Tuha, also called Uighur Uryangkhai and Khövsgöl Uryangkhay, is a moribund variety of Tofa or an independent language spoken east of Lake Khövsgöl in northern Mongolia by less than 10 people. Even though it was taught in schools during the 1970s, during which it was investigated by the Mongolian linguist Luvsandorjiyn Bold, it is now nearly extinct.
Tuha is a member of the Sayan Turkic branch of Siberian Turkic. It has preserved archaic features lost elsewhere in Sayan Turkic. According to Juha Janhunen, it is best classified as a language for taxonomic purposes and language revitalization. According to Elisabetta Ragagnin, Tuha shares isoglosses with Tofa, Altai and Old Turkic.
It is believed that the Tuha originally were Soyots that separated from them around 400 years ago.
The nasal palatal approximant occurrs in Tuha, as with all other Taiga Sayan languages. For example, the words 'cup' (<), 'tree' (<), ~ 'dung', 'chin, jaw', 'anus', and ~ 'new' have it.
In the 1970s, Tuha took over 30% of its vocabulary from Mongolian. This can be seen from the word for ~ 'wolf', which seems to come from the Mongolian word 'blue-grey wolf'. Tuha also has preserved the archaic features of Sayan Turkic that are not documented in the other Sayan Turkic languages.
Where Tuha has the word 'to say', in Tofa this word is far more limited in usage, and is used only relating to marriage arrangements (cf. Tofa 'bride).