Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Which Ossetic dialect became the basis of its literary language?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
The Iron dialect is the basis of the Ossetic literary language. While Ossetic consists of two major dialects—the eastern Iron and the western Digor—the majority of Ossetes speak Iron, which was established as the foundation for the literary language by the national poet Kosta Khetagurov.1