Abstand und ausbau, part 2

The first part of this debate, "Abstand und ausbau" (10/28/25), was so spirited and prolonged, and has recently moved on to significant new ground, that I've decided to launch this part 2.

Before commenting here, please go back and review what was said in the previous o.p. and the subsequent comments thereto, some of which are quite substantial.  Here I copy one of the recent observations in the first thread that has not yet been adequately responded to there:

The genetic unity of Sinitic is not only unproven, but it's being challenged increasingly by both paleogenetics studies, as well as paleoanthropological studies, including by mainland Chinese researchers affiliated with mainstream state institutions.

The "Western Xia, Eastern Yi" hypothesis, which says the civilization later known as Han came to be through merger of two large civilizations (one coastal and the other inland), each with their own (unrelated and starkly different) language, proto-writing, spiritual believes (shamanism vs. ancestor worship), economic production (rice vs. millet) and material culture, was proposed decades ago, remains somewhat fringe to this day, but is slowly picking up support.

(wgj)

[The commenter appends two videos in Chinese, here and here, the second of which is not currently working.]

One thing is certain:  whatever Hànyǔ 漢語 ("Sinitic") is, it will take decades to figure out its synchronic and diachronic dimensions.

 

Selected readings

• The works of Søren Christian Egerod (1923-1995), particularly his magisterial "Chinese languages" and other articles in Encyclopædia Britannica. I'm surprised and gratified that Egerod's superlative, prescient scholarship is still being republished in current editions of Encyclopædia Britannica. I read his articles in an earlier, printed edition. I am honored to have met Egerod in person in Taiwan four decades ago and to have heard him pronounce his name in Danish, a mind-boggling experience.
• The works of Jerry Norman (1936-2012), especially Chinese. Cambridge language surveys, (Cambridge University Press, 1988). Norman privately told me that the Sinitic group had more than three hundred different languages.

See also the bibliography at the conclusion of the first part of this series.