The Prehistory of Pyu

<p>The extinct Pyu language survives on inscriptions written between c. 500&ndash;1300 CE in what is now Upper Burma. Pyu is one of the earliest Sino-Tibetan (Trans-Himalayan) literary languages. It is only second&nbsp;to Old Chinese in age. But old does not necessarily equal conservative. Although Pyu is indeed archaic in many ways, it also&nbsp;contains many innovations that distance it from the Sino-Tibetan&nbsp;proto-language. Unfortunately, none of these innovations appear to be&nbsp;nontrivial shared innovations that would clarify the language&rsquo;s&nbsp;position within the Sino-Tibetan language family. Pyu remains an&nbsp;enigmatic isolate.</p>