Bats language

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Northeast Caucasian language

title: "Bats language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["northeast-caucasian-languages", "languages-of-georgia-(country)", "endangered-caucasian-languages"] description: "Northeast Caucasian language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bats_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Northeast Caucasian language ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Bats
nativename	ბაცბა მოტტ bbl

| name = Bats | nativename = ბაცბა მოტტ bbl

| map2 = Lang Status 40-SE.svg | mapcaption2 =

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 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.

History

Tusheti, the northeastern mountainous region of Georgia, is home to four tribes that consider themselves Tushetians: the Batsbi (also known as Tsova-Tush{{Cite book | vauthors=Wichers Schreur J | title = Intensive language contact in the Caucasus The case of Tsova-Tush | place = Berlin | publisher = Language Science Press | date = 2025 | format = pdf | url = http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/459 | doi = 10.5281/zenodo.15275286 | doi-access = free | isbn = 9783961105106 ), the Gometsari, the Piriqiti, and the Chagma-Tush. Tsova-Tush people make up 50% of Tushetians. Only several hundred Tsova-Tush people speak the Bats language, 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 Batsbi, suggesting that all Tushetians once did and over time the Georgian language replaced Batsbi.

By linguistic lineage, the Bats (or Tsova-Tush) language can be traced back to Ghalghai (Ingush) origins.

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 Batsbi, 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

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

Phonology

Vowels

Batsbi 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 many examples of long vowels available in the literature.

::data[format=table]

Front	Back	High	Mid	Low



::

Batsbi also has the following diphthongs: , , , , , and .

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 კნათენ for [k'natʰẽ] .

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. ::data[format=table title="Consonant Phonemes of BatsHolisky, 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"]

Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal(ized)	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal	Nasal	Plosive	aspirated	lenis	voiceless	fortis	voiced	ejective	lenis	fortis	Fricative	voiceless	lenis	fortis	lateral	voiced	Approximant	lenis	fortis	Flap

		t͡sʰ

		d͡z
		t͡sʼ








::

Phonotactics

The most common syllable type in Batsbi is CVC. However, Batsbi words commonly contain sequences of two consonants, the second of which is often a fricative. 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, consonant sequences in Batsbi often fail to conform to the sonority sequencing principle. ::data[format=table title="Word-initial Two-consonant Clusters"]

C1	C2	Example	English	Stop
b	ʒ	bʒã	ბჟან	livestock
p	ħ	pʰħe	ფჰჾე	village
t͡ʃ	x	t͡ʃʰxotʼ	ჩხოტ	waterfall
kʼ	ʕ	kʼʕokʼ	კჺოკ	hole
m	ʕ	mʕal	მჺალ	common
tʼ	qʼ	tʼqʼa	ტყა	twenty
kʼ	n	kʼnatʰẽ	კნათენ	boy
t͡ʃʼ	qʼ	t͡ʃʼqʼempʷʼ	ჭყემპუ	throat
::

::data[format=table title="Word-initial Three-consonant Clusters"]

C1	C2	C3	Example	English
pʰ	s	tʼ	pʰstʼu	ფსტუ
tʰ	x	ɾ	tʰxɾil	თხრილ
tʼ	kʼ	m	tʼkʼmel	ტკმელ
tʼ	qʼ	v	tʼqʼve	ტყვე
g	ɾ	d	gɾdeml	გრდემლ
::

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

::data[format=table title="Word-final clusters"]

C1	C2	Example	English
ɾ	kʼ	tsaɾkʼ	ცარკ
pʰ	x	vepʰx	ვეფხ
tʰ	x	matʰx	მათხ
v	r	skʼivɾ	სკივრ
n	tʼ	abʒontʼ	აბჟონტ
::

Spelling systems

Comparison table of various spelling systems for Batsbi

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

Singular	Plural	First	Second	First
სო	ჰჾო	ვე/ვაი	თხო	შუ
ას	აჰჾ	ვე	ათხ	ეშ
სენ	ჰჾენ	ვაინ	თხენ	შენ
სონ	ჰჾონ	ვაინ	თხონ	შუნ
სოგუ	ჰჾოგუ	ვაიგუ	თხოგუ	შუგუ
სოღ	ჰჾოღ	ვაიღ	თხოღ	შუღ
I	You (Thou)	You and us	Us but not you	You (Ye)
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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. ::data[format=table title=""]

Singular	Plural	Nominative	Ergative	Genitive	Dative	Instrumental	English
ო	ობი
ოჴუს	ოჴარ
ოჴუინ	ოჴრინ
ოჴუინ	ოჴარნ
ოჴუვ
s/he	they
::

Adnominal demonstratives

::data[format=table title=""]

Proximal	Medial	Distal
ე	ის	ო
ეჴ	იცხ	ოჴ
this	that	that yonder
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Interrogative pronouns

::data[format=table title=""]

who?	what?	when?	how much?	where?	which one?
მენ	ვუხ	მაცან	მელʻ	მიჩ, მიჩა	მენუხ
ჰჾან	სტევ	მენხუიჩოვ
::

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: ::data[format=table title=""]

Noun class	Subject	Verb group	Translation
M	ვაშუ	ვახენ	Brother M-left
F	ჲაშუ	ჲახენ	Sister F-left
D	ბადერ	დახენ	The child D-left
Bd	ფჰჾუ	ბახენ	The dog Bd-left

M	ნანას	ვაშუ ვიკენ	Mother M-took brother
F	დადას	ჲაშუ ჲიკენ	Father F-took sister
D	ნანას	ბადერ დიკენ	Mother D-took the child
Bd	დადას	ფჰჾუ ბიკენ	Father Bd-took the dog
::

Number of classes

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:

::data[format=table]

Label	Singular	Plural	Description	Nouns	Adjective	Verb	English
M	v-	b-	male humans	{{plainlist		ვაჴჴონ	ვა

| | F | j- | d- | female humans | {{plainlist| | ჲაჴჴონ | ჲა | "the mother is big" | | D | d- | various, default class | {{plainlist| | დაჴჴონ | და | "the child is big" | | | Bd | b- | d- | animals | {{plainlist| | ბაჴჴონ | ბა | "the dog is big" "the bread is big" "the bear is big" | | J | j- | various | {{plainlist|* ცარკ bbl | ჲაჴჴონ | ჲა | "the tooth is big" "the milk is light" "the rain is light" | | | *Bd | b- | d- | body parts (15 nouns) | {{plainlist| | ბაჴჴონ | ბა | "the fist is big" | | *D/J | d- | j- | body parts (4 nouns) | {{plainlist| | დაჴჴონ | და | "the lip is big" | | *B/B | b- | only 3 nouns | {{plainlist| | ბაჴჴონ | ბა | "the knit slipper 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).

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

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: ::data[format=table title="Adjective agreement (singular)"]

Gender	-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. ::data[format=table title="Nominative"]

Suffix	Nom-Singular	Nom-Plural	English
-i	საგ	საგი	deer
-iš	ნიყ	ნიყიშ	road(s)
-bi	ხენ	ხენბი	tree(s)
-mi	დოკ	დაკმი	heart(s)
-arč	ფჰჾუ	ფჰჾარჩ	dog(s)
-erč	ტჺირ	ტჺირერჩ	star(s)
-ar	კეჭ	კაჭარ	bundle(s)
-er	ჲოპყ	აპყერ	ash(es)
::

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

::data[format=table]

ნეკ	ცოკალ	დოკ	Singular	Plural	Singular
nekʼ	nekʼi	t͡sʰokʼal	t͡sʰokʼli	dok'	dak'bi
nekʼẽ	nekʼã	t͡sʰokʼlẽ	t͡sʰokʼlã	dak'ĩ	dak'bĩ
nekʼen	nekʼin	t͡sʰokʼlen	t͡sʰokʼlin	dak'an	dak'bin
nekʼev	nekʼiv	t͡sʰokʼlev	t͡sʰokʼliv	dak'av	dak'bav
nek'ex	nekʼax	t͡sʰokʼlex	t͡sʰokʼlax	dak'ox	dak'bax
nekʼegʷ	nekʼigʷ	t͡sʰokʼlegʷ	t͡sʰokʼligʷ	dak'ogʷ	dak'bigʷ
nekʼeɣ	nekʼiɣ	t͡sʰokʼleɣ	t͡sʰokʼliɣ	dak'oɣ	dak'biɣ
nekʼt͡sʰĩ,	nekʼicĩ	t͡sʰokʼlet͡sʰĩ	t͡sʰokʼlit͡sʰĩ
::

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. ::data[format=table title=""]

Singular	Plural
First	Ergative
Absolutive	-იკესუ
Second	Ergative
Absolutive	-ისკეჰჾუ
Third	Ergative
Absolutive
::

Batsbi has explicit inflections for agentivity of a verb; it makes a distinction between: : bbl (I fell down through no fault of my own) : bbl (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. ::data[format=table title=""]

Postposition	Example	English
მაქ	ტივენ მაქ ბა	They (M) are on the bridge
on
კიკელ	ტივენ კიკელ ვაიხნას	I (M) walked under the bridge
under
ფეხ	ნანენ ფეხ	Next to mother
next to
ჰჾათხ(ე)	წენინ ჰჾათხე	In front of the house
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.

Numerals

Like most of its relatives, Batsbi numerals are vigesimal, using 20 as a common base. This is mainly evident in the construction of higher decads, so: : 40 (bbl) is formed from 2 20 : 200 (bbl) formed from is 10 20

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

::data[format=table title="Basic numbers"]

1	11	2
bbl	bbl	1+10
bbl	bbl	2+10
bbl	bbl	3+10
bbl	bbl	4+10
bbl	bbl	5+10
bbl	bbl	6+10
bbl	bbl	7+10
bbl	bbl	8+10
bbl	bbl	20–1
bbl	bbl
::

::data[format=table title="Higher decads"]

21	22	30	31	32	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	120	160	200	1000
bbl	20+1
bbl	20+2
bbl	20+10
bbl	(20+1)+10
bbl	(20+2)+10
bbl	2×20
bbl	(2×20)+10
bbl	3×20
bbl	(3×20)+10
bbl	4×20
bbl	(4×20)+10
bbl	5×20
bbl	from bbl 6x20
bbl	8×20
bbl	from bbl 10x20
bbl	from Georgian
::

In Bats, as in its closest relatives Chechen and Ingush, the number four (bbl) 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 bbl (four (males)). This is seen in the word 'four' itself as well as its derivatives.

References

{{cite book | title = Историко-сравнительный анализ фонетики нахских языков | last = Имнайшвили | first = Давид Силибистрович | location = Тбилиси | publisher = Мецниереба | year = 1977
{{cite book | last1 = Микеладзе | first1 = М. | last2 = Гигашвили | first2 = К. | title = Цоватушинско-грузинско-русско-английский словарь | location = Тбилиси | year = 2012 | url = https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/295254/1/Wovatushur_Qartul_Rusul_Inglisuri_Leqsikoni_Tomi_I.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191106143649/https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/bitstream/1234/295254/1/Wovatushur_Qartul_Rusul_Inglisuri_Leqsikoni_Tomi_I.pdf | archive-date=2019-11-06

References

"UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger".
"Batsbi alphabet, pronunciation and language". Omniglot.com.
Makalatia, Sergi. (1983). "Tusheti". Nakaduli.
Grigolia, Alexander. (1939). "Custom and Justice in the Caucasus: The Georgian Highlanders". University of Pennsylvania.
[[Kevin Tuite]] (2007). [http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/caucasus/IberoCaucasian.pdf The rise and fall and revival of the Ibero-Caucasian hypothesis], pp. 7-8. ''Historiographia Linguistica'', 35 #1.
HG1994{{Full citation needed. (September 2013)
Hauk, Bryn. (Summer 2019). "Acoustic properties of singleton and geminate ejectives in Tsova-Tush". ICPhS 2019 Conference Proceedings.
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
Easterday, Shelece. (2019-07-04). "Highly complex syllable structure: A typological and diachronic study". [object Object].
Schiefner, Anton. (1856). "Versuch über die Thusch-Sprache oder die khistische Mundart in Thuschetien". Buchdruckerei der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Hauk, Bryn. "Batsbi Sketch Grammar".

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