Ossetic language
| Ossetic (Ирон æвзаг Iron avžag) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Russia, Georgia, Turkey |
| Region: | North Ossetia, South Ossetia |
| Total speakers: | ~500,000 |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Indo-European languages Iranian languages |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | North Ossetia (federal subject of Russia) |
| Regulated by: | - |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | OS |
| ISO 639-2 | OSS |
| SIL | OSE |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Ossetic or Ossetian (In Ossetic: Иронау, Ironau) is an Iranian language spoken on the slopes of the Caucasus mountains on the borders of Russia and Georgia.
The area in Russia is known as North Ossetia-Alania (capital: Vladikavkaz), while the area in Georgia is called South Ossetia (capital: Tskhinvali). Ossetian speakers number about 500,000, 60 percent of whom live in Alania, and 15 percent in South Ossetia.
Ossetian, together with Tati-Persian and Talyshi is one of the main Iranian languages with a sizeable community of speakers in the Caucasus. It is descended from the language of the Alans, a group within the nomadic Sarmatians. It is believed to be the only surviving descendant of a Sarmatian language.
There are two important dialects: Iron and Digor -- the former being the more widely spoken. Written Ossetian may be immediately recognized by its use of the æ, a letter to be found in no other language using the Cyrillic alphabet. A third dialect of Ossetic, Jassic, was formerly spoken in Hungary.
The literary form of the language has 35 phonemes -- 26 consonants, 7 vowels and 2 diphthongs.
Cyrillic Alphabet (since 1937): А/а, Ӕ/ӕ, Б/б, В/в, Г/г, Гъ/гъ, Д/д, Дж/дж, Дз/дз, Е/е, Ё/ё, Ж/ж, З/з, И/и, Й/й, К/к, Къ/къ, Л/л, М/м, Н/н, О/о, П/п, Пъ/пъ, Р/р, С/с, Т/т, Тъ/тъ, У/у, Ф/ф, Х/х, Хъ/хъ, Ц/ц, Цъ/цъ, Ч/ч, Чъ/чъ, Ш/ш, Щ/щ, Ъ/ъ, Ы/ы, Ь/ь, Э/э, Ю/ю, Я/я.
Roman Alphabet (1923-1937): A/a, Æ/æ, B/b, C/c, Č/č, D/d, E/e, F/f, G/g, H/h, I/i, J/j, K/k, L/l, M/m, N/n, O/o, P/p, Q/q, R/r, S/s, Š/š, T/t, U/u, V/v, X/x, Y/y, Z/z, Ž/ž