From the Sound Composition of the Taoian Dialect

Abstract

In contrast to the literary Georgian, In the Tao dialect we find:
A. Pharyngeal consonant ჴ, confirmed in Old Georgian and in some dialects.
From the southern kilos ჴ is confirmed in Shavshuri, not found in Adjarian and Klarjuli. ჴ can not form an opposition to Kh in Taoian, he is not a phoneme.
B. ჲ semitone. It is the result of a phonetic transformation in different positions of ი’s (ი>ჲ). In most cases ჲ is found in the next position of the vowel and creates a diphthong: ველაჲ, გედეჲარე, ჩამოჲდენ...
ჲ Ascending diphthong is evidenced only in borrowed words to transmit a semitone y: ჲაღი, ჲუღურთი...
C. Seedless უ: ბეური, გნოუ (<გნოვ), ძალუან (<ძალვან).
D. O and U umlaut sounds: ეხოწებიან, წეხუდე... Umlaut is a secondary appearance in the Tao dialect.