The original language, or rather, cluster of dialects, from which descend the Sino-Tibetan family of languages, to include Tibeto-Burman group and the various Chinese languages; the exact phylogenetic relationships remain subject to scholarly debate
Superfamily of languages whose two branches are the Sinitic or Chinese languages and the Tibeto-Burman family, an assemblage of several hundred very diverse languages spoken by about 65 million people from northern Pakistan east to Vietnam, and from the Tibetan plateau south to the Malay Peninsula. Western Tibeto-Burman languages include Tibetan and the Bodish and Himalayan languages, spoken mainly in Nepal. Tibeto-Burman languages of northeastern India include the Bodo-Garo languages (spoken in Assam) and the northern Naga languages of Nagaland; perhaps allied to these is Jinghpaw (Jingpo), spoken in northern Myanmar. Kuki-Chin and southern Naga languages are spoken in eastern India, eastern Bangladesh, and western Myanmar. Central Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken mainly in Arunachal Pradesh in India and in adjacent parts of China and Myanmar; they include Lepcha, an official language of Sikkim. Northeastern Tibeto-Burman comprises a heterogeneous group of languages spoken in western Sichuan and northwestern Yunnan in China. Burmese-Lolo, a geographically wide-ranging subgroup, includes Burmese, the national language of Myanmar (Burma). Loloish languages include the speech of the Yi or Lolo of Yunnan as well as several languages spread over Yunnan and parts of Southeast Asia, including Lahu and Akha. Karen, spoken by the Karen of Myanmar and Thailand, forms a distinct subgroup. Tibetan and Burmese are the only Tibeto-Burman languages with long literary traditions. Burmese is written in an adaptation of the Mon script (see Mon-Khmer languages)
A form of Mahayana Buddhism with an admixture of indigenous animism that is practiced in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, and neighboring areas. Form of Mahayana Buddhism that evolved from the 7th century in Tibet. Based on Madhyamika and Yogacara philosophies, it incorporates the rituals of Vajrayana, the monastic disciplines of early Theravada, and the shamanistic features of Bon. The predominant Tibetan sect for the past three centuries has been Dge-lugs-pa. Its spiritual head is the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan canon is divided into the Bka'-'gyur ("Translation of the Word"), consisting of canonical texts translated mostly from Sanskrit, and Bstan-'gyur ("Transmitted Word"), consisting of commentaries by Indian masters. After the Chinese communist takeover in 1959, Tibetans began a massive emigration that has spread Tibetan Buddhism around the globe
Sino-Tibetan language spoken by more than five million people in Tibet (Xizang), Qinghai, Sichuan, and Gansu provinces in China; Bhutan; northern Nepal; and the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan. Since the occupation of Tibet by China in 1959, enclaves of Tibetan speakers have dispersed to India and other parts of the world. Spoken Tibetan comprises a very diverse range of dialects, conventionally divided into several groups: Western, including Balti and Ladakhi in Jammu and Kashmir; Central, including the speech of Lhasa and most of the Nepalese dialects (including Sherpa); Southern, including the dialects of Sikkim and Bhutan; Khams, or Southeastern, including the dialects of the interior plateau, southern Qinghai, eastern Tibet, and parts of western Sichuan; and Amdo or Northeastern, including the dialects of northern Qinghai, southern Gansu, and northern Sichuan. Most Tibetans share a common literary language, written in a distinctive script of disputed origin first attested in the 8th century AD
Himalayish language spoken in Tibet a native or inhabitant of Tibet of or relating to or characteristic of Tibet or its people or their language; "Tibetan monks