Ukrainian phonology

This article deals with the phonology of the Ukrainian language.

Vowels

Here IPA|<ɔ> is used to represent a mid back rounded vowel (IPA| [o̞] ) to distinguish it from the closer unaccented allophone IPA| [o] .

Consonants

Ukrainian, like Russian, has a non-syllabic IPA| [i̯] as an allophone of IPA|/j/.

Voiceless obstruents are voiced when preceding voiced ones, but the reverse is not true. [Harvcoltxt|Mascaró|Wetzels|2001|p=209]

* ('our')
* ('our grandfather')

* ('birch')
* ('bindweed')

Only postalveolar and dental consonants (other than IPA|/r/) can be geminated.

When two or more consonants occur word-finally, then a vowel is epenthesized under the following conditions. [Carlton, T.R. "A Guide to the Declension of Nouns in Ukrainian". Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta Press, 1972] Given a consonantal grouping C₁(ь)C₂(ь), where C is any consonant. The vowel is inserted between the two consonants and after the ь. A vowel is only inserted if C₂ is either IPA|/k/, IPA|/ʋ/, IPA|/l/, IPA|/m/, IPA|/r/, or IPA|/ʦ/. In this case:

# If C₁ is either IPA|/ʋ/, IPA|/ɦ/, IPA|/k/, or IPA|/x/, then the epenthisized vowel is always IPA| [o]
## No vowel is epenthesized if the IPA|/ʋ/ is derived from a Common Slavic vocalic *l, for example, IPA|/ʋoʋk/ (see below)
# If C₂ is IPA|/l/, IPA|/m/, IPA|/r/, or IPA|/ʦ/, then the vowel is IPA|/ɛ/. The only known exception is IPA|/ʋidm/ which simply doesn't have an epenthesized vowel.
# The combinations, IPA|/-stʋ/ IPA|/-sk/ are not broken up
# If the C₁ is IPA|/j/ (й), then the above rules can apply. However, both forms (with and without the fill vowel) often exist

Historical phonological changes

In the Ukrainian language, the following sound changes have occurred between the Common Slavic period and current Ukrainian:

# In a newly closed syllable, that is, a syllable that ends in a consonant, Common Slavic *o and *e mutated into *i if the next vowel was one of the yers (*ĭ/ь or *ŭ/ъ).
# Pleophony: The Common Slavic combinations, CoLC and CeLC, where L is either *r or *l become in Ukrainian
## CorC gives "CoroC" (Common Slavic *borda gives Ukrainian "boroda")
## ColC gives "ColoC" (Common Slavic *bolto gives Ukrainian "boloto")
## CerC gives "CereC" (Common Slavic *berza gives Ukrainian "bereza")
## CelC gives "ColoC" (Common Slavic *melko gives Ukrainian "moloko")
# The Common Slavic nasal vowel *ę is reflected as IPA|/jɑ/; a preceding labial consonant generally was not palatalized after this, and after a postalveolar it became IPA|/ɑ/ Examples: Common Slavic *pętĭ became Ukrainian IPA|/pjɑt/ (п’ять); Common Slavic *telę became Ukrainian IPA|/tɛlʲja/; and Common Slavic *kyrčę became Ukrainian IPA|/kɪrtʃɑ/.
# Common Slavic *ě (Cyrillic Unicode|ѣ), generally became Ukrainian IPA|/i/ except:
## word-initially, where it became IPA|/ji/: Common Slavic *ěsti became Ukrainian IPA|/jistɪ/
## after the post-alveolar sibilants where it became IPA|/ɑ/: Common Slavic *ležěti became Ukrainian IPA|/lɛʒɑtɪ/
# Common Slavic *i and *y are both reflected in Ukrainian as IPA|/ɪ/
# The Common Slavic combination -CǐjV, where V is any vowel, became IPA|-CʲCʲV, except
## if C is labial or IPA|/r/ where it became -CjV
## if V is the Common Slavic *e, then the vowel in Ukrainian mutated to IPA|/ɑ/, e.g., Common Slavic *žitĭje became Ukrainian IPA|/ʒɪttjɑ/
## if V is Common Slavic *ĭ, then the combination became IPA|/ej/, e.g., genitive plural in Common Slavic *myšĭjĭ became Ukrainian IPA|/mɪʃɛj/
## if one or more consonants precede C then there is no doubling of the consonants in Ukrainian
# Sometime around the early thirteenth century, the voiced velar plosive lenited to IPA| [ɣ] (except in the cluster *zg). [Harvcoltxt|Shevelov|1977|p=145] Within a century, IPA|/g/ was reintroduced from Western European loanwords and, around the sixteenth century, IPA| [ɣ] debuccalized to IPA| [ɦ] . [Harvcoltxt|Shevelov|1977|p=148]
# Common Slavic combinations *dl and *tl were simplified to IPA|/l/, for example, Common Slavic *mydlo became Ukrainian IPA|/mɪlo/
# Common Slavic *ǔl (vocalic *Unicode|l̥) and *ǐl (vocalic Unicode|ĺ̥) became IPA|/oʋ/, while word-final *lǔ became IPA|/ʋ/. For example, Common Slavic *vĺ̥kǔ became IPA|/ʋoʋk/ in Ukrainian.

References

Bibliography

* [http://www.vesna.org.ua/txt/mov.html Ukrainian IPA] by Tonia Bilous, "Весна", December 05, 2005, retrieved December 05, 2005 (Ukrainian language: [http://www.vesna.org.ua/txt/biloust/UkrIPA.pdf UkrIPA.pdf] , [http://www.vesna.org.ua/txt/biloust/UkrIPA.doc UkrIPA.doc] )
*citation
last=Mascaró
first=Joan
last2=Wetzels
first2= W. Leo
year= 2001
title=The Typology of Voicing and Devoicing
journal= Language
volume= 77(2)
pages = 207-244
* citation
last=Shevelov
first=George Y.
year=1977
chapter=On the Chronology of "h" and the New "g" in Ukrainian
title= [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~huri/pdf/hus_volumes/vI_n2june1977.pdf in "Harvard Ukrainian Studies]
volume=vol 1
issue=2
pages=137–52
place=Cambridge
publisher=Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
*cite book | last=Zilyns'kyj | first=I. | title=A Phonetic Description of the Ukrainian Language. | publisher=Harvard University Press| year=1979 | id=ISBN 0-674-66612-7.