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Ossetic

Indo-European family · Iranian branch · Eurasia

Ossetic is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

The closest grammar profile to Ossetic in the atlas belongs to Turkish, an Altaic language: the two agree on 30 of the 45 features both have coded.

On Obligatory Possessive Inflection, all 9 other Indo-European languages coded have the value “No obligatorily possessed nouns”; Ossetic has “Obligatorily possessed nouns exist”.

Ossetic: order of head and dependent in 7 constructions← beforeafter →verbsubject80%13%Order of Subject and Verb: Subject precedes verb (SV). Of 1,496 languages coded, 1,192 put the subject before the verb and 194 after it.verbobject47%46%Order of Object and Verb: Object precedes verb (OV). Of 1,518 languages coded, 712 put the object before the verb and 705 after it.adpositionnoun phrase49%43%Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase: Postpositions. Of 1,184 languages coded, 577 put the noun phrase before the adposition and 511 after it.noungenitive55%37%Order of Genitive and Noun: Genitive-noun (GenN). Of 1,249 languages coded, 685 put the genitive before the noun and 468 after it.nounadjective27%64%Order of Adjective and Noun: Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN). Of 1,367 languages coded, 373 put the adjective before the noun and 879 after it.noundemonstrative45%48%Order of Demonstrative and Noun: Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN). Of 1,225 languages coded, 551 put the demonstrative before the noun and 590 after it.nounnumeral42%53%Order of Numeral and Noun: Numeral precedes noun (NumN). Of 1,154 languages coded, 479 put the numeral before the noun and 608 after it.
The order Ossetic uses in 7 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Ossetic with Turkish or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Ossetic, rarest first.

Inside the Indo-European family

Ossetic matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 27 of the 45 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (60%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks 34th from the top.

Where Ossetic breaks with a clear majority of its relatives
FeatureOsseticMost relatives
Possessive ClassificationTwo classesNo possessive classification (9 of 9)
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress SystemsLong vowel: long vowels are heavy for stressNo weight, or weight factor unknown (4 of 4, Iranian branch)
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and ClauseMore than one type of adverbial subordinators with none dominantInitial subordinator word (4 of 5, Iranian branch)

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Ossetic; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Ossetic for 45 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 37 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Ossetic shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 3

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Rhythm TypesAbsent: no rhythmic stress98 of 323
Fixed Stress LocationsNo fixed stress (mostly weight-sensitive stress)220 of 502
The Velar NasalNo velar nasal235 of 469

Word structure 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional MorphologyPredominantly suffixing406 of 969

Nouns and pronouns 10

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Distributive NumeralsMarked by suffix32 of 251
Position of Pronominal Possessive AffixesNo possessive affixes260 of 902
Ordinal NumeralsFirst, two-th, three-th110 of 321
Position of Case AffixesCase suffixes452 of 1,031
The Associative PluralAssociative plural marker also used for additive plurals104 of 236
Coding of Nominal PluralityPlural suffix513 of 1,066
Person Marking on AdpositionsAdpositions without person marking209 of 378
Indefinite PronounsInterrogative-based indefinites194 of 326
Politeness Distinctions in PronounsSecond person pronouns encode no politeness distinction136 of 207
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal PronounsNo gender distinctions254 of 378

Noun phrases 1

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Number of Possessive NounsNone reported233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 4

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
The ProhibitiveSpecial imperative + special negative146 of 496
Imperative-Hortative SystemsThe language has a maximal system, but not a minimal one133 of 375
Position of Tense-Aspect AffixesTense-aspect suffixes667 of 1,131
The OptativeInflectional optative absent271 of 319

Word order 7

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Adjective and NounModifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)373 of 1,367
Order of Numeral and NounNumeral precedes noun (NumN)479 of 1,154
Order of Demonstrative and NounDemonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)542 of 1,225
Order of Object and VerbObject precedes verb (OV)712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun PhrasePostpositions577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and NounGenitive-noun (GenN)685 of 1,249
Order of Subject and VerbSubject precedes verb (SV)1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 6

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
Order of Person Markers on the VerbA precedes P96 of 379
Negative MorphemesNegative particle502 of 1,157
Passive ConstructionsThere is a passive construction162 of 373
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person MarkingNo zero realization of third person S forms181 of 380
Verbal Person MarkingPerson marking of both the A and P arguments193 of 378
Alignment of Verbal Person MarkingAccusative alignment212 of 380

Vocabulary 5

FeatureValueLanguages sharing it
M-T PronounsM-T pronouns, paradigmatic27 of 230
M in First Person Singularm in first person singular53 of 230
TeaWords derived from Sinitic cha110 of 230
M in Second Person SingularNo m in second person singular152 of 230
N-M PronounsNo N-M pronouns194 of 230