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 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 (2014) 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 (the fall of Indrapura) 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.