Ossetic or Ossetian is a language spoken on the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains on the borders of Russia and Georgia.

The area in Russia is known as North Ossetia-Alania (capital: Vladikavkaz), while the area in Georgia is called South Ossetia (capital: Tskhinvali). Ossetian speakers number about 500,000, 60 percent of whom live in Alania, and 15 percent in South Ossetia.

Ossetian is the only Iranian language with a sizeable community of speakers in the Caucasus. It is descended from the language of the Alans, a group within the nomadic Sarmatians. It is believed to be the only surviving descendent of a Sarmatian language.

There are two important dialects: Iron and Digor -- the former being the more widely spoken. Written Ossetian may be immediately recognized by its use of the æ, a letter to be found in no other language using the Cyrillic alphabet.

The literary form of the language has 35 phonemes -- 26 consonants, 7 vowels and 2 diphthongs.

Cyrillic Alphabet (since 1937): А/а, Ӕ/ӕ, Б/б, В/в, Г/г, Гъ/гъ, Д/д, Дж/дж, Дз/дз, Е/е, Ё/ё, Ж/ж, З/з, И/и, Й/й, К/к, Къ/къ, Л/л, М/м, Н/н, О/о, П/п, Пъ/пъ, Р/р, С/с, Т/т, Тъ/тъ, У/у, Ф/ф, Х/х, Хъ/хъ, Ц/ц, Цъ/цъ, Ч/ч, Чъ/чъ, Ш/ш, Щ/щ, Ъ/ъ, Ы/ы, Ь/ь, Э/э, Ю/ю, Я/я.

Roman Alphabet (1923-1937): A/a, Æ/æ, B/b, C/c, Č/č, D/d, E/e, F/f, G/g, H/h, I/i, J/j, K/k, L/l, M/m, N/n, O/o, P/p, Q/q, R/r, S/s, Š/š, T/t, U/u, V/v, X/x, Y/y, Z/z, Ž/ž