

Not to be confused with Semitic languages.
For the sociolinguistic treatment of Chinese, see Varieties of Chinese. For other languages spoken in China, see Languages of China.
Sinitic
Chinese
EthnicitySinitic peoples
Geographic
distribution		Greater China, Singapore, Christmas Island, Han diaspora communities, Ferghana Valley (Uzbekistan) and Chu Valley (Kyrgyzstan) (Dungans), Russian Far East (Tazs)
Linguistic classificationSino-Tibetan
  • Sinitic
Proto-languageProto-Sinitic
Subdivisions
ISO 639-5zhx
Glottologsini1245  (Sinitic)
macr1275  (Macro-Bai)
Map of non-Bai Sinitic languages in China
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