Bats language

Bats (Batsbur Mott, or Batsba Moṭṭ [ბაცბა მოტტ]), also known as Batsbi, Batsi, Batsb, Batsaw, or Tsova-Tush) is the endangered language of the Bats people, a North Caucasian minority group living in the Republic of Georgia. Batsbi is part of the Nakh family of Northeast Caucasian languages. It had 2,500 to 3,000 speakers in 1975, with only one dialect. Batsbi is only used for spoken communication, as Bats people tend to use Georgian when writing.

Bats
ბაცბა მოტტ Batsba Moṭṭ
Pronunciation	[batsbur mɔt’ː]
Native to	North Caucasus
Region	Zemo-Alvani in Kakheti
Ethnicity	Bats people
Native speakers	(500 cited 1997) far fewer than 3,000 active (2007)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Nakh Bats
Writing system	Georgian script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bbl
Glottolog	bats1242
ELP	Batsbi
Bats

History

Tusheti, the northeastern mountainous region of Georgia, is home to four tribes that consider themselves Tushetians: the Batsbi (also known as Tsovatush), the Gometsari, the Piriqiti, and the Chagma-Tush. Tsovatush people make up 50% of Tushetians. Only several hundred Tsovatush people speak Bats, whereas the other tribes (Gometsari, Piriqiti and Chagma-Tush) have lost the language. Evidence from toponymics indicates that the other three Tushetian tribes formerly spoke Bats, suggesting that all Tushetians once did and over time the Georgian language replaced Bats.

The mountainous terrain preserved the culture and traditions of Tushetians, but the history of isolation makes it more difficult to document them as only a few records exist.

The first grammar of Bats, Über die Thusch-Sprache, was compiled by the German orientalist Anton Schiefner (1817–1879), making it into the first grammar of an indigenous Caucasian language based on sound scientific principles.

Classification & Distribution

Bats belongs to the Nakh family of Northeast Caucasian languages. The language is not mutually intelligible with either Chechen or Ingush, the other two members of the Nakh family.

Geographic distribution

Most speakers of Bats live in the village of Zemo-Alvani, on the Kakhetia Plain, in the Akhmeta Municipality of Georgia. There are some families of Bats in Tbilisi and other bigger towns in Georgia.

Phonology

Vowels

Bats has a typical triangular five-vowel system with (except for /u/, which has no long form).

	Front	Back
High	i     iː)	u
Mid	ɛ     eː	ɔ     oː
Low	a     aː

Bats also has a number of diphthongs: /ei/, /ui/, /oi/, /ai/, /ou/, and /au/.

All vowels and diphthongs have nasalized allophones that are the result of phonetic and morphophonemic processes; this is represented by a superscript n, as in kʼnateⁿ 'boy-GEN'.

Consonants

Bats has a relatively typical consonant inventory for a Northeast Caucasian language. Unlike its close relatives, Chechen and Ingush, Bats has retained the lateral fricative /ɬ/. Also notable is the presence of two geminate ejectives, tːʼ and qːʼ, which are cross-linguistically rare.

Consonant Phonemes of Bats

			Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal(ized)	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal			m	n
Plosive	aspirated	lenis	pʰ	tʰ	t͜sʰ	t͡ʃʰ	kʰ	qʰ		ʔ
	voiceless	fortis		tː				qː
	voiced		b	d	d͜z	d͡ʒ	g
	ejective	lenis	pʼ	tʼ	t͜sʼ	t͡ʃʼ	kʼ	qʼ
		fortis		tːʼ				qːʼ
Fricative	voiceless	lenis			s	ʃ	x		ħ	h
		fortis			sː		xː
		lateral			ɬ
	voiced		v		z	ʒ	ɣ		ʕ
Approximant		lenis		l		j
		fortis		lː
Flap					ɾ

Phonotactics

Batsbi words commonly contain clusters of two consonants, the second of which is often a fricative. Those two-consonant clusters can occur in any position within the word, although less commonly word-finally. The most common syllable type in Batsbi is CVC.

Spelling systems

Comparison table of various spelling systems for Batsbi

Schiefner, 1856	Imnaishvili, 1977		Kadagidze, 1984		Mikeladze, 2012		Desheriev, 1953	Chrelashvili, 1999	IPA
	Georgian transcription	Latin transcription	Georgian transcription	Latin transcription	Georgian transcription	Latin transcription
a	ა	a	ა	a	ა, ⁀ა	A a, ⁀A ⁀a	а	а	IPA: [a]
						Ǎ ǎ, â	а͏̆	а͏̆	IPA: [ă]
		ā		ā		Ā ā	а̄	а̄	IPA: [aː]
						ā̄			IPA: [aː]
	აჼ	aⁿ	აჼ	aⁿ	აჼ, ⁀აჼ	à ã, ⁀à⁀ã	а̃	а̃	IPA: [ã]
						Ā̃ ā̃			IPA: [ãː]
b	ბ	b	ბ	b	ბ	B b	б	б	IPA: [b]
g	გ	g	გ	g	გ	G g	г	г	IPA: [ɡ]
d	დ	d	დ	d	დ	D d	д	д	IPA: [d]
e	ე	e	ე	e	ე	E e	е, э	е	IPA: [e]
					⁀	Ē ē, ⁀Ē ⁀ē		е̄	IPA: [eː]
		ĕ		ĕ		ě, ê	е͏̆	е͏̆	IPA: [ĕ]
	ეჼ	eⁿ	ეჼ	eⁿ	ეჼ	Ẽ ẽ	е̃	е̃	IPA: [ẽ]
						Ē̃ ē̃			IPA: [ẽː]
w	ვ	v	ვ	v	ვ	V v	в	в	IPA: [v]
z	ზ	z	ზ	z	ზ	Z z	з	з	IPA: [z]
t̔	თ	t	თ	t	თ	T t	т	т	IPA: [tʰ]
	თთ	tt	თჾ	tჾ	თჾ	tჾ	тт	тт	IPA: [tː]
i	ი	i	ი	i	ი, ⁀ი	I i, ⁀I ⁀i	и	и	IPA: [i]
						Ī ī	ӣ	ӣ	IPA: [iː]
		ĭ		ĭ		î	и͏̆	и͏̆	IPA: [ĭ]
	იჼ	iⁿ	იჼ	iⁿ	იჼ	Ĩ ĩ	и̃	и̃	IPA: [ĩ]
						Ī̃ ī̃			IPA: [ĩː]
k	კ	ḳ	კ	ḳ	კ	Ḳ ḳ	кӀ	кӀ	IPA: [kʼ]
l	ლ	l	ლ	l	ლ	L l	л	л	IPA: [l]
	ლლ	ll	ლჾ	lჾ	ლჾ	lჾ	лл	лл	IPA: [lː]
l͓	ლʻ	lʻ	ლʻ	lʻ	ლʻ	lʻ	лъ	лъ	IPA: [ɬ]
m	მ	m	მ	m	მ	M m	м	м	IPA: [m]
n	ნ	n	ნ	n	ნ	N n	н	н	IPA: [n]
j	ჲ	j	ჲ	j	ჲ	J j	й	й	IPA: [j]
					ჲჼ	j̇̃			IPA: [j̃]
o	ო	o	ო	o	ო, ⁀ო	O o, ⁀O ⁀o	о	о	IPA: [o]
						Ō ō	о̄	о̄	IPA: [oː]
						ō̄			IPA: [oː]
		ŏ		ŏ		ǒ, ô	о͏̆	о͏̆	IPA: [ŏ]
	ოჼ	oⁿ	ოჼ	oⁿ	ოჼ	Õ õ	о̃	о̃	IPA: [õ]
						Ō̃ ō̃			IPA: [õː]
p	პ	p̣	პ	p̣	პ	P̣ p̣	пӀ	пӀ	IPA: [pʼ]
z̔	ჟ	ž	ჟ	ž	ჟ	Ž ž	ж	ж	IPA: [ʒ]
r	რ	r	რ	r	რ	R r	р	р	IPA: [ɾ]
	რʻ	rʻ			რʻ	rʻ			IPA: [ɾ̥]
s	ს	s	ს	s	ს	S s	с	с	IPA: [s]
	სს	ss	სჾ	sჾ	სჾ	sჾ	сс	сс	IPA: [sː]
t	ტ	ṭ	ტ	ṭ	ტ	Ṭ ṭ	тӀ	тӀ	IPA: [tʼ]
	ტტ	ṭṭ	ტჾ	ṭჾ	ტჾ	ṭჾ	тӀтӀ	тӀтӀ	IPA: [tʼː]
u	უ	u	უ	u	უ, ⁀უ	U u, ⁀U ⁀u	у	у	IPA: [u]
						Ū ū		ӯ	IPA: [uː]
		ŭ		ŭ		Ǔ ǔ, û	у͏̆	у͏̆	IPA: [ŭ]
	უჼ	uⁿ	უჼ	uⁿ	უჼ, ⁀უჼ	Ũ ũ, ⁀Ũ ⁀ũ	у̃	у̃	IPA: [ũ]
p̔	ფ	p	ფ	p	ფ	P p	п	п	IPA: [pʰ]
k̔	ქ	k	ქ	k	ქ	K k	к	к	IPA: [kʰ]
g̔	ღ	ɣ	ღ	ɣ	ღ	Ɣ ɣ	гӀ	гӀ	IPA: [ɣ]
q	ყ	q̣	ყ	q̣	ყ	Q̣ q̣	къ	къ	IPA: [qʼ]
	ყყ	q̣q̣	ყჾ	q̣ჾ	ყჾ	q̣ჾ	къкъ	къкъ	IPA: [qʼː]
s̔	შ	š	შ	š	შ	Š š	ш	ш	IPA: [ʃ]
					შჾ	šჾ			IPA: [ʃː]
c̔	ჩ	č	ჩ	č	ჩ	Č č	ч	ч	IPA: [t͡ʃʰ]
c	ც	c	ც	c	ც	C c	ц	ц	IPA: [t͡sʰ]
ʒ	ძ	ʒ	ძ	ʒ	ძ	Ʒ ʒ	дз	дз	IPA: [d͡z]
c̣	წ	c̣	წ	c̣	წ	C̣ c̣	цӀ	цӀ	IPA: [t͡sʼ]
c̣̔	ჭ	č̣	ჭ	č̣	ჭ	Č̣ č̣	чӀ	чӀ	IPA: [t͡ʃʼ]
x	ხ	x	ხ	x	ხ	X x	х	х	IPA: [x]
	ხხ	xx	ხჾ	xჾ	ხჾ	xჾ	хх	хх	IPA: [xː]
q	ჴ	q	ჴ	q	ჴ	Q q	кх	кх	IPA: [qʰ]
	ჴჴ	qq	ჴჾ	qჾ	ჴჾ	qჾ	ккх	кхкх	IPA: [qː]
ʒ̔	ჯ	ǯ	ჯ	ǯ	ჯ	Ǯ ǯ	дж	дж	IPA: [d͡ʒ]
x̣	ჰ	h	ჰ	h	ჰ	H h	хӀ	хӀ	IPA: [h]
ḥ	ჰჾ	hჾ	ჰ⌝	h⌝	ჰ⁊	H⁊ h⁊/Ⱨ ⱨ	хь	хь	IPA: [ħ]
	ჵ	ꞷ	ჵ		ჵ	ꞷ	Ӏъ	Ӏъ	IPA: [ʡ]
ʼ	ʻ	ʻ	ჺ	ʻ	ჺ/ع	ʻ	Ӏ	Ӏ	IPA: [ʕ]
—	ʼ	ʼ	ჸ	ʼ	ჸ	ʼ	ʼ	ъ	IPA: [ʔ]
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	ф	—	IPA: [f]
—		w	—	—	—	—	—	—	IPA: [w]

Morphosyntax

Batsbi is an SOV language with ergative-absolutive alignment which makes extensive use of bound morphological derivation and inflection. It has both grammatical gender (i.e. noun classes) and several grammatical cases.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns - first and second persons

Batsbi pronouns encode three persons, two numbers, and clusivity for first person plural (“you and me and us”, “us but not you”). Demonstratives work as third person pronouns. First and second person pronouns are shown below in the absolutive and ergative cases.

	Singular		Plural
	First	Second	First Inclusive	First Exclusive	Second
Absolutive	სო so	ჰჾო ħo	თხო txo	ვე/ვაი ve/vai	შუ šu
Ergative	ას as	აჰჾ aħ	ათხ atx	ვე ve	ეშ eš
	I	You (Thou)	You and us	Us but not you	You (Ye)

Third person pronouns/Demonstratives

Batsbi does not encode gender in pronouns. Gender is indexed instead on verbs and adjectives.

	Singular	Plural
Absolutive	ო o	ობი obi
Ergative	ოჴუს oqus	ოჴარ oqar
	s/he	they

Adnominal demonstratives

	Proximal	Medial	Distal
Absolutive	ე e	ის is	ო o
Oblique	ეჴ eq	იცხ icx	ოჴ oq
	this	that	that yonder

Interrogative pronouns

	who?	what?	when?	how much?	where?	which one?
Absolutive	მენ mẽ	ვუხ vux	მაცან macã	მელʻ meɬ	მიჩ, მიჩა mič, miča	მენუხ menux
Ergative	ჰჾან ħã	სტევ st’ev				მენხუიჩოვ menxuičov

Noun classes

As in other Nakh languages, Batsbi has several noun classes (grammatical genders) that are indexed through class prefixes on some vowel-initial verbs, adjectives, numerals, and a few other words. That is, nouns themselves show no morphologically marks for gender. Gender indexing is highly complex in the language, with subject gender agreement on intransitive verbs (absolutive), but object agreement on transitive verbs. The table below shows gender agreement on verbs for three of the noun classes:

Noun class		Verb group	Translation
	Intransitive (subject agreement)
M	აჰჾგე’ aħgeʔ	ვეწა ვაʼან v-etsʼe v-aʔã	You M-should M-come too
F	აჰჾგე’ aħgeʔ	ჲეწა ჲაʼან j-etsʼe j-aʔã	You F-should F-come too
Bd	დონ dõ	ესე ბა ese b-a	The horse Bd-is here
	Transitive (object agreement)
M	დადას dadas	ქალიქ ვიკესუ kalik v-ik’esʷ	Father M-takes me (a man) to the city
F	დადას dadas	ქალიქ ჲიკესუ kalik j-ik’esʷ	Father F-takes me (a woman) to the city
Bd	სენ ვაშეჩოვ sẽ vaʃetʃov	ბოხკინ დონ b-oxkʼin dõ	My brother Bd-sold the horse

Holisky and Gagua (1994) analyse Batsbi as having five noun classes, whereas Alice Harris posits that Batsbi has eight genders in total, based on the behaviour of words that fail to conform to the patterns of the five major classes. The breakdown below follows Harris:

Label	Singular	Plural	Description	Nouns	Adjective “big”	Verb To Be	English
M	v-	b-	male humans	მარ mar ჺუვ ʕuv ვოჰჾ voħ	ვაჴჴონ v-aqqõ	ვა v-a	“the husband is big” “the shepherd is big” “the son is big”
F	j-	d-	female humans	ნან nan ფსტუ pstʼu ჲოჰჾ joħ	ჲაჴჴონ j-aqqõ	ჲა j-a	“the mother is big” “the wife is big” “the daughter is big”
D	d-		various, default class for unknown gender	ბადერ bader კუიტი kʼuit’i დოკ dokʼ დითხ ditx	დაჴჴონ d-aqqõ	და d-a	“the child is big” “the cat is big” “the heart is big” “the meat is big”
Bd	b-	d-	animals	ფჰჾუ pħu ჩა ča	ბაჴჴონ b-aqqõ	ბა b-a	“the dog is big” “the bread is big” “the bear is big”
J	j-		various	ცარკ carkʼ მაიჴი maiqi ყარ q'ar	ჲაჴჴონj-aqqõ	ჲა j-a	“the tooth is big” “the milk is big” “the rain is big”
*Bd	b-	d-	body parts (15 nouns)	ბაქ bak ბჺარკ bʕarkʼ ჭყემპუ čʼqʼempʼʷ		ბა b-a	fist is eye is throat is
*D/J	d-	j-	body parts (4 nouns)	ბატრ batʼr ლარკ larkʼ ტოტ tʼotʼ ჭამაღ čʼamaǧ		d-a is	lip is ear is hand is cheek is
*B/B	b-		only 3 nouns	ბორაგ borag ჩექამ čekam ქაქამ kakam		b-a is/are	knit slipper boot autum wool

According to Holisky and Gagua (1994), the class with the largest number of items is the D class (d-a), followed by the J class (j-a).

Under this analysis, the additional three classes are examples of inquorate gender, where the number of items displaying this behavior are insufficient to constitute an independent grouping. Furthermore, they can be explained as inflecting one class in the singular, and another in the plural, e.g. the B/B group agrees as if it belonged to the Bd class in the singular but the male human class in the plural.

Gender agreement in adjectives

Only eight vowel-initial adjectives agree in gender with the noun they modify:

Adjective agreement (singular)

Gender (sg/pl)	-აჴჴონ-aqqõ	უტყინ -ut’q’ĩ	-ავინ -avĩ	-აცინ -acĩ	-უყინ -uq’ĩ	-ასენ -asẽ	-აცუნ -acũ	-ახხენ -axxẽ
M (v-/b-)	v-aqqõ	v-ut’q’ĩ	v-avĩ	v-acĩ
F (j-/d-)	j-aqqõ	j-ut’q’ĩ	j-avĩ	j-acĩ
D (d-)	d-aqqõ	d-ut’q’ĩ	d-avĩ	d-acĩ
J (j-)	j-aqqõ	j-ut’q’ĩ	j-avĩ	j-acĩ
Bd (b-/d-)	b-aqqõ	b-ut’q’ĩ	b-avĩ	b-acĩ
English	“big”	“small”	“light”	“heavy”	“thick”	“empty”	“short”	“long”

Grammatical number and case

Batsbi nouns are inflected for two numbers, singular and plural, and nine cases. Number inflection occurs via suffixation and/or root changes, and is chiefly unpredictable. Harris (ms) identifies nine suffixes for plural marking in the nominative case; note that vowel changes (i.e. ablaut) may also affect the root of the plural form.

Nominative

Suffix	Nom-Singular	Nom-Plural	English
-i	საგ sag	საგი sag-i	deer
-iʃ	ნიყ niq’	ნიყიშ niq’-iʃ	road(s)
-bi	ხენ xẽ	ხენბი xen-bi	tree(s)
-mi	დოკ dok’	დაკმი dak’-mi	heart(s)
-artʃʰ	ფჰჾუ pħu	ფჰჾარჩ pħ-artʃʰ	dog(s)
-ertʃʰ	ტჺირ tʼʕir	ტჺირერჩ tʼʕir-ertʃʰ	star(s)
-ar	კეჭ kʼetʃʼ	კაჭარ kʼatʃʼ-ar	bundle(s)
-er	ჲოპყ jopʼqʼ	აპყერ apʼqʼ-er	ash(es)

Batsbi makes use of nine noun cases total. In the majority of nouns, the ergative and instrumental cases have a common form.

	ნეკ nekʼ 'knife'		ცოკალ t͜sʰokʼal 'fox'		დოკ dok’ 'heart'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nekʼ	nekʼi	t͜sʰokʼal	t͜sʰokʼli	dok’	dak’bi
Genitive	nekʼẽ	nekʼã	t͜sʰokʼlẽ	t͜sʰokʼlã	dak’ĩ	dak’bĩ
Dative	nekʼen	nekʼin	t͜sʰokʼlen	t͜sʰokʼlin	dak’an	dak’bin
Ergative/Instrumental	nekʼev	nekʼiv	t͜sʰokʼlev	t͜sʰokʼliv	dak’av	dak’bav
Contacting	nek’ex	nekʼax	t͜sʰokʼlex	t͜sʰokʼlax	dak’ox	dak’bax
Allative	nekʼegʷ	nekʼigʷ	t͜sʰokʼlegʷ	t͜sʰokʼligʷ	dak’ogʷ	dak’bigʷ
Adverbial	nekʼeɣ	nekʼiɣ	t͜sʰokʼleɣ	t͜sʰokʼliɣ	dak’oɣ	dak’biɣ
Comitative	nekʼt͜sʰĩ, nekʼet͜sʰĩ	nekʼicĩ	t͜sʰokʼlet͜sʰĩ	t͜sʰokʼlit͜sʰĩ

Verbs

Verds in Batsbi encode not only tense, and aspect, but also gender, person, mood, and other categories. Person suffixes for ergative subjects are shown in the table below:

'cut'

	Singular	Plural
First	თეტოს tet’o-s	თეტოთხ tet’o-tx
Second	თეტოჰჾ tet’o-ħ	თეტუიშ tet’w-iš
Third	თეცტუ tet’ʷ

Batsbi has explicit inflections for agentivity of a verb; it makes a distinction between:

as woʒe (I fell down through no fault of my own)

so woʒe (I fell down and it was my own fault)

Numerals

Like most of its relatives, Bats' numerals are vigesimal, using 20 as a common base. This is mainly evident in the construction of higher decads, so:

40 (šauztʼqʼ) is formed from 2  ×  20

200 (icʼatʼqʼ) formed from is 10  ×  20

When modifying nominals, the numeral precedes the noun it modifies.

Basic numbers

1	cħa	11	cħajtʼtʼ	1+10
2	ši	12	šiitʼtʼ	2+10
3	qo	13	qoitʼtʼ	3+10
4	Dʕivʔ	14	Dʕevajtʼtʼ	4+10
5	pxi	15	pxiitʼtʼ	5+10
6	jetx	16	jetxajtʼː	6+10
7	vorɬ	17	vorɬajtʼtʼ	7+10
8	barɬ	18	barɬajtʼtʼ	8+10
9	isː	19	tʼqʼexc’	20–1
10	itʼtʼ	20	tʼqʼa

Higher decads

21	tʼqʼacħa	20+1
22	tʼqʼaš	20+2
30	tʼqʼaitʼtʼ	20+10
31	tʼqʼacħaitʼtʼ	(20+1)+10
32	tʼqʼašiitʼtʼ	(20+2)+10
40	šauztʼqʼ	2×20
50	šauztʼqʼaitʼtʼ	(2×20)+10
60	qouztʼqʼ	3×20
70	qouztʼqʼaitʼtʼ	(3×20)+10
80	Dʕe(v)uztʼqʼ	4×20
90	Dʕe(v)uztʼqʼaitʼtʼ	(4×20)+10
100	pxauztʼqʼ	5×20
120	jexcʼatʼqʼ	from jetxcʼatʼqʼ 6x20
160	barɬcʼatʼqʼ	8×20
200	icʼatʼqʼ	from itʼːcʼatʼqʼ 10x20
1000	atas	from Georgian

In Bats, as in its closest relatives Chechen and Ingush, the number four (Dʕivʔ) begins with a noun-class marker, represented by D (by default, or another capital letter for the other classes). This marker will agree in class with the class of the nominal which the number modifies, even if that nominal is not overtly expressed and is only apparent through pragmatic or discursive context, as in Vʕivʔev (four (males)). This is seen in the word 'four' itself as well as its derivatives.

References

• Имнайшвили, Давид Силибистрович (1977). Историко-сравнительный анализ фонетики нахских языков. Тбилиси: Мецниереба.
• Микеладзе, М.; Гигашвили, К. (2012). Цоватушинско-грузинско-русско-английский словарь (PDF). Тбилиси. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-11-06.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

• The Red Book of Peoples of the Russian Empire: The Bats
• Languages of the World report Archived 2006-02-22 at the Wayback Machine
• Bats basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database