- Bats language
language
name=Bats
nativename=batsba motjiti
states=Georgia
region=Zemo-Alvani inKakheti
speakers=3,420 (2000 WCD)
familycolor=Caucasian
fam2=North Caucasian "(disputed)"
fam3=Northeast Caucasian
fam4=Nakh
iso2=cau|iso3=bblBats (also Batsi, Batsbi, Batsb, Batsaw, Tsova-Tush) is the
language of theBats people , a Caucasian minority group, and is part of the Nakh family ofCaucasian language s. It had 2,500 to 3,000 speakers in 1975.There is only one dialect. It exists only as a spoken language, as the Bats people use Georgian as their written language. The language is not mutually intelligible with either Chechen or Ingush, the other two members of the Nakh family.
The Bats are Georgian Orthodox Christians. Ethnographically they are Tushetians, an ethnographical group of Georgians, living in the north-east of Georgia. Tushetia is divided into 4 clans, and one of them is Tsovata clan, the clan of Bats. Tsovata clan was in the
Tsova Gorge , but now all members of it, all Tsova-Tushs live in the village ofZemo-Alvani .History
Until the middle of the 19th century, the Bats lived in
Tushetia , the mountain region of Northeast Georgia. TheTsova Gorge in Tushetia was inhabited by four Bats communities: the Sagirta, Otelta, Mozarta and Indurta. Later they settled on theKakhetia Plain , in the village ofZemo-Alvani , where they still live. Administratively they are part of theAkhmeta district of Georgia. There are some families of Bats inTbilisi and other bigger towns in Georgia.Classification
Bats belongs to the Nakh family of
Caucasian language s.Geographic distribution
Most speakers of Bats live in the village of
Zemo-Alvani , on theKakhetia Plain , in theAkhmeta district of Georgia. There are some families of Bats inTbilisi and other bigger towns in Georgia.Grammar
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 any indigenous Caucasian languages based on sound scientific principles. [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.]Bats has eight
noun class es, the highest number among the Caucasian languages. Bats also has explicit inflections foragentivity of a verb; it makes a distinction between IPA|as woʒe "I fell down" (sc. through no fault of my own) and IPA|so woʒe "I fell down" (sc. and it was my own fault).References
External links
* [http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/bats.shtml The Red Book of Peoples of the Russian Empire: The Bats]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bbl Ethnologue report on Bats]
* [http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/lang?id=3048 Languages of the World report]
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