The idea that Chinese and the Tai language family are related goes back to the early 19th century. However, in most early works, from John Leyden (1775–1811; Leyden 1808) to Albert Étienne Jean Baptiste Terrien de Lacouperie (c. 1845–1894; Terrien de Lacouperie 1887), both Chinese and Tai are just parts of the all-encompassing scheme that relates almost all languages of East and Southeast Asia. The so-called Sino-Tai hypothesis, which originates with August Conrady (1864–1925; Conrady 1896) and …