Tsat language
Tsat, also known as Utsat, Utset, Hainan Cham, or Huihui, is an Austronesian language spoken by 4,500 Utsul people in the Huihui and Huixin villages near the city of Sanya in Hainan, China.
Hainan Cham offers an extreme example of change through language contact. Its phonology, word structure, and grammar have all been extensively influenced by neighbouring Hlai and Sinitic languages, making it a member of the Mainland Southeast Asian linguistic area in contrast to other Austronesian languages.
Classification
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.The origins of the Utsul are obscure. Though they are undoubtedly Cham, and therefore primarily descended from immigrants from the Champa states of modern-day southern Vietnam, it is unclear when they arrived in Hainan and to what extent other Hui Muslim groups contributed to their ethnogenesis. Thurgood, Thurgood, and Li record several traditional accounts, which mention Tang-dynasty Xinjiang, Song Guangdong, and post-Vijaya Champa as distinct legendary origins of the Utsul people. These accounts - all of which are considered to have some basis in historical fact - reveal a strong emphasis on Muslim religious identity rather than ethnolinguistic heritage, compounded by the conflation of Muslims in the region as "Hui" regardless of language. A migration from Champa after 968 AD appear to be the most significant contributor to the modern Utsul identity, although another migration in the fifteenth century is also recorded in Chinese texts.
Thurgood, Thurgood, and Li's grammar distinguishes between an older form of the language, "Colloquial Cham", and a more recent "Mandarinised" version. Their source for the former is Li and Thompson's 1981 research among speakers since deceased; it is doubtful whether the less Mandarinised variety is still spoken in Sanya.
Phonology
Consonants
- Sibilants /ts, s/ may also be pronounced as when before /i/. However, the palatalised affricate is generally found in Mandarin borrowings; it is only attested in one native term, tsioŋʔ³³ "eggplant".
- The implosives /ɓ ɗ/ are primarily of non-native origin. The main source for implosives is Mon-Khmer loanwords, as well as more recent terms from Southern Min.
Vowels
- Final glide sounds may also occur as a realization of /i/, /u/ at the end of falling diphthongs.
Sound changes
Though descended from Old Cham, which - like most Austronesian languages in Asia - is characterized by absence of phonemic tone and overwhelmingly disyllabic roots, intensive contact with Hlai and Sinitic languages has influenced Hainan Cham to become a primarily monosyllabic, heavily tonal language.Syllabic reduction
Most lexical items in Hainan Cham are monosyllabic, but native vocabulary can often be traced to disyllabic roots in Proto-Chamic. There are three processes by which an earlier disyllable has become a monosyllable in Hainan Cham:| Process | Non-HC Austronesian | HC | Meaning |
| Loss of medial /-h-/ | tahun | thun³³ | year |
| Diphthongisation of /-r-, -l-/ | *bulan | pʰian²¹ | moon |
| Initial syllable deletion | *basah | sa⁵⁵ | damp |
Tonogenesis
Hainan Cham tones correspond to various Proto-Chamic sounds.| Tone value | Type of tone | Proto-Chamic final sound |
| 55 | High | *-h, *-s; PAN *-q |
| 42 | Falling | *-p, *-t, *-k, *-c, *-ʔ Voiceless final: voiced stop / affricate initial *-ay, *-an |
| 24 | Rising | *-p, *-t, *-k, *-c, *-ʔ Voiceless final: default |
| 11 | Low | Vowels and nasals, *-a:s Voiced final: voiced stop / affricate initial |
| 33 | Mid | Vowels and nasals, *a:s Voiced final: default |