| Proto-Tibeto-Burman | |
|---|---|
| PTB | |
| (may be equivalent to Proto-Sino-Tibetan) | |
| Reconstruction of | Tibeto-Burman languages |
Reconstructed ancestor | |
| Lower-order reconstructions | |
Proto-Tibeto-Burman (commonly abbreviated PTB) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Tibeto-Burman languages, that is, the Sino-Tibetan languages, except for Chinese. An initial reconstruction was produced by Paul K. Benedict and since refined by James Matisoff. Several other researchers argue that the Tibeto-Burman languages sans Chinese do not constitute a monophyletic group within Sino-Tibetan, and therefore that Proto-Tibeto-Burman was the same language as Proto-Sino-Tibetan.