Editing Bats language (section)

== Phonology ==

=== Vowels ===
Bats has a [[Linguistic typology|typologically common]] five-vowel system. Although some authors claim that all vowels but /u/ contrast in [[Vowel length|length]], no [[minimal pair]]s are given in any studies of Batsbi, nor are examples of long vowels available in the literature.

{| class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align: center"
|-
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[High vowel|High]]
| {{IPA link|i}} 
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}} 
| {{IPA link|ɔ}} 
|-
! [[Low vowel|Low]]
|colspan=2| {{IPA link|a}} {{ns}} {{IPA link|aː}}
|}

Bats also has the following [[diphthong]]s: {{IPA|/ei/}}, {{IPA|/ui/}}, {{IPA|/oi/}}, {{IPA|/ai/}}, {{IPA|/ou/}}, and {{IPA|/au/}}.<ref>HG1994{{Full citation needed|date=September 2013}}</ref>

All vowels and diphthongs have [[Nasalization|nasalised]] [[allophone]]s that are the result of [[Phonetics|phonetic]] and [[Morphophonology|morphophonemic]] processes: [ ĩ ẽ ã õ ũ ]. Nasalised vowels are represented in the [[Georgian scripts|Mkhedruli script]] via a superscript ⟨ნ⟩ following the vowel in question, as in კნათ'''ე<sup>ნ</sup>''' for [k'nat'''ẽ'''] {{gloss|boy-{{gcl|GEN}}}}.

=== Consonants ===
Batsbi has a large [[Consonant|consonant inventory]], relatively typical for a Nakh-Dagestanian language, containing [[Ejective consonant|ejectives]], [[Pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeals]] and [[Uvular consonant|uvulars]]. Unlike its close Nakh relatives, [[Chechen language|Chechen]] and [[Ingush language|Ingush]], Batsbi has on the other hand retained the voiceless [[Lateral consonant|lateral]] fricative [[Voiceless dental and alveolar lateral fricatives|/ɬ/]]. Also notable is the presence of two [[Gemination|geminate]] ejectives, /tʼː/ and /qʼː/, which are cross-linguistically rare.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hauk|first=Bryn|last2=Hakim|first2=Jacob|date=Summer 2019|title=Acoustic properties of singleton and geminate ejectives in Tsova-Tush|url=https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS2019/papers/ICPhS_3532.pdf|journal=ICPhS 2019 Conference Proceedings}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" border="1" style="text-align: center"
|+ Consonant Phonemes of Bats<ref name="HG1994">Holisky, Dee Ann and Gagua, Rusudan, 1994. "Tsova-Tush (Batsbi)", in ''The indigenous languages of the Caucasus'' Vol 4, Rieks Smeets, editor. Caravan Books, pp.	147-212</ref>
|-
! colspan=3 |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]([[Palatalization (phonetics)|ized]])
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyngeal]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=3 | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan=5 | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! <small>[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|lenis]]</small>
| {{IPA link|pʰ}}
| {{IPA link|tʰ}}
| {{IPA link|t͜sʰ}}
| {{IPA link|t͡ʃʰ}}
| {{IPA link|kʰ}}
| {{IPA link|qʰ}}
| 
| {{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
! <small>[[voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|fortis]]</small>
| 
| {{IPA link|tː}}
| 
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|qː}}
| 
|
|-
! colspan=2 | <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|d͜z}}
| {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
| {{IPA link|g}}
| 
|
|
|-
! rowspan=2 | <small>[[ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|lenis]]</small>
| {{IPA link|pʼ}}
| {{IPA link|tʼ}}
| {{IPA link|t͜sʼ}}
| {{IPA link|t͡ʃʼ}}
| {{IPA link|kʼ}}
| {{IPA link|qʼ}}
| 
|
|-
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|fortis]]</small>
| 
| {{IPA link|tʼː}}
| 
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|qʼː}}
| 
|
|-
! rowspan=4 | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! rowspan=3 | <small>[[voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|lenis]]</small>
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| {{IPA link|x}}
| 
| {{IPA link|ħ}}
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|fortis]]</small>
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|sː}}
| 
| {{IPA link|xː}}
| 
| 
| 
|-
! <small>[[lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|ɬ}}
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
|-
! colspan=2 | <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA link|v}}
| 
| {{IPA link|z}}
| {{IPA link|ʒ}}
| {{IPA link|ɣ}}
| 
| rowspan=2 | {{IPA link|ʕ}}
| 
|-
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|lenis]]</small>
| 
| {{IPA link|l}}
| 
| {{IPA link|j}}
| 
| 
| 
|-
! <small>[[fortis and lenis|fortis]]</small>
| 
| {{IPA link|lː}}
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
|-
! colspan=3 | [[Flap consonant|Flap]]
| 
| 
| {{IPA link|ɾ}}
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
|}

=== Phonotactics ===
The most common syllable type in Batsbi is CVC.<ref name="HG1994" /> However, Batsbi words commonly contain sequences of two consonants, the second of which is often a fricative.<ref name=":0" /> Stop-stop clusters often contain an [[Ejective consonant|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 language|Georgian]]. Like many clusters in non-[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] languages,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Easterday |first=Shelece |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3268721 |title=Highly complex syllable structure: A typological and diachronic study |date=2019-07-04 |publisher=[object Object] |language=en |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3268721}}</ref> consonant sequences in Batsbi often fail to conform to the [[sonority sequencing principle]]. 
{| class="wikitable"
|+Word-initial Two-consonant Clusters<ref name="HG1994" />
!C1
!C2
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |Example
! rowspan="2" |English
|-
!'''Stop'''
!'''Fricative'''
|-
|b
|ʒ
|'''bʒ'''ã
|ბჟა<sup>ნ</sup>
|''livestock''
|-
|p
|ħ
|'''pħ'''e
|ფჰჾე
|''village''
|-
|tʃ
|x
|'''tʃx'''otʼ
|ჩხოტ
|''waterfall''
|-
|kʼ
|ʕ
|'''kʼʕ'''okʼ
|კჺოკ
|''hole''
|-
|m
|ʕ
|'''mʕ'''al
|მჺალ
|''common''
|-
!'''Stop'''
!'''Stop'''
! colspan="2" |'''Example'''
!'''English'''
|-
|tʼ
|qʼ
|'''tʼqʼ'''a
|ტყა
|''twenty''
|-
|kʼ
|n
|'''kʼn'''atẽ
|კნათე<sup>ნ</sup>
|''boy''
|-
|tʃʼ
|qʼ
|'''tʃʼqʼ'''empʷʼ
|ჭყემპუ
|''throat''
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Word-initial Three-consonant Clusters<ref name="HG1994" />
!C1
!C2
!C3
! colspan="2" |Example
!English
|-
|p
|s
|tʼ
|'''pstʼ'''u
|ფსტუ
|''wife''
|-
|t
|x
|ɾ
|'''txɾ'''il
|თხრილ
|''ditch''
|-
|tʼ
|kʼ
|m
|'''tʼkʼm'''el
|ტკმელ
|''dust''
|-
|tʼ
|qʼ
|v
|'''tʼqʼv'''e
|ტყვე
|''prisoner''
|-
|g
|ɾ
|d
|'''gɾd'''eml
|გრდემლ
|''anvil''
|}
Of the words containing three-consonant onsets above, only /psʼtu/ "wife" and /tʼkʼmel/ "dust" are native to Batsbi, the rest being [[loanword]]s from Georgian.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Word-final clusters
!C1
!C2
! colspan="2" |Example
!English
|-
|ɾ
|kʼ
|tsa'''ɾkʼ'''
|ცარკ
|''tooth''
|-
|p
|x
|ve'''px'''
|ვეფხ
|''tiger''
|-
|t
|x
|ma'''tx'''
|მათხ
|''sun''
|-
|v
|r
|skʼi'''vɾ'''
|სკივრ
|''chest, trunk''
|-
|n
|tʼ
|abʒo'''ntʼ'''
|აბჟონტ
|''stirrup''
|}