6.3. Ossetic

Sensitivity to complex onsets in Iron Ossetian

“…Ossetian (also called Ossetic) includes two dialects: Iron and Digor. While similar, they are not mutually intelligible (Erschler 2018(Erschler , 2021. The work in this paper concerns only Iron Ossetian and makes no claims about Digor.…”

“…The work in this paper concerns only Iron Ossetian and makes no claims about Digor. Ossetian is generally considered to be a Northeastern Iranian language along with the related languages, Yaghnobi and Sogdian (Hettich 2002;Abaev 1964) and is spoken in the Republics of North Ossetia-Alania (Russia) and South Ossetia (Georgia; semi-autonomous) (Erschler 2018;Hettich 2002). Some unknown number of speakers additionally live in surrounding regions in Russia, Turkey, and Georgia.…”

“…Some unknown number of speakers additionally live in surrounding regions in Russia, Turkey, and Georgia. It is estimated there are at least half a million speakers of Ossetian (Iron & Digor) with Iron making up the majority (Erschler 2018;Hettich 2002;Erschler 2021). According to Nationalia, a news source dedicated to reporting on stateless people and language diversity, there are approximately 755,000 inhabitants in North and South Ossetia.…”

“…Of those, 600,000 speak either Iron or Digor (Nationalia 2020). According to Erschler's (2018) translation of Kambolov (2007), no monolingual speakers remain in North Ossetia. In this region, Ossetian is restricted to private use while Russian is "the language of local authorities and courts" (Erschler 2018).…”

“…According to Erschler's (2018) translation of Kambolov (2007), no monolingual speakers remain in North Ossetia. In this region, Ossetian is restricted to private use while Russian is "the language of local authorities and courts" (Erschler 2018). The majority of grammar sketches for both dialects are written in Russian, but a handful have been translated, including Abaev (1964).…”