Matisoff describes Proto-Tibeto-Burman *-a > -i as a typical sound change in many Qiangic languages, and refers to this vowel heightening as "brightening." Yu also notes that "brightening" is a defining innovation in Proto-Ersuic, the reconstructed ancestor of the Ersuic languages.
Thurgood and La Polla (2003)
Thurgood and La Polla state that the inclusion of Qiang, Prinmi, and Muya is well supported, but that they do not follow Sun's argument for the inclusion of Tangut. Matisoff, however, claims Tangut demonstrates a clear relationship. The unclassified languageBaima may also be Qiangic or may retain a Qiangic substratum after speakers shifted to Tibetan. Some other lesser-known, unclassified Qiangic peoples and languages include the following:
Bolozi 玻璃哦子/博罗子: 2,000 people; in Xiao Heshui Village 小河水村, west of Songpan; also as far south as Wenchuan Township 汶川乡. Sun Hongkai identifies Bolozi 博罗子 as a Northern Qiang variety, belonging to the Cimulin 茨木林 dialect.
& Alexis Michaud argue for a Na–Qiangic branch, which itself forms a Burmo-Qiangic branch together with Lolo–Burmese. Na–Qiangic comprises three primary branches, which are Ersuish, Naic, and Qiangic. Similarly, David Bradley also proposed an Eastern Tibeto-Burman branch that includes Burmic and Qiangic. The position of Guiqiong is not addressed. ;Na–Qiangic
However, Chirkova casts doubt on the validity of Qiangic as a coherent branch, instead considering Qiangic to be a diffusion area. Chirkova considers the following four languages to be part of four separate Tibeto-Burman branches:
Lizu
Shixing
Namuzi
Pumi
Both Shixing and Namuzi are both classified as Naic by Jacques & Michaud, but Naic would not be a valid genetic unit in Chirkova's classification scheme since Shixing and Namuzi are considered by Chirkova to not be part of a single branch.
Yu (2012)
Yu notes that Ersuic and Naish languages share some forms that are not found in Lolo-Burmese or “core” Qiangic. As a result, “Southern Qiangic” may be closer to Naish than it is to “core” Qiangic. Together, Southern Qiangic and Naish could form a wider “Naic” group that has links to both Lolo-Burmese to the south and other Qiangic languages to the north.
Obsolete names
Shafer and other accounts of the Dzorgaic/Ch'iang branch preserve the names Dzorgai, Kortsè, Thochu, Outer/Outside Man-tze, Pingfang from the turn of the century. The first three were Northern Qiang, and Outside Mantse was Southern Qiang. When Jiarongic is included as a branch of Qiangic, but distinct from the non-Jiarongic languages, the label "Dzorgaic" may be used for Qiang proper. Hsi-fan is an ethnic name, meaning essentially 'Tibetan'; the peoplespeak Qiangic or Jiarongic languages such as Qiang, Ergong/Horpa, Ersu, Guiqiong, Shixing, Zhaba, Namuyi, Muya/Minyak, and Jiarong, but not Naxi/Moso, Pumi, or Tangut. The term has not been much used since language surveys of the 1980s resulted in sufficient data for classification.
Distribution
Qiangic languages are spoken mainly in western Sichuan and northwestern Yunnan provinces of China. Sun Hongkai lists the following watersheds and the respective Qiangic languages spoken there.