The languages and classifications of Sino-Tibetan languages have always been different, and the following two classifications are more popular.
One is divided into Chinese, Tibetan-Burmese, Miao-Yao and Zhuang-Dong languages (or Dong-Tai languages, Dong-Tai languages, Taiwanese languages, etc. This classification was first put forward by Fang Guili. In Language and Dialect in China (1937), he proposed that the Sino-Tibetan language family can be divided into Chinese language family, Dong-Tai language family, Miao-Yao language family and Tibeto-Burman language family, and he still insisted on this classification in his paper of the same name published in 1973. The Chinese scholars Luo Changpei and Fu Mao put forward the classification table of Sino-Tibetan languages in the Survey of Chinese Minority Languages (1954), which is basically consistent with Fang Guili's. Since 1950s, most scholars in China have adopted the classification method of Luo and Fu (the content of this item is also based on this classification method), and think that Zhuang-Dong language family and Miao-Yao language family not only have many similarities with Chinese and Tibetan-Burmese language family, but also are related and should belong to the same language family.
Another classification is represented by American scholar White Paul. In his book An Overview of Sino-Tibetan Languages (1972), he divided Sino-Tibetan languages into Chinese and Tibetan Karen languages, and also divided them into Burmese and Karen languages under Tibetan Karen languages. He believes that there is no kinship between Miao-Yao language family, Zhuang-Dong language family and Chinese, and their similarities or similarities come from mutual borrowing or typological agreement. He also believes that the Miao-Yao language family and Zhuang-Dong language family are closely related to Indonesian in origin and should belong to the same language family, which is called the Aotai language family. He also cited some Zhuang words with different origins from Chinese but the same origins as Indonesian to prove his argument. As early as 1942, Paul Bai put forward the genetic relationship between Taiwan Province people and Indonesians in his article "Taiwan Province people, Kadai people and Indonesians: a new alliance in Southeast Asia". Later, his view was further developed, and in 1965, he put forward the idea of establishing an Australian-Thai language family. The focus of the differences between the above two different classifications is: the similarities or similarities between Miao-Yao language family, Zhuang-Dong language family and Chinese, whether there is homology in science, and whether there is the same or borrowed relationship in typology.
There are still different opinions on the classification of some languages. For example, some people think that a branch of Qiang language should be established, including Qiang language, Pumi language and Jia Rong language. Others think that these languages should belong to the Tibetan branch. In the past, many people thought that Bai language should belong to Yi language branch, and later some people thought it should belong to another language family. Some people think that Dulong language should belong to Jingpo language branch and Nu language should belong to Yi language branch. There are also two opinions on the lineage of She language: some people think it belongs to Miao language branch, while others think it belongs to Yao language branch. Generally speaking, China scholars think that gelao language belongs to Zhuang language and Dong language, while some foreign scholars think that gelao language belongs to Australian-Thai language. Among the three language families, Tibeto-Burman, Miao-Yao and Zhuang-Dong, Tibeto-Burman has the most problems, which reflects the complexity of the classification of this language family. In addition, there is still controversy about the pedigree of Beijing dialect: some people think it belongs to Sino-Tibetan language family, while others think it belongs to South Asian language family.
Due to various factors in the development of society and language, there are many complicated situations in the relationship between language and nationality. In most cases, a nation uses one language, but there is also a nation that uses two or three languages. For example, Yao people use three languages: Mian, Bunu, Miao, Lajia, Dong Shui and Zhuang Dong languages. Jingpo people use two languages belonging to different branches: Jingpo language belonging to Jingpo language branch and Zawa language belonging to Burmese language branch. Besides Tibetan, some Tibetans use Jiarong language, and so on. There is also a special phenomenon: the Miao people living in Hainan Island speak Yao language, not Miao language.
In addition to the more than 30 languages identified above, there are still some "words" that need to be further determined whether they are independent languages. Such as shanzhai dialect, country dialect, Lingao dialect, Muya dialect, Sur dialect, Ergong dialect, etc. With the in-depth study of Sino-Tibetan language family, some new languages may be discovered in the future. Usually, the first classification mentioned above is adopted, that is, Miao Yao language family and Zhuang-Dong language family belong to Sino-Tibetan language family. According to this classification, Sino-Tibetan languages are mainly distributed in China, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and other parts of Asia. In addition, there are many Chinese and Tibetan speakers in other parts of the world. Countries that use a certain Sino-Tibetan language as their national language or main language include China (Chinese), Thailand (Thai), Myanmar (Burmese), Bhutan (Zongkabutan) and Laos (Lao). Because it is difficult to draw a clear line between Chinese and Tibetan languages and dialects, there are different estimates of the number of languages. American scholar R Xie Fei thinks that there are about 300 languages and dialects, and Japanese scholar Qiaoxiong Nishida estimates that there are about 400 languages and dialects. The population exceeds 1 100 million, accounting for about 1/4 of the world population, second only to Indo-European languages.
China is a country with the largest population and the largest number of languages using Sino-Tibetan. So far, more than 30 languages have been identified, belonging to different language families and branches. Among them, Chinese is distributed all over the country and divided into seven dialects: Mandarin, Wu dialect, Min dialect, Cantonese, Hakka dialect, Jiangxi dialect and Hunan dialect. The Tibeto-Burman language family is distributed in the southwest, northwest and south-central regions. Miao and Yao languages are distributed in central south, southwest and southeast regions. Zhuang and Dong languages are distributed in the south-central and southwest of China. Based on the classification of Luo Changpei and Fu Mao, combined with the investigation and research results, the Sino-Tibetan language family in China is divided into Chinese language family, Tibetan-Burmese language family, Zhuang-Dong language family and Miao-Yao language family. Because the historical comparison between Chinese and Tibetan languages has not been carried out comprehensively and deeply, the understanding of their characteristics is mainly in the present situation. Through the comparison of languages, we can see that there are not only many similarities between different languages, but also many development laws.