The usual name of the largest language grouping in China is the Sino-Tibetan (ST) or Hàn-Zàng 漢藏 family. The generally accepted division of ST is into a Sinitic branch on one hand and a Tibeto-Burman (TB) or Zàng-Miǎn 藏緬 branch on the other. The main classifications of TB include those of Grierson (1909), Benedict (1972), Shafer (1974), Matisoff (2003), Van Driem (1998, 2001), and Bradley (2002). Apar…