| Group |
Iranian (with Persian,
Kurdish etc.), Northeast Iranian (with Sogdian,
Yagnobi etc.) |
| Geography |
Today's Ossetia is divided between Russia in the north and Georgia
in the south. This happened because historically Ossetian people inhabit
both sides of the Caucasus. In both Russia and Georgia, Ossetians have
an autonomy. The total number of speakers makes about half a million. Ossetic
uses two dialects (Digor and Iron): Digor is spoken in northwestern Ossetia,
Iron - in northeastern and southern Ossetia. |
| History |
The language is a remnant of the ancient peoples of the South Russian
steppes: nomadic tribes of Scythians, Sarmatians,
Alans, Sacians and Massagetians who used to migrate
over the region since the 1st millennium BC. Some of them settled in the
northern Caucasus and took up agriculture. Today's Ossetians still call
themselves Ir originated from Aryana. |
| Phonetics |
Caucasian influence is reflected in the presence of specific glottalic
consonants and a number of typical Caucasian affricates. Vowels are simple
and have no distinction between long and short ones. |
| Morphology |
The noun declension is agglutinative and has up to 9 cases, again due
to the Caucasian influence. The gender does not exist, and the plural number
is formed with the help of the agglutinative suffix -t-. |
| Lexicon |
In the vocabulary, there is plenty of Russian words (describing technical
terms) and Caucasian words (for the nature and cattlebreeding lexicon). |
| Writing |
Ossetic first used the Arabic script since the 18th language, then
Cyrillic-based alphabet in the 19th century, then Latinized graphics in
1923-38, and finally again Cyrillic. |
| Close Contacts |
Ossetic is unique among Iranian languages for its lengthy contacts
with Baltic and Slavic tongues in the prehistoric times and with the languages
of the Caucasus (Ingush, Chechen, Kabardinian, Dagestani) in modern times. |
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| Picture |
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| More info |
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