Tsat language

Tsat, also known as Utsat, Utset, Hainan Cham, or Huihui (simplified Chinese: 回辉语; traditional Chinese: 回輝語; pinyin: Huíhuīyǔ), is a tonal Austronesian language spoken by 4,500 Utsul people in the Huihui and Huixin villages near the city of Sanya in Hainan, China. Tsat is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian group within the Austronesian language family, and is one of the Chamic languages originating on the coast of present-day Vietnam. It is thus closely related to Acehnese, Cham and Jarai.

Tsat
Hainan Cham
Native to	China
Region	Hainan
Ethnicity	Utsul
Native speakers	4,500 (2007)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Malayo-Sumbawan (?) Chamic Highlands Northern Chamic Tsat
Language codes
ISO 639-3	huq
Glottolog	tsat1238
ELP	Tsat

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ		kʰ
	implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Affricate			ts
Fricative	voiceless		s			h
	voiced	v	z
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Lateral			l

• Sounds /ts, s/ may also be pronounced as [tɕ, ɕ] when before /i/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a aː

• Final glide sounds [j, w] may also occur as a realization of /i/, /u/ at the end of falling diphthongs.^[2]

Tonogenesis

Hainan Cham tones correspond to various Proto-Chamic sounds.^[3]

Hainan Cham Tonogenesis

Tone value (Hainan Cham)	Type of tone (Hainan Cham)	Proto-Chamic final sound
55	High	*-h, *-s; PAN *-q
42	Falling	*-p, *-t, *-k, *-c, *-ʔ Voiceless final: voiced stop / affricate (pre-)initial[a] *-ay, *-an[b]
24	Rising	*-p, *-t, *-k, *-c, *-ʔ Voiceless final: default
11	Low	Vowels and nasals, *-a:s Voiced final: voiced stop / affricate (pre-)initial[a]
33	Mid	Vowels and nasals, *a:s Voiced final: default

History

Unusually for an Austronesian language, Tsat has developed into a tonal language, probably as a result of areal linguistic effects and contact with the diverse tonal languages spoken on Hainan including Sinitic languages such as Hainanese and Standard Chinese, Tai–Kadai languages such as the Hlai languages, and Hmong–Mien languages such as Kim Mun.^[4]