Cai–Long languages

Cai–Long
Ta–Li
(tentative)
Geographic distribution	western Guizhou, China
Linguistic classification	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic? Macro-Bai? Cai–Long
Subdivisions	Caijia Longjia–Luren †
Language codes
Glottolog	tali1265

The Cai–Long (Chinese: 蔡龙语支) or Ta–Li languages are a group of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in western Guizhou, China. Only Caijia is still spoken, while Longjia and Luren are extinct.^[1] The branch was first recognized by Chinese researchers in the 1980s, with the term Cai–Long (Chinese: 蔡龙语支) first mentioned in Guizhou (1982: 43).^[2]

The languages are unclassified within Sino-Tibetan, and could be Sinitic^[1] or Macro-Bai.^[3]

Languages

The Cai–Long languages are:^[1]

• Caijia
• Longjia (extinct)
• Luren (extinct)

In addition, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, through their Glottolog database, proposes that Longjia and Luren form a Longjia–Luren branch within Cai–Long.^[4]

Lexical innovations

Hölzl (2021) proposes the name Ta–Li as a portmanteau of the two lexical innovations ‘two’ and ‘pig’, respectively.

Language	‘two’	‘pig’
Caijia (Hezhang)	ta^55	li^21
Luren (Qianxi)	ta^31	li^31
Longjia (Pojiao/Huaxi)	ta^31	lɛ^55

See also

• List of unrecognized ethnic groups of Guizhou
• Macro-Bai comparative vocabulary list (Wiktionary)

References

1. Hölzl, Andreas. 2021. Longjia (China) - Language Contexts. Language Documentation and Description 20, 13-34.
2. GMSWSB 1982 = Guizhousheng minzu shiwu weiyuanhui shibie bangongshi 贵州省民族事务委员会识别办公室. Guizhou minzu shibie ziliaoji 贵州民族识别资料集, vol. 8, longjia, caijia 龙家，蔡家. Guiyang. (Unpublished manuscript.)
3. Zhèngzhāng Shàngfāng [郑张尚芳]. 2010. Càijiāhuà Báiyǔ guānxì jí cígēn bǐjiào [蔡家话白语关系及词根比较]. In Pān Wǔyún and Shěn Zhōngwěi [潘悟云、沈钟伟] (eds.). Yánjūzhī Lè, The Joy of Research [研究之乐-庆祝王士元先生七十五寿辰学术论文集], II, 389–400. Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Publishing House.
4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Longjia-Luren". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7398962. Archived from the original on 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2023-09-06.