Inrtoduction

[l]
[ɫ]
▁e	▁o
▁i	▁a
	▁ʃ
	▁s
	▁x
	▁#

The distributions of these two phones can now be seen much more clearly: [l] only occurs before the front vowels [e] and I whereas [] only occurs before the back vowel [o], the central vowel [a], the voiceless fricatives [], [s], and [x], as well as the end of the word. Because these environments are completely at odds with one another—front vowels are not back or center vowels, voiceless fricatives are not word boundaries—this distribution is a classic example of complementary distribution. Both potential phones don't seem to be able to appear in each other's surroundings.
Noting how this pattern also supports our initial hypothesis in Step 1 that the distribution of these two phones may have something to do with tongue backness given that some of these environments differ in that quality, specifically front versus back vowels, take note of how this pattern also fits our preliminary conjecture.
Step 5. Organize the phones into phonemes
We might surmise that [l] and [] are allophones of the same phoneme because they appear to be in complementary distribution. The question is whether they act more similarly to English I and I which speakers typically conceptualize as belonging to the same phoneme, or more similarly to English [h] and [h], which speakers would typically conceptualize as belonging to different phonemes. It is not always obvious what to do, but in most situations, we want to search for phonetic similarity.
The Georgian laterals share a great deal of phonetic similarity, including the same phonation (voiced), place of articulation (alveolar), and style of articulation (lateral approximant); the only place where they diverge is in secondary articulation. Since [l] and [] share a great deal of phonetic similarity and complementary distribution, it makes sense to classify them as allophones of the same phoneme.
Step 6: Identify the default allophone and finalize the analysis
The most common allophone of a phoneme, also known as the elsewhere case, is the default allophone of that phoneme. The default for Georgian lateral approximants is unambiguously [], since it can be found in a variety of various situations that are all different from one another. Conventionally, we represent phonemes using the default allophone's symbol unless there is a solid reason to do differently. In this case, since [] is the default allophone, we would represent the phoneme including [l] and [] as /.
It's important to keep in mind that the phone [] and the phoneme [] are two entirely different types of objects. Allophones are phones, which implies they are concrete quantifiable sounds that are physically created, as opposed to phonemes, which are theoretical abstractions that may also correspond to some sort of mental representation. The allophones [l] and [], which appear before front vowels and otherwise as the default [], respectively, make up the phoneme /.
Like the diagram for the phoneme / in Figure 4.1, phonemes and their allophones are frequently represented graphically in a tree-like diagram. In order to conserve space in the tree, we formally abbreviate "before front vowels" as front V.

Figure 4.1. Phoneme diagram for/ɫ/ in Georgian.
Predictions
Beyond what is evident in the provided data, this research offers predictions about laterals in Georgian. Every clear [l] in Georgian should be followed by a front vowel, while every dark [] should be followed by a different vowel than a front vowel. All of the information we examined supports these hypotheses, but we could still be mistaken if new information surfaces that deviates from our analysis.
Because it is the default case and should exist in the most environments, for instance, we predict that [] should be able to come before any consonant, not just voiceless fricatives, but clear [l] is limited to only occurring before front vowels. This prediction can be tested! More Georgian words can be searched for to check what kind of lateral comes before different consonants. We only encounter dark [] preceding consonants, as in [aq'a]'siege,' which cannot be pronounced *[alq'a] with a light [l], which is consistent with our expectations.