[Tibeto-burman-linguistics] Zeliangrong

[Mark W. Post]

Dear Listmembers,

In the process of revising Rob Burling's (2003) chapter on NEIndian TB 
langauges in the Routledge book, we're changing some subgroup names in 
an effort to be more inclusive and/or neutral and in particular avoid 
profiling languages of no particular phylogenetic significance in 
nomenclature (in addition to keeping up with recent scholarship). One 
proposal is to change Rob's (2003) "Zeme group" to "Zeliangrong". This 
name is derived from the first syllables of the Zeme, Liangmei and 
Rongmei languages/groups, which are the three major lects in this 
subgroup. The name is of local coinage, and we gather that it's been in 
widespread use since the 1920s at least. However, we're also aware that 
it has a certain political connotation, namely association with a local 
solidarity/freedom/independence movement 
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/23620970). Since our perspective on this 
area is very limited, and the literature we can access is not 
necessarily itself unbiased, we are wondering if any listmembers can 
advise on the appropriateness of this label.

Many thanks in advance,
Mark