Greater Siangic languages

Greater Siangic is a language grouping that includes the Siangic languages, Digaro languages (Idu Mishmi and Taraon) and Pre-Tani, the hypothetical substrate language branch of Tani before it became relexified by Sino-Tibetan. The Greater Siangic grouping was proposed by Roger Blench (2014), based on exclusively shared lexical items that had been noted by Modi (2013).^[1] Blench (2014) argues that Greater Siangic is an independent language family that has undergone areal influences from Sino-Tibetan languages, and is not a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family itself.

Greater Siangic
(proposed)
Geographic distribution	Arunachal Pradesh
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan? or an independent family
Subdivisions	Siangic Digaro Pre-Tani
Glottolog	None

Various lexical items exclusively shared by Milang, Koro, Taraon, and Idu have also been noted by Modi (2013).^[1] Modi (2013) suggests that Taraon could be closer to Milang than Idu is.

Languages

Blench (2014) lists the following languages in Greater Siangic.

• Greater Siangic
  • Pre-Tani
  • Idu-Taraon
  • Siangic
    • Koro
    • Milang

Sound correspondences

Modi (2013: 20-22)^[1] notes the following sound correspondences among Milang, Taraon, Idu, and Proto-Tani.

Milang	Taraon	Idu	Proto-Tani
-u	-a	-a	*-o
h-	s-
C-	Cl-	Cr-
c-	t-	t-

See also

• Greater Siangic comparative vocabulary list (Wiktionary)

References

1. Modi, Yankee. 2013. The nearest relatives of the Tani group. Paper presented at the 19th Himalayan Languages Symposium, Canberra, Australia.

• Blench, Roger (2014). Fallen leaves blow away: a neo-Hammarstromian approach to Sino-Tibetan classification. Presentation given at the University of New England, Armidale, 6 September 2014.
• Post, Mark W. and Roger Blench (2011). "Siangic: A new language phylum in North East India", 6th International Conference of the North East India Linguistics Society, Tezpur University, Assam, India, Jan 31 – Feb 2.