Ossetian

Where it’s spoken

Ossetian (Ирон ӕвзаг, Iron ævzag) is the official language of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in the Russian Federation and of the disputed Republic of South Ossetia. About 540,000 speakers live there, with the language under significant pressure from Russian. The two main dialects are Iron (the standard) and Digor.

What it sounds like

Ossetian retains many archaic Eastern Iranian features lost in Persian or Pashto. It has nine vowels and 26 consonants, including ejective stops (k’, p’, t’, c’) likely acquired through contact with neighboring Caucasian languages. Stress generally falls on the first or second syllable depending on vowel quality.

How it’s written

Ossetian has used Arabic script (briefly), Mkhedruli (the Georgian script, in South Ossetia), Latin (1923–1937), and Cyrillic (since 1937 in North Ossetia, with South Ossetia following). The current Cyrillic alphabet has 43 letters, including the Latin-style æ for a low front vowel.

History

Ossetian is the modern descendant of the language of the Alans, an Iranian nomadic people who dominated the steppes from the 1st to 13th centuries CE. The Mongol invasions pushed Alans into the Caucasus, where they became the modern Ossetians. The Nart epics, shared with neighboring peoples, are central to Ossetian heritage.