A rare case of a
Tibeto-Burman society in Southeast Asia that converted to Theravada Buddhism, the Phunoy constitute an illustrative example of how Buddhist and animist ideas continue to correspond to and complement each other.
Furthermore, a Sino-Burmese scholar named Chen Yi-Sein who taught at Rangoon University and was a member of the Burma Historical Commission from 1956 to 1987, identified the Pyu of Taungdwingyi, central Burma, being the Dravidian speakers, contradicting the popular version that the Pyu were the
Tibeto-Burman speakers.
Rautes who wish to remain full-time foragers and not assimilate into the surrounding farming population speak a language known as
Tibeto-Burman. There are very few nomadic forest tribes left on Earth and they continue to protect their traditional way of life in balance with nature and their right to roam in the forests they depend on.
see LaPolla 1992, 1995 for an overview of case marking in
Tibeto-Burman, and LaPolla 2003 for Qiang; Chelliah 1997, 2009 for Meithei; Coupe 2007, 2011a, 2011b for Mongsen Ao; Hyslop 2010 for Kurtop; Lidz 2011 for Yongning Na, Morey 2012 for Singpho; Peterson 2011 for Khumi, Teo 2012 for Sumi, Tournadre 1991 for Tibetan, and Willis 2011 for Darma, among others).
Throughout this period of military administration, the central government has worked at building a nation out of the many ethnic groups in terms of religion, Theravada Buddhism, and race, fair-skinned
Tibeto-Burman. The Rohingya are dark-skinned, South Asian Muslims.
Two-thirds of Burma's population are Bamar, whose
Tibeto-Burman ancestors migrated south via river valleys to the lowland plains.
SVO, as opposed to typical
Tibeto-Burman SOV word order), their uniqueness as a Tibeto-Burman-speaking group that uses longhouses should not be surprising, since traits in both language and culture that depart from the pattern common to other
Tibeto-Burman groups can be explained as products of borrowing.
For a better relative comparison, etymological equivalents in some other languages (Uralic and
Tibeto-Burman, as suggested by some other scholars) are cited according to the relevant etymological dictionaries UEW and CD5ST (1996).
Indian languages represent all four families of languages, including Indo-European (Spanish, English, Hindi, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian, German, Marathi, French, Italian, Punjabi, and Urdu, of which five languages are native to India), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, and
Tibeto-Burman. Diversities make India a land of perpetual contest between different castes, classes, religious groups and ethno-linguistic fragments.
Some have their origins in the
Tibeto-Burman and southeast Asian regions.
Comparative historical linguistics of the
Tibeto-Burman languages is a very new field compared to that of larger and better known language families, and some of the extinct languages are barely known.
Ethnic groups (2005 Census identified 49 ethnic groups): Tai-Kadai language family (6 ethnic groups)--65% Austro-Asiatic (Mon-Khmer and Viet-Muong) language family (30 ethnic groups)--24% Hmong-Yao (2 ethnic groups)--8%;
Tibeto-Burman (8 ethnic groups)--3%; other ethnic groups (including Vietnamese and Chinese)--0.9%.
Past studies have shown similar findings in the Indian subcontinent among the speakers of
Tibeto-Burman and among the immigrant Indo-European languages as opposed to indigenous Dravidian languages.
(21) lcps- u beat-3O 'He beats him.' (22) ka- lcm 2-beat 'He beats you.' (23) a- lcm-ma 1-beat-1SGO 'He beats me.' (24) lcm- ch-u beat- DLA-3O 'They beat him.' The zero marking for third person singular subject or agent is a widespread phenomenon in the
Tibeto-Burman languages.
South Coblin), evidence from major Chinese dialects, and "etymology," which for early Chinese means likely cognates or comparanda from
Tibeto-Burman languages.
