Bats language

Not to be confused with the Mayan Tzotzil language, also known as Bats'i.

Bats (Batsbur Mott, or Batsba Moṭṭ, ბაცბა მოტტ, [batsʰba motʼː]), 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 branch 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 batsba motjiti
Pronunciation	[batsʰba motʼː] [batsbur mɔt'ː]
Native to	North Caucasus
Region	Zemo-Alvani in Kakheti
Ethnicity	Bats people
Native speakers	(500 cited 1997)[1] far fewer than 3,000 active (2007)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Nakh Bats
Writing system	Georgian script[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bbl
Glottolog	bats1242
ELP	Batsbi
Bats
Bats is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

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.^[3]

Classification & Distribution

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

Geographic distribution

Most speakers of Bats live in the village of Zemo-Alvani, on the Kakheti 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 typologically common five-vowel system. Although some authors claim that all vowels but /u/ contrast in length, no minimal pairs are given in any studies of Batsbi, nor are examples of long vowels available in the literature.

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a     aː

Bats also has the following diphthongs: /ei/, /ui/, /oi/, /ai/, /ou/, and /au/.^[4]

All vowels and diphthongs have nasalised allophones that are the result of phonetic and morphophonemic processes: [ ĩ ẽ ã õ ũ ]. Nasalised vowels are represented in the Mkhedruli script via a superscript ⟨ნ⟩ following the vowel in question, as in კნათე^ნ for [k'natẽ] 'boy-GEN'.

Consonants

Batsbi has a large consonant inventory, relatively typical for a Nakh-Dagestanian language, containing ejectives, pharyngeals and uvulars. Unlike its close Nakh relatives, Chechen and Ingush, Batsbi has on the other hand retained the voiceless lateral fricative /ɬ/. Also notable is the presence of two geminate ejectives, /tʼː/ and /qʼː/, which are cross-linguistically rare.^[5]

Consonant Phonemes of Bats^[6]

			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		tʼː				qʼː
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

The most common syllable type in Batsbi is CVC.^[6] However, Batsbi words commonly contain sequences of two consonants, the second of which is often a fricative.^[7] Stop-stop clusters often contain an ejective. Those two-consonant clusters can occur in any position within the word, although less commonly word-finally. Sequences of three consonants do occur as well, although many are borrowings from Georgian. Like many clusters in non-Indo-European languages,^[8] consonant sequences in Batsbi often fail to conform to the sonority sequencing principle.

Word-initial Two-consonant Clusters^[6]

C1	C2	Example		English
Stop	Fricative
b	ʒ	bʒã	ბჟან	livestock
p	ħ	pħe	ფჰჾე	village
tʃ	x	tʃxotʼ	ჩხოტ	waterfall
kʼ	ʕ	kʼʕokʼ	კჺოკ	hole
m	ʕ	mʕal	მჺალ	common
Stop	Stop	Example		English
tʼ	qʼ	tʼqʼa	ტყა	twenty
kʼ	n	kʼnatẽ	კნათენ	boy
tʃʼ	qʼ	tʃʼqʼempʷʼ	ჭყემპუ	throat

Word-initial Three-consonant Clusters^[6]

C1	C2	C3	Example		English
p	s	tʼ	pstʼu	ფსტუ	wife
t	x	ɾ	txɾil	თხრილ	ditch
tʼ	kʼ	m	tʼkʼmel	ტკმელ	dust
tʼ	qʼ	v	tʼqʼve	ტყვე	prisoner
g	ɾ	d	gɾdeml	გრდემლ	anvil

Of the words containing three-consonant onsets above, only /psʼtu/ "wife" and /tʼkʼmel/ "dust" are native to Batsbi, the rest being loanwords from Georgian.

Word-final clusters

C1	C2	Example		English
ɾ	kʼ	tsaɾkʼ	ცარკ	tooth
p	x	vepx	ვეფხ	tiger
t	x	matx	მათხ	sun
v	r	skʼivɾ	სკივრ	chest, trunk
n	tʼ	abʒontʼ	აბჟონტ	stirrup

Spelling systems

Comparison table of various spelling systems for Batsbi

Schiefner, 1856[9]	Imnaishvili, 1977		Kadagidze, 1984		Holisky & Gagua (1994)	Mikeladze, 2012		Desheriev, 1953	Chrelashvili, 1999	IPA
	Georgian transcription	Latin transcription	Georgian transcription	Latin transcription		Georgian transcription	Latin transcription
a	ა	a	ა	a	a	ა, ⁀ა	A a, ⁀A ⁀a	а	а	a
							Ǎ ǎ, â	а͏̆	а͏̆	ă
		ā		ā	a:		Ā ā	а̄	а̄	aː
							ā̄			aː
	აჼ	aⁿ	აჼ	aⁿ	aⁿ	აჼ, ⁀აჼ	à ã, ⁀à⁀ã	а̃	а̃	ã
							Ā̃ ā̃			ãː
b	ბ	b	ბ	b	b	ბ	B b	б	б	b
g	გ	g	გ	g	g	გ	G g	г	г	ɡ
d	დ	d	დ	d	d	დ	D d	д	д	d
e	ე	e	ე	e	e	ე	E e	е, э	е	e
						⁀	Ē ē, ⁀Ē ⁀ē		е̄	eː
		ĕ		ĕ	_		ě, ê	е͏̆	е͏̆	ĕ
	ეჼ	eⁿ	ეჼ	eⁿ	eⁿ	ეჼ	Ẽ ẽ	е̃	е̃	ẽ
							Ē̃ ē̃			ẽː
w	ვ	v	ვ	v	v	ვ	V v	в	в	v
z	ზ	z	ზ	z	z	ზ	Z z	з	з	z
t̔	თ	t	თ	t	t	თ	T t	т	т	tʰ
	თთ	tt	თჾ	tჾ	t:	თჾ	tჾ	тт	тт	tː
i	ი	i	ი	i	i	ი, ⁀ი	I i, ⁀I ⁀i	и	и	i
							Ī ī	ӣ	ӣ	iː
		ĭ		ĭ	I		î	и͏̆	и͏̆	ĭ
	იჼ	iⁿ	იჼ	iⁿ	iⁿ	იჼ	Ĩ ĩ	и̃	и̃	ĩ
							Ī̃ ī̃			ĩː
k	კ	ḳ	კ	ḳ	kʼ	კ	Ḳ ḳ	кӀ	кӀ	kʼ
l	ლ	l	ლ	l	l	ლ	L l	л	л	l
	ლლ	ll	ლჾ	lჾ	l:	ლჾ	lჾ	лл	лл	lː
l͓	ლʻ	lʻ	ლʻ	lʻ	ɫ	ლʻ	lʻ	лъ	лъ	ɬ
m	მ	m	მ	m	m	მ	M m	м	м	m
n	ნ	n	ნ	n	n	ნ	N n	н	н	n
j	ჲ	j	ჲ	j	j	ჲ	J j	й	й	j
						ჲჼ	j̇̃			j̃
o	ო	o	ო	o	o	ო, ⁀ო	O o, ⁀O ⁀o	о	о	o
							Ō ō	о̄	о̄	oː
							ō̄			oː
		ŏ		ŏ	O		ǒ, ô	о͏̆	о͏̆	ŏ
	ოჼ	oⁿ	ოჼ	oⁿ	oⁿ	ოჼ	Õ õ	о̃	о̃	õ
							Ō̃ ō̃			õː
p	პ	p̣	პ	p̣	pʼ	პ	P̣ p̣	пӀ	пӀ	pʼ
z̔	ჟ	ž	ჟ	ž	ž	ჟ	Ž ž	ж	ж	ʒ
r	რ	r	რ	r	r	რ	R r	р	р	ɾ
	რʻ	rʻ				რʻ	rʻ			ɾ̥
s	ს	s	ს	s	s	ს	S s	с	с	s
	სს	ss	სჾ	sჾ	s:	სჾ	sჾ	сс	сс	sː
t	ტ	ṭ	ტ	ṭ	tʼ	ტ	Ṭ ṭ	тӀ	тӀ	tʼ
	ტტ	ṭṭ	ტჾ	ṭჾ	tʼ:	ტჾ	ṭჾ	тӀтӀ	тӀтӀ	tʼː
u	უ	u	უ	u	u	უ, ⁀უ	U u, ⁀U ⁀u	у	у	u
							Ū ū		ӯ	uː
		ŭ		ŭ	U		Ǔ ǔ, û	у͏̆	у͏̆	ŭ
	უჼ	uⁿ	უჼ	uⁿ	uⁿ	უჼ, ⁀უჼ	Ũ ũ, ⁀Ũ ⁀ũ	у̃	у̃	ũ
p̔	ფ	p	ფ	p	p	ფ	P p	п	п	pʰ
k̔	ქ	k	ქ	k	k	ქ	K k	к	к	kʰ
g̔	ღ	ɣ	ღ	ɣ	ǧ	ღ	Ɣ ɣ	гӀ	гӀ	ɣ
q	ყ	q̣	ყ	q̣	qʼ	ყ	Q̣ q̣	къ	къ	qʼ
	ყყ	q̣q̣	ყჾ	q̣ჾ	qʼ:	ყჾ	q̣ჾ	къкъ	къкъ	qʼː
s̔	შ	š	შ	š	š	შ	Š š	ш	ш	ʃ
						შჾ	šჾ			ʃː
c̔	ჩ	č	ჩ	č	č	ჩ	Č č	ч	ч	t͡ʃʰ
c	ც	c	ც	c	c	ც	C c	ц	ц	t͡sʰ
ʒ	ძ	ʒ	ძ	ʒ	ʒ	ძ	Ʒ ʒ	дз	дз	d͡z
c̣	წ	c̣	წ	c̣	cʼ	წ	C̣ c̣	цӀ	цӀ	t͡sʼ
c̣̔	ჭ	č̣	ჭ	č̣	čʼ	ჭ	Č̣ č̣	чӀ	чӀ	t͡ʃʼ
x	ხ	x	ხ	x	x	ხ	X x	х	х	x
	ხხ	xx	ხჾ	xჾ	x:	ხჾ	xჾ	хх	хх	xː
q	ჴ	q	ჴ	q	q	ჴ	Q q	кх	кх	qʰ
	ჴჴ	qq	ჴჾ	qჾ	q:	ჴჾ	qჾ	ккх	кхкх	qː
ʒ̔	ჯ	ǯ	ჯ	ǯ	ǯ	ჯ	Ǯ ǯ	дж	дж	d͡ʒ
x̣	ჰ	h	ჰ	h	h	ჰ	H h	хӀ	хӀ	h
ḥ	ჰჾ	hჾ	ჰ⌝	h⌝	ħ	ჰ⁊	H⁊ h⁊/Ⱨ ⱨ	хь	хь	ħ
	ჵ	ꞷ	ჵ		_	ჵ	ꞷ	Ӏъ	Ӏъ	ʡ
ʼ	ʻ	ʻ	ჺ	ʻ	ʕ	ჺ/ع	ʻ	Ӏ	Ӏ	ʕ
—	ʼ	ʼ	ჸ	ʼ	ʔ	ჸ	ʼ	ʼ	ъ	ʔ
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	ф	—	f
—		w	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	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 us" vs. "us but not you"). Demonstratives work as third person pronouns.

It is noteworthy that for singular first person ('I') and second person ('you') almost always differ systematically by a single consonant, first person having /s/ and second person /ħ/, whereas the plural forms regularly have /txo/ for first person exclusive, and /ʃu/ for second person. Case endings are regular for all pronouns, shown below.^[7]

	Singular		Plural
	First	Second	First Exclusive	First Inclusive	Second
Nominative	სო so	ჰჾო ħo	ვე/ვაი ve/vai	თხო txo	შუ šu
Ergative	ას as	აჰჾ aħ	ვე ve	ათხ atx	ეშ eš
Genitive	სენ sẽ	ჰჾენ ħẽ	ვაინ vaĩ	თხენ txõ	შენ šũ
Dative	სონ son	ჰჾონ ħon	ვაინ vain	თხონ txon	შუნ šun
Allative	სოგუ sogu	ჰჾოგუ ħogu	ვაიგუ vaigu	თხოგუ txogu	შუგუ šugu
Adverbial	სოღ soǧ	ჰჾოღ ħoǧ	ვაიღ vaiǧ	თხოღ txoǧ	შუღ šuǧ
English	I	You (Thou)	Us but not you	You and us	You (Ye)

Third person pronouns/Demonstratives

In Batsbi, the distal demonstrative ('that yonder') also serves as a third person pronoun ('s/he', 'it', 'they'). As such, the language does not encode gender in its pronouns. However, gender may still be indexed on verbs and adjectives.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ო o	ობი obi
Ergative	ოჴუს oqus	ოჴარ oqar
Genitive	ოჴუინ oquĩ	ოჴრინ oqrĩ
Dative	ოჴუინ oquin	ოჴარნ oqarn
Instrumental	ოჴუვ oquv
English	s/he	they

Adnominal demonstratives

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

Adnominal demonstratives code no gender in Batsbi.

1a

ე

e

DEM.proximal

ფსტუიჩოვ

pstʼuinčov

woman-ERG

ე ფსტუიჩოვ

e pstʼuinčov

DEM.proximal woman-ERG

"This woman"

1b

ე

e

DEM.proximal

სტაკოვ

stʼakʼov

man-ERG

ე სტაკოვ

e stʼakʼov

DEM.proximal man-ERG

"This man

1c

ო

o

DEM.distal

სტაკოვ

stʼakʼov

man-ERG

ო სტაკოვ

o stʼakʼov

DEM.distal man-ERG

"That man over there"

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.^[7] 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:

^[6]

Noun class	Subject	Verb group	Translation
	Intransitive (subject agreement)
M	ვაშუ vašu	ვახენ v-axẽ	Brother M-left
F	ჲაშუ jašu	ჲახენ j-axẽ	Sister F-left
D	ბადერ bader	დახენ d-axẽ	The child D-left
Bd	ფჰჾუ pħu	ბახენ b-axẽ	The dog Bd-left
	Transitive (object agreement)
M	ნანას nanas	ვაშუ ვიკენ vašu v-ik'ẽ	Mother M-took brother (lit. "Mother brother took")
F	დადას dadas	ჲაშუ ჲიკენ jašu j-ik'ẽ	Father F-took sister (lit. "Father sister took")
D	ნანას nanas	ბადერ დიკენ bader d-ik'ẽ	Mother D-took the child
Bd	დადას dadas	ფჰჾუ ბიკენ pħu b-ik'ẽ	Father Bd-took the dog

Number of classes

Holisky and Gagua (1994) analyse Batsbi as having five noun classes,^[6] 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.^[7] 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[7]	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	ჲაჴჴონ j-aqqõ ჲ-ავინ j-avĩ	ჲა j-a	"the tooth is big" "the milk is light" "the rain is light"
*Bd	b-	d-	body parts (15 nouns)	ბაქ bak ბჺარკ bʕarkʼ ჭყემპუ čʼqʼempʷʼ	ბაჴჴონ b-aqqõ	ბა b-a	"the fist is big" "the eye is big" "the throat is big"
*D/J	d-	j-	body parts (4 nouns)	ბატრ batʼr ლარკ larkʼ ტოტ tʼotʼ ჭამაღ čʼamaǧ	დაჴჴონ d-aqqõ	და d-a	"the lip is big" "the ear is big" "the hand is big" "the cheek is big"
*B/B	b-		only 3 nouns	ბორაგ borag ჩექამ čekam ქაქამ kakam	ბაჴჴონ b-aqqõ	ბა b-a	"the knit slipper is big" "the boot is big" "the autumn wool is big"

Exceptions and Nouns without inherent gender

According to Holisky and Gagua (1994), the class with the largest number of nouns is the D-class (e.g. da "it is"), followed by the J-class (e.g. ja "it is"). Class D markers are also used when the noun class is unknown (as in open interrogatives, see 1a) and in clauses with mixed genders (1d).

2a

ვუხ

vux

what

და

d-a

Cl.D-be

ვუხ და

vux d-a

what Cl.D-be

"What is it?"

2b

ღოჭ

ǧočʼ

stick

ჲა

j-a

Cl.J-be

ღოჭ ჲა

ǧočʼ j-a

stick Cl.J-be

"It is a stick"

2c

ნექ

nek

knife

და

d-a

Cl.D-be

ნექ და

nek d-a

knife Cl.D-be

"It is a knife"

2d

ღოჭე

ǧočʼe

stick-and

ნექე

neke

knife-and

და

d-a

Cl.D-be

ღოჭე ნექე და

ǧočʼe neke d-a

stick-and knife-and Cl.D-be

"It is both a stick and knife"

Additionally, some nouns referring to humans have no inherent gender, so that class agreement is contextual. These includes the words for "teacher" (უჩიტელ učitʼel), "friend" (ნაყბისტ naq'bist'), "enemy" (მასთხოვ mastxov), "neighbor" (მეზობელ mezobel) and others.^[6]

3a

უჩიტელ

učitʼel

teacher

ვა

v-a

Cl.M-is

უჩიტელ ვა

učitʼel v-a

teacher Cl.M-is

"He is a teacher"

3b

უჩიტელ

učitʼel

teacher

ჲა

j-a

Cl.F-is

უჩიტელ ჲა

učitʼel j-a

teacher Cl.F-is

"She is a teacher"

Gender is lexicalized in a few words such as vašu (ვაშუ "brother") vs. jašu (ჲაშუ "sister"),in that -ašu could be translated as "sibling".

Gender agreement in adjectives

Only eight vowel-initial adjectives agree in gender with the noun they modify:^[6]

Adjective agreement (singular)

Gender (sg/pl)	-aqqõ	-ut'q'ĩ	-avĩ	-acĩ	-uq'ĩ	-asẽ	-acũ	-axxẽ
	-აჴჴონ	-უტყინ	-ავინ	-აცინ	-უყინ	-ასენ	-აცუნ	-ახხენ
M (v-/b-)	v-aqqõ	v-ut'q'ĩ	v-avĩ	v-acĩ	v-uq'ĩ	v-asẽ	v-acũ	v-axxẽ
F (j-/d-)	j-aqqõ	j-ut'q'ĩ	j-avĩ	j-acĩ	j-uq'ĩ	j-asẽ	j-acũ	j-axxẽ
D (d-)	d-aqqõ	d-ut'q'ĩ	d-avĩ	d-acĩ	d-uq'ĩ	d-asẽ	d-acũ	d-axxẽ
J (j-)	j-aqqõ	j-ut'q'ĩ	j-avĩ	j-acĩ	j-uq'ĩ	j-asẽ	j-acũ	j-axxẽ
Bd (b-/d-)	b-aqqõ	b-ut'q'ĩ	b-avĩ	b-acĩ	b-uq'ĩ	b-asẽ	b-acũ	b-axxẽ
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
-iš	ნიყ niq'	ნიყიშ niq'-iš	road(s)
-bi	ხენ xẽ	ხენბი xen-bi	tree(s)
-mi	დოკ dok'	დაკმი dak'-mi	heart(s)
-arč	ფჰჾუ pḥu	ფჰჾარჩ pḥ-arč	dog(s)
-erč	ტჺირ tʼʕir	ტჺირერჩ tʼʕir-erč	star(s)
-ar	კეჭ kʼeč̣	კაჭარ kʼač̣-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

Verbs in Batsbi encode not only tense, and aspect, but also gender, person, mood, and other categories. Person suffixes also encode whether the subject of the verb is ergative or absolutive. Person suffixes for are shown in the table below. Note that Batsbi verbs also agree with the object through a prefix denoting a noun class, not shown in the table that follows.

		Singular	Plural
First	Ergative to cut	თეტოს tet'o-s	თეტოთხ tet'o-tx
	Absolutive to take	-იკესუ -ikʼe-sʷ	-იკესთხუ -ikʼe-txʷ
Second	Ergative to cut	თეტოჰჾ tet'o-ħ	თეტუიშ tet'w-iš
	Absolutive to take	-ისკეჰჾუ -ikʼe-ħʷ	-ისკეშუ -ikʼe-šʷ
Third	Ergative to cut	თეცტუ tet'ʷ
	Absolutive to take

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)

Postpositions

In Batsbi, a number of spatial and time relations are expressed via postpositions. In many cases, the nouns that precede the postposition occur in the dative case, although there are exceptions.

Postposition	Example	English
მაქ mak	ტივენ მაქ ბა t'iv-en mak ba	They (M) are on the bridge (lit. bridge on they.are)
on
კიკელ kʼikʼel	ტივენ კიკელ ვაიხნას tʼiv-en kʼikʼel vaixnas	I (M) walked under the bridge (lit. bridge under I walked)
under
ფეხ pex	ნანენ ფეხ nan-en pex	Next to mother (lit. mother next to)
next to
ჰჾათხ(ე) ħatx(e)	წენინ ჰჾათხე c'en-in ħatxe	In front of the house (lit. house in front of)
in front of

Note that some of the directions or states which in English and Indo-European languages are expressed via prepositions, are in Batsbi expressed via locative cases.

Word order

The neutral word order in Batsbi is SOV.

4a

სტაკოვ

stʼakʼov

man-ERG

ჲაჰჾონ

jaħon

girl-DAT

ჴირ

qor

apple

ბალი

balin

B.Cl-give.AOR

სტაკოვ ჲაჰჾონ ჴირ ბალი

stʼakʼov jaħon qor balin

man-ERG girl-DAT apple B.Cl-give.AOR

"The man gave an apple to the girl"

4b

ფსარე

psare

yesterday

ფჰჾე

pħe

village

ჲაიხნას

jaixnas

F.Cl-go-1S.ERG

ფსარე ფჰჾე ჲაიხნას

psare pħe jaixnas

yesterday village F.Cl-go-1S.ERG

"I (a woman) went to the village yesterday"

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^[6]

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.