Geographic
distribution Arunachal Pradesh Glottolog koro1317 | Subdivisions Koro
Milang | |
Linguistic classification possibly Sino-Tibetan or an independent family | ||
The Siangic languages are a small family of possibly Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. They are Koro and Milang. The latter used to be classified as a divergent member of the Tani languages.
The Siangic languages have a large proportion of non-Sino-Tibetan core vocabulary. It is not yet clear whether this is a substrate in an otherwise Sino-Tibetan family, shared to a lesser extent with the Tani languages, or whether Siangic is an independent language family that has undergone extensive Sino-Tibetan influence.
Greater Siangic
Roger Blench (2014) proposes a Greater Siangic family that includes the Digaro languages (Idu Mishmi and Taraon) and Pre-Tani, the hypothetical substrate language branch of Tani before it became relexified by Sino-Tibetan.