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Ossetian language

Alternative names (including historical names and autoglottonyms): Ossete, Ossetic

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PDFVolume 7. Iranian languages. III. Eastern Iranian languages
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Genealogy

Indo-European → Indo-Iranian → Iranian

Geography

Main country: South Ossetia (show on the map)

Identifiers

Features

Phonemic structure

[A‑1] Number of degrees of vowel height Five [A‑1‑4]
[A‑5] Presence of length degrees Absent [A‑5‑2]
[A‑7] Presence of vowel opposition in labialization Absent [A‑7‑2]
[A‑9] Presence of vowel opposition in nasalization Absent [A‑9‑2]
[A‑13] Diphthongs and triphthongs No diphthongs and triphthongs [A‑13‑1]
[A‑15] Inventory of obstruents by laryngeal features Opposition by presence and absence of voice [A‑15‑1]
[A‑17] Inventory of obstruents by place of articulation Labial, coronal, palatal and velar/uvular [A‑17‑3]
[A‑18] Inventory of labial obstruents by place of articulation Bilabial and labiodental [A‑18‑2]
[A‑20] Inventory of guttural obstruents by place of articulation Velar and uvular [A‑20‑3]
[A‑22] Additional articulatory oppositions of obstruents By palatalization [A‑22‑3]
[A‑23] Inventory of sonorants by manner of articulation Nasal, liquid, vibrant and glide [A‑23‑6]
[A‑24] Inventory of sonorants by place of articulation Labial, coronal and dorsal [A‑24‑14]
[A‑25] Additional articulatory oppositions of sonorants Absent [A‑25‑1]

Prosodic phenomena

[B‑2] Prosodic unit carrier Syllable [B‑2‑1]
[B‑3] Character of prosodic unit by its choice Phonological and non-phonological [B‑3‑3]
[B‑4] Stress type (quality characteristics) Dynamic [B‑4‑1]
[B‑5] Stress fixedness Fixed [B‑5‑2]
[B‑9] Limited stress carriers First syllable [B‑9‑1]
[B‑9] Limited stress carriers Second syllable [B‑9‑2]

Syllable

[C‑1] Syllable onset Both null and non-null onset possible [C‑1‑4]
[C‑2] Syllable coda Both null and non-null coda possible [C‑2‑4]

Phonologic structure and phenomena

[D‑2] Types of restrictions on the phonemic structure in the initial position No vowel clusters [D‑2‑6]
[D‑7] Types of differences between content and function words Differences in accentuation [D‑7‑2]
[D‑9] Types of differences between native and borrowed words Differences in accentuation [D‑9‑2]
[D‑13] Type of altenations Vowel and consonant alternations [D‑13‑6]

Morphological type of language

[E‑1] Type of language by type of morpheme combination in a word Fusional-agglutinative [E‑1‑5]
[E‑2] Fusional type features Cumulative affixes [E‑2‑2]
[E‑3] Agglutinative type features No phonetic alternations in morphemes [E‑3‑4]

Nominal classifications

[F‑1] Number of agreement classes No agreement classes [F‑1‑1]
[F‑6] Agreement of cardinal numerals in gender Absent [F‑6‑1]
[F‑8] Opposition by person/non-person Morphological [F‑8‑2]

Number

[G‑1] Number in nouns Singular and plural [G‑1‑1]
[G‑2] Single number marking Unmarked [G‑2‑2]
[G‑4] Agreement in number Predicative and attributive [G‑4‑4]
[G‑5] Form of a noun in numeral phrases Singular and plural [G‑5‑3]

Case meanings

[H‑1] Number of noun cases Eight-twelve [H‑1‑3]
[H‑2] Subject and object marking Verbal agreement and case affixes [H‑2‑5]

Verbal categories

[I‑4] Voice forms coincidence Absent [I‑4‑1]
[I‑5] Tense forms Past [I‑5‑1]
[I‑5] Tense forms Future [I‑5‑3]
[I‑5] Tense forms Non-past [I‑5‑5]
[I‑6] Aspect and tense expression Syncretic [I‑6‑2]
[I‑7] Expression of tense categories Auxiliary verbs and affixes [I‑7‑3]
[I‑8] Syncretic expression of several verb meanings Person, number, tense, aspect, and modality (mood) [I‑8‑17]
[I‑9] Marking of person in present tense verbs In singular and plural [I‑9‑3]
[I‑10] Transitivity marker Morphonological alternation [I‑10‑4]

Deictic categories

[J‑1] Pronominal words Pronouns-nouns and pronouns-adjectives [J‑1‑11]
[J‑2] Expression of deictic categories Demonstrative pronouns, postpositions and adverbs [J‑2‑17]
[J‑3] Function words expressing spatial orientation of action Postpositions [J‑3‑2]
[J‑4] Content words expressing spatial orientation of action Pronouns and adverbs [J‑4‑6]
[J‑5] Morphological expression of (in)definiteness Absent [J‑5‑1]
[J‑8] Expression of negation Negative pronouns and negative particles [J‑8‑6]
[J‑9] Negation marker position Preposition [J‑9‑3]

Parts of speech and inflection

[K‑1] Personal pronouns inflection Pronominal inflection type [K‑1‑3]
[K‑2] Articles No articles [K‑2‑1]
[K‑7] Number of conjugation types Single type of conjugation [K‑7‑1]
[K‑8] Verb agreement types Subject [K‑8‑2]
[K‑9] Agreement categories expressed in participle Number [K‑9‑5]
[K‑10] Tense expressed by participle Past [K‑10‑4]
[K‑12] Agreement categories expressed in adjective Absent [K‑12‑1]
[K‑16] Inflectional categories of noun Number, case, and (in)definiteness [K‑16‑14]
[K‑17] Cumulative expression of several categories in noun Number and case [K‑17‑6]
[K‑18] Inflection means Internal flection and affixes [K‑18‑5]

Word formation

[L‑1] Word formation means Derivation and compounding [L‑1‑12]

Simple sentence

[M‑2] Word order fixedness Relatively free [M‑2‑3]
[M‑3] Dominant word order SOV [M‑3‑2]
[M‑4] Order of nouns and its modifier Modifier precedes noun [M‑4‑1]

Complex sentence

[N‑4] Compound sentence types Subordination and compounding [N‑4‑4]
[N‑5] Compound sentence syndesis and asyndeton Both syndesis and asyndeton possible [N‑5‑3]

Unfilled features

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