Cyrillic | IPA (Iron) | IPA (Digor) | Abaev | GLD (Iron) | GLD (Digor) | Notes |
А а | ɑ | ɑ | a | a | a | |
Æ æ | ɜ | ɜ | æ | ɜ | ɜ | Does not correspond to IPA [æ]. |
Б б | b, pː | b, pː | b | b, pː | b, pː | Unvoiced when geminated, i.e., {бб, бп, пб, пп} are all pronounced as pː. |
В в | v | v | v | v | v | |
Г г | g, kː | g, kː | g | g, kː | g, kː | Unvoiced when geminated, i.e., {гг, гк, кг, кк} are all pronounced as kː. |
Гу гу | gʷ, kːʷ | gʷ, kːʷ | g˳ | gʷ, kːʷ | gʷ, kːʷ | In Iron, only occurs before ǝ {ы}, e. g. gʷǝmirǝ {гуымиры} 'idol' but dagwat {дагуат} 'ravine'. Same behaviour as /g/ under gemination. |
Гъ гъ | ʁ | ʁ | ğ | ʁ | ʁ | |
Гъу гъу | ʁʷ | ʁʷ | ğ˳ | ʁʷ | ʁʷ | In Iron, only occurs before ǝ {ы}, e. g. aʁʷǝž {агъуыз} 'colourless' but arʁwan {аргъуан} 'church'. |
Д д | d, tː | d, tː | d | d, tː | d, tː | Unvoiced when geminated, i.e., {дд, дт, тд, тт} are all pronounced as tː. |
Дж дж | ʤ, ʧː | - | ǵ | ǯ, čː | - | Unvoiced when geminated, i.e., {дждж, джч, чдж, чч} are all pronounced as čː. |
Дз дз | z, ʦː | ʣ, ʤ | ʒ | z, cː | ʒ, ǯ, cː | Iron: the affricate cː is only retained under gemination, otherwise z. Digor: the variant ǯ occurs before front vowels. Unvoiced when geminated, i.e., {дздз, дзц, цдз, цц} are all pronounced as cː. |
Е е | e, je | e, je | e | e, ye | e, ye | Iron: usually occurs only in ɜ + ɜ sandhi. Pronounced as /ye/ word-initially. |
З з | ʒ | z, ʒ | z | ž | z, ž | Digor: the variant ž occurs before front vowels. |
И и | i | i, iː | i | i | i | Digor: long iː is presumably a separate phoneme, but this is not reflected in the orthography. |
Й й | j | j | j | y | y | |
К к | kʰ, kː | kʰ, kː | k | k, kː | k, kː | Unaspirated when geminated (kː). |
Ку ку | kʷ | kʷ | k˳ | kʷ | kʷ | In Iron, only occurs before ǝ. |
Къ къ | kʼ | kʼ | kʼ | kʼ | kʼ | |
Къу къу | kʼʷ | kʼʷ | kʼ˳ | kʼʷ | kʼʷ | In Iron, only occurs before ǝ. |
Л л | l | l | l | l | l | |
М м | m | m | m | m | m | |
Н н | n | n | n | n | n | |
О о | o | o | o | o | o | |
П п | pʰ, pː | pʰ, pː | p | p, pː | p, pː | Unaspirated when geminated (pː). |
Пъ пъ | pʼ | pʼ | pʼ | pʼ | pʼ | |
Р р | r | r | r | r | r | |
С с | ʃ | s, ʃ | s | š | s, š | Digor: the variant š occurs before front vowels. |
Т т | tʰ, tː | tʰ, tː | t | t, tː | t, tː | Unaspirated when geminated (tː). |
Тъ тъ | tʼ | tʼ | tʼ | tʼ | tʼ | |
У у | u, w (after vowels) | u, w (after vowels) | u, w | u, w | u, w | When {у} is used after velar consonants, it may mark labialization of the preceding consonant (see above). |
Ф ф | f | f | f | f | f | |
Х х | χ | χ | x | χ | χ | |
Ху ху | χʷ | χʷ | x˳ | χʷ | χʷ | In Iron, only occurs before ǝ. |
Хъ хъ | qʰ, qː | qʰ, qː | q | q, qː | q, qː | Unaspirated when geminated (qː). |
Хъу хъу | qʷ | qʷ | q˳ | qʷ | qʷ | In Iron, only occurs before ǝ. |
Ц ц | s, ʦː | ʦʰ, ʧʰ, ʦː | c | s, cː | c, č, cː | Iron: cː when geminated, otherwise s. Digor: palatalized before front vowels. |
Цъ цъ | ʦʼ | ʦʼ, ʧʼ | cʼ | cʼ | cʼ, čʼ | Digor: palatalized before front vowels. |
Ч ч | ʧʰ, ʧː | - | ḱ | č, čː | - | Unaspirated when geminated (čː). |
Чъ чъ | ʧʼ | - | čʼ | čʼ | - | |
Ы ы | ǝ | - | y | ǝ | - | |
Modern transliteration | Bartholomae's trasliteration | GLD |
a | a | a |
ā | ā | aː |
i | i | i |
ī | ī | iː (sometimes i and iia) |
u | u | u |
ū | ū | uː (sometimes u) |
ǝrǝ | ǝrǝ | r̩ |
ą | ą | an / aːn |
ā̊ | ā̊ | aː (preceding ŋh and ṇ); aːh (in final position) |
ǝ | ǝ | a (before a nasal) |
ǝ̄ | ǝ̄ | a (preceding a nasal in Old Avestan); /ah/ (in final position in Old Avestan) |
e | e | eː (in final position); a (after ii, followed by a palatal consonant or a syllable that contains i, ii, or e) |
ē | ē | eː (in final position) |
aē | aē | ay |
ōi | ōi | ay (in final position and in a closed syllable) |
o | o | a (after m, p or uu, followed by a syllable that contains u) |
ō | ō | oː (results from IIr {*as} in final position) |
ao | ao | aw |
ǝ̄u | ǝ̄u | aw (before š) |
āi | āi | aːy |
āu | āu | aːw |
k | k | k |
g | g | g |
γ | γ | γ |
x | x | x |
c | č | č |
j | ǰ | Ǯ |
t | t | t |
d | d | d |
θ | θ | θ |
t̰ | t̰ | t (in final position after a vowel or r) |
p | p | p |
b | b | b |
f | f | f |
n | n | n |
m | m | m |
y, ii | y | y |
v, uu | v | w |
r | r | r |
s | s | s |
z | z | z |
š | š | š |
ž | ž | ž |
h | h | h |
ŋh | ŋh | h (in intervocalic position in the sequence {-ā̆ŋhā̆-}) |
xᵛ | xᵛ | hw |