East Asia has over 300 languages, most of them affiliated with the Sino-Tibetan, Austronesian, Tai-Kadai, and Hmong-Mien families. Other major languages of the area Korean and Japanese, as well as Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic languages in the north, and Austroasiatic in the south (in a continuum with Southeast Asia).
For thousands of years, Chinese has exerted an important cultural influence on the languages of East Asia. Written Tibetan has also been a means of transmission of a rich literary, scientific, administrative and religious heritage, and a bridge with the cultures of the Indian subcontinent. Chinese and Tibetan have exerted a major influence on the languages of this geographical area, through very diverse contact scenarios depending on the place and historical period. Manchu, once also a significant literary language of the region, belonging to the Tungusic family, is now critically endangered as a spoken language.
This year, ILARA offers courses in Tangut and in Classical Tibetan, both Sino-Tibetan languages. For courses covering other East Asian languages, see the course selection at the EPHE–PSL.
