Notes on Ossetic orthography and transliteration

Oleg Belyaev

Ossetic is written using a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet presented in the table below. The sign
“n/a” means that the phoneme/letter under question is not present in Digor.

Ossetic IPA IPA Translit Translit Notes

letter (Iron) (Digor) (Iron) (Digor)
Аа /a/ /a/ a a
Ææ /ɐ/ /ɐ/ æ æ Does not actually correspond to IPA /æ/
Бб /b/ /b/ b b Unvoiced when geminate (/pː/, see below)
Вв /v/ /v/ v v
Гг /g/ /g/ g g Unvoiced when geminate (/kː/, see below)
(Гу гу) /gʷ/ n/a gʷ n/a Only occurs before /ə/ (ы), e. g. гуымиры
/gʷəmirə/ ‘idol’ but дагуат /dagwat/
‘ravine’
Гъ гъ /ʁ/ /ʁ/ ʁ ʁ
(Гъу /ʁʷ/ n/a ʁʷ n/a Only occurs before /ə/ (ы) e. g. агъуыз
гъу) /aʁʷəʒ/ ‘colourless’ but аргъуан
/arʁwan/ ‘church’
Дд /d/ /d/ d d Unvoiced when geminate (/tː/, see below)
Дж дж /ʤ/ n/a ʤ n/a Unvoiced when geminate (/ʧː/, see below)
Дз дз /z/ /ʣ/ z (ʣʣ) ʣ /ʦː/ when geminate
(/ʦː/) (/ʤ/) Digor: palatalised before front vowels
Ее /e/ /e/ e e In Iron: usually occurs only in /æ/ + /æ/
sandhi
Зз /ʒ/ /z/ ž z Digor: palatalised before front vowels
(/ʒ/)
Ии /i/ /i/, i i
/iː/
Йй /j/ /j/ j j
Кк /kʰ/ /kʰ/ k k Unaspirated when geminate (/kː/)
Къ къ /k’/ /k’/ k’ k’
Лл /l/ /l/ l l
Мм /m/ /m/ m m
Нн /n/ /n/ n n
Оо /o/ /o/ o o
Пп /pʰ/ /pʰ/ p p Unaspirated when geminate (/pː/)
Пъ пъ /p’/ /p’/ p’ p’
Рр /r/ /r/ r r
Сс /ʃ/ /s/ š s Iron: only pronounced as /s/ in forms of
(/ʃ/) the enclitic pronoun сæ /sɐ/
Digor: palatalised before front vowels
Тт /tʰ/ /tʰ/ t t Unaspirated when geminate (/tː/)
Тъ тъ /t’/ /t’/ t’ t’
Уу /u/, /u/, u, w u, w
/w/ /w/
(after (after
vowels) vowels)
Фф /f/ /f/ f f
Хх /χ/ /χ/ x x
Хъ хъ /q/ /q/ q q
Цц /s/ /ʦ/ s, cc c /ʦː/ when geminated
(/ʦː/) (/ʧ/) Digor: palatalised before front vowels
Цъ цъ /ʦ’/ /ʦ’/ c’ c’ Digor: palatalised before front vowels
(/ʧ’/)
Чч /ʧ/ n/a č n/a
Чъ чъ /ʧ’/ n/a č’ n/a
Ыы /ə/, /ɨ/ n/a ə n/a

Some Russian letters are absent from this alphabet, however the newer Russian loanwords are
written as they are in Russian.
Note on geminates: Geminates for obstruents in Ossetic do not have a voiced-unvoiced
opposition but are rather always ‘tense’ (and unaspirated), so тт, дт, дд, тд are all
orthographic/morphemic variants of /tː/ etc.