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Definition of Sino-Tibetan in US English:

Sino-Tibetan

adjective

  • Relating to or denoting a large language family of eastern Asia whose branches include Sinitic (Chinese), Tibeto-Burman (Burmese and Tibetan), and, in some classifications, Tai (Thai and Lao). They are tonal languages, but the exact relationships among them are unclear.

    • ‘Tibeto-Burman, a language of the Sino-Tibetan family, is based on a language that originated in India during the seventh century.’
    • ‘Miao is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Miao-Yao family.’
    • ‘Tibeto-Burman languages are a branch of the Sino-Tibetan family, which is mainly spoken in northeast India, China, and Southeast Asia.’
    • ‘Bhotia and other languages in the mountain belt belong to the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family.’
    • ‘A member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages, Thai is one of the oldest languages in East or Southeast Asia.’
    • ‘Dong language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family.’
    • ‘Zhuang belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family.’
    • ‘Linguists suggest that other languages in the Sino-Tibetan language family are indigenous to the country.’
    • ‘The Tibetan language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family.’
    • ‘Groups in the northern mountain belt speak languages belonging to the Tibeto-Burmese branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family.’
    • ‘The Hmong language is relevant to the Sino-Tibetan language family and has two main dialects.’

noun

  • The Sino-Tibetan language family.

    • ‘Balti, spoken in the extreme Northeast, belongs to the Sino-Tibetan, rather than the Indo-European, language family.’

Pronunciation

Sino-Tibetan

/ˌsīnōtəˈbetn/