New study of Chinese, Tibetan languages

WASHINGTON - French and German scientists have found that the Sino-Tibetan language family originated about 7,200 years ago in what is now northern China.

This language family, one of the most diverse with more than 400 modern languages spoken by about 1.5 billion people, originated among millet farmers of Neolithic cultures, such as the late Cishan and early Yangshao. The findings were published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the past 10,000 years, two of the world's largest language families emerged, one in the West and one in the east of Eurasia, together accounting for nearly 60 percent of the world's population.