The Batsbi?

Other Peoples

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About
 



Some

useful

SENTENCES & PHRASES

in the
NORTH CAUCASIAN LANGUAGE
called

'BATSBUR'

OR

'TSOVA-TUSH'

copied from a paper by
DEE ANN HOLISKY & RUSUDAN GAGUA

*



There are approximately 3,000 speakers of Tsova-Tush. Our earliest knowledge places them in five villages on Mt. Tsovata in Tusheti, a mountainous region in northeastern Georgia. They began to move down from the mountains in the early part of the 19th century. Currently they live in the village of Zemo Alvani on the Alazani River (Akhmeta Rayon) in Kakheti, in eastern Georgia.

Tsova-Tush belongs to the Nakh subgroup of the Northeast Caucasian language family. It has survived centuries as a language isolate within Georgia. Its speakers, who are culturally Georgian, are all bilingual in Georgian and use Georgian as a literary language. As a result of this long history of language contact, the Tsova-Tush language has been greatly influenced by Georgian, especially in vocabulary.

Tsova-Tush is now being rapidly replaced by Georgian. It is no longer spoken by the children in Zemo Alvani, a circumstance which points to a probable language death early in the next century.

Tsova-Tush, the designation preferred by its speakers, is also known as Bats or Batsbi . The Tsova-Tush call their own language bacbur mot: (lit. 'Batsbur language'). (The suffix -ur is borrowed from Georgian.) Their self-name is (male singular) Batsav, (male plural) Batsbi. The term Tsova-Tush identifies them as a clan of the Tush (tribe), the other Tush clans being native speakers of Georgian.

Tsova-Tush has the distinction of being one of the first languages of the Caucasus for which a grammar was published (SCHIEFNER 1859), but it has been relatively neglected by researchers in this century. As a result, there is much which remains unclear about its linguistic system and there will be corresponding gaps in this description.



Link to the paper itself.



Batsbur's classification is East Caucasian/Nakh (first on the left in this representation):



The vowels are quite straightforward: 'front' = i, e; 'back' = u, o, a. The consonants, however, are much more challenging:


 

Obstruents

Resonants

 

Non-continuants

Continuants

Nasal

Liquid

Gl

 

Vl

Vd

Ejec

Voiceless

Vd

 

 

 

Labio-labial

p

b

p'

 

 

m

 

 

Labio-dental

 

 

 

 

v

 

 

 

Dental-alveolar

 

 

 

s s: ɫ

z

n

r l l:

 

Dental stops

t t:

d

t' t':

 

 

 

 

 

Dental affricates

c

ʒ

c'

 

 

 

 

 

Laminal-post-alveolar

č

ǯ

č'

š

ž

 

 

 

Palatal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

j

Dorso-velar

k

g

k'

x x:

ǵ

 

 

 

Dorso-uvular

q q:

 

q' q':

 

 

 

 

 

Radico-pharyngeal

 

 

 

ħ

ʕ

 

 

 

Glottal

ʔ

 

 

h

 

 

 

 


In case this page doesn't display properly, or to reproduce certain symbols (argh), the IPA HTML entities (Unicode Entity Codes for Phonetic Symbols) and IPA HTML diacritic entities (Unicode Entity Codes for Phonetic Diacritics) pages at Pennsylvania University provide an excellent list.



kok'a-ĕ borga-ĕ da
leg-& slipper-& is
'It is a leg and a slipper.'

nin-ŏ xil-ŏ eq'-in
nino water-ALLII jump-AOR
'Nino jumped into the water.'

laħ dažriloħ ba
snake grass-ALLII-LOC is
'The snake is in the grass.'

laħ dažriloren biplĭ
snake grass-ALLII-PREP crawl-PRES
'The snake is coming out of the grass.'

t'iv-en mak va
bridge-DAT on is
'He is on the bridge.'

oqus aɬ-inŏ dašn-i sadǵegʒelo-i-ǵ dis-en
3SG/ERG say-PASTP word-PL toast-PL-ADV remain-AOR
'The words said by him remained toasts.'

c'en-in ħatxĕ
house-DAT in/front/of
'In front of the house.'

bʕark'-i-n juq'e marɬŏ Ba
eye-PL-DAT between nose is
'The nose is between the eyes.'

o kox(e)-guiħĭ Vax-en
3Sg hut-towards go-AOR
'He went towards the hut.'

so-n-dal:a tagDi-en
1SG-DAT-because/of do-AOR
'He did it because of me.'

so-x beden coħanxa aɬ-in
1SG-CON but no/one/CON talk-AOR
'He only talked about me.'

oqu-x ma dak'livĭ, Daq'!
3SG-CON don’t think eat
'Don't think about it, eat!'

matx ma gib-a-l oqui-n
sun don’t see-IMP-l 3SG-DAT
'May she not see the sun.'

ğaziš xiɬ-a-l-aħŏ-e duqxane Jax-a-l-aħ
well be-IMP-l-2SG-& long/time live-IMP-l-2SG
'May you (a female) be well and live a long time.'

[X] lat'-a-l-a-t vainĭ
help-IMP-l-?-PL 1PL/INC/DAT
'May [X] help us.'

nan-en lelĕ me badr-ev maiqĭ Jaq'-o-lŏ
mother-DAT wants COMP child-ERG bread eat-PRES-SUBJ
'Mother wants the child to eat.'

vorɬ st'ak' cu kek'B-o-š Bauxk'ū
seven man cu mix-PRES-ABSOL sit
'Seven men are sitting and mixing "cu" [shepherds' food].'

kalikĭ Jaix-čeħ-as, šukia gu-as
town go/AOR-ABSOL-1SG Shukia see-1SG
'If I go to town, I will see Shukia.'

ħac'uk' mič-ak' Dax-n-olŏ
bird where-ever go-AOR-CONJ
'Wherever did the bird go??'

meɬax vedr mač'r-en
several bucket wine-GEN
'Several buckets of wine.'

oqus Jet: xen-ex Bexk'-in
3SG/ERG cow tree-CON tie-AOR
'He tied the cow to the tree.'

t'iv-en k'ik'el Jaix-n-as
bridge-DAT under go-AOR-1SG/ERG
'I walked under the bridge.'

meɬax vedr mač'ren
several bucket wine-GEN
'Several buckets of wine.'

sen ši Daqon ʕarč'in k'uit'ĭ
1SG/GEN two big black cat
'My two large black cats.'

obi labc'-ir Baq:-ai-čŏ ğaze-čŏ k'nat-i-cin
3PL play-IMPF big-PL-OBL good-OBL boy-PL-COM
'They played with the big [older], good boys.'

mit'o-ĕ p'et'o-ĕ ħen važar-i Ba?
Mito-& Peto-& 2SG/GEN brothers-Q is
'Are Mito and Peto your brothers?'

o lamzur joħ co-i Ja?
3SG pretty girl not-Q is
'Isn't she a pretty girl?'

vun juq'mat:din-lomcin toħo-aišĭ? com-i Da šu-go?
why midday-until sleep-2PL nothing-Q is 2PL-ALL/LOC
'Why do you sleep until midday? Don't you have anything to do?'


txa — 'today'
qan — 'tomorrow'
lamŏ — 'the day after tomorrow'
ulŏ — 'the day after the day after tomorrow'
p'alŏ — 'the day after the day after the day after tomorrow'



1 — cħa

11 — cħajt':

2 — ši

12 — šiit':

3 — qo

13 — qoit':

4 — Dʕivʔ

14 — Dʕevajt':

5 — pxi

15 — pxiit':

6 — jetx

16 — jetxajt':

7 — vorɬ

17 — vorɬajt':

8 — barɬ

18 — barɬajt':

9 — is:

19 — t'q'exc'

10 — it':

20 — t'q'a

The numbers from eleven to eighteen are based on ten: ‘eleven’ = one-ten, ‘twelve’ = two-ten, and so on. The two vowels in these numbers are usually pronounced as two separate vowels, often separated by a glottal stop or palatal glide. (Parallel forms with a diphthong have developed, but are relatively rare.) The numbers from 19 on are based on 20: 30 = 20 + 10, 40 = 2 x 20 , 100 = 5 x 20, and so on.



21 — t'q'acħa

70 — qouzt'q'ait': (60+10)

22 — t'q'aš

80 — Dʕe(v)uzt'q' (4x20)

30 — t'q'ait':

90 — Dʕe(v)uzt'q'ait': (80+10)

31 — t'q'acħait':

100 — pxauzt'q' (5x20)

32 — t'q'ašiit':

120 — jexc'at'q'

40 — šauzt'q' (2x20)

160 — barɬc'at'q'

50 — šauzt'q'ait': (40+10)

200 — ic'at'q'

60 — qouzt'q' (3x20)

1,000 — atas (from Georgian)