On the Script Reform in Ossetia: G.V. Baev vs. G.A. Dzagurov

Abstract

The introduction in Ossetia of a Roman-based alphabet, which history has been quite short (from 1923 till 1938) but still extremely interesting, sparked extensive and heated debates between the supporters of the old Cyrillic tradition and the advocates of the radical graphic change. While for many languages of the Soviet Union the choice of the Latin script was intended to be a cultural and ideological weapon against the graphic monopoly of the Muslim tradition, the case of Ossetic is quite different and extremely interesting, as the graphic ‘conflict’ was about the replacement of the Russian alphabet and the abandonment of a solid literary tradition, albeit a young one. In this way, the Latinization of Ossetian became an important test case for discussions conducted because of not so much religious or linguistic, but rather identity considerations and cultural issues, as reflected in the choice of the script. The present article provides a “post-event” account of the debate between supporters and opponents of the new alphabet, given by the cultural activist Grigoriy A. Dzagurov in a short pamphlet, published in 1923. On the other side, across the Soviet border, we find a memorandum by the emigrant Georgiy Vasilievich Baev in which he expresses his critical opinion about the change of alphabet in North Ossetia and sets out the cultural-historical and practical reasons for his preference for the Cyrillic script. The examination of the two opposing positions clearly shows once again, should there be any need, the purely ideological and cultural nature of the discussion.