Digor people

The Digor or West Ossetians (Ossetian: Дигорæнттæ, romanized: Digorænttæ, pronounced [digɔːrɐ, digɔːrɐnttɐ]) are a subgroup of the Ossetians (Alans). They speak the Digor dialect of the Eastern Iranian Ossetian language, which in USSR, was considered a separate language until 1937. Since 1932, it has been considered just a dialect of Ossetian language. The speakers of the other dialect - Iron (East Ossetian) - do not understand Digor (West Ossetian), although the Digor usually understand East Ossetian, as it was the official language of the Ossetian people and was taught in schools. In the 2002 Russian Census 607 Digors were registered, but by the 2010 Russian Census, their number had dropped to only 223. It was estimated that there are 100,000 speakers of the dialect, most of whom identify as Ossetians. The Digor mainly live in Digorsky, Irafsky, Mozdoksky districts and Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia–Alania, also in Kabardino-Balkaria and Turkey (Poyrazlı, Boğazlıyan).