Editing Sino-Tibetan languages (section)

===Contemporary languages===
The branch with the largest number of speakers by far is the [[Sinitic languages]], with 1.3 billion speakers, most of whom live in the eastern half of China.{{sfnp|Eberhard|Simons|Fennig|2019|loc="Chinese"}} The first records of Chinese are [[oracle bone]] inscriptions from {{Circa|1250 BC}}, when [[Old Chinese]] was spoken around the middle reaches of the [[Yellow River]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=4}} Chinese has since expanded throughout China, forming a family whose diversity has been compared with the [[Romance languages]]. Diversity is greater in the rugged terrain of southeast China than in the [[North China Plain]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=187–188}}

[[Burmese language|Burmese]] is the national language of [[Myanmar]], and the first language of some 33 million people.{{sfnp|Eberhard|Simons|Fennig|2019|loc="Burmese"}} Burmese speakers first entered the northern [[Irrawaddy River|Irrawaddy]] basin from what is now western [[Yunnan]] in the early ninth century, in conjunction with an invasion by [[Nanzhao]] that shattered the [[Pyu city-states]].{{sfnp|Taylor|1992|p=165}} Other [[Burmish languages]] are still spoken in [[Dehong Prefecture]] in the far west of Yunnan.{{sfnp|Wheatley|2003|p=195}} By the 11th century, their [[Pagan Kingdom]] had expanded over the whole basin.{{sfnp|Taylor|1992|p=165}} The oldest texts, such as the [[Myazedi inscription]], date from the early 12th century.{{sfnp|Wheatley|2003|p=195}} The closely related [[Loloish languages]] are spoken by 9 million people in the mountains of western Sichuan, Yunnan, and nearby areas in northern Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.{{sfnp|Thurgood|2003|pp=8–9}}{{sfnp|Eberhard|Simons|Fennig|2019}}

The [[Tibetic languages]] are spoken by some 6 million people on the [[Tibetan Plateau]] and neighbouring areas in the [[Himalayas]] and western [[Sichuan]].{{sfnp|Tournadre|2014|p=117}} They are descended from [[Old Tibetan]], which was originally spoken in the [[Yarlung Valley]] before it was spread by the expansion of the [[Tibetan Empire]] in the seventh century.{{sfnp|Tournadre|2014|p=107}} Although the empire collapsed in the ninth century, [[Classical Tibetan]] remained influential as the liturgical language of [[Tibetan Buddhism]].{{sfnp|Tournadre|2014|p=120}}

The remaining languages are spoken in upland areas. Southernmost are the [[Karen languages]], spoken by 4 million people in the hill country along the Myanmar–Thailand border, with the greatest diversity in the [[Karen Hills]], which are believed to be the homeland of the group.{{sfnp|Thurgood|2003|p=18}} The highlands stretching from northeast India to northern Myanmar contain over 100 highly diverse Sino–Tibetan languages. Other Sino–Tibetan languages are found along the southern slopes of the [[Himalayas]] and the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau.{{sfnp|Handel|2008|pp=424–425}}
The 22 official languages listed in the [[Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India]] include only two Sino–Tibetan languages, namely [[Meitei language|Meitei]] (officially called Manipuri) and [[Bodo language|Bodo]].