Ukrainian phonology

Vowel spelling

Consonant spelling

Consonant assimilation

Unlike Russian and several other Slavic languages, Ukrainian does not have final devoicing for most obstruents, as can be seen, for example, in віз "cart", which is pronounced [ˈʋ⁽ʲ⁾iz]^ⓘ, not *[ˈʋ⁽ʲ⁾is].^[5]

Ukrainian however has assimilatory voicing: voiceless obstruents are voiced when preceding voiced obstruents.^[16] (Voiced sonorants do not trigger voicing.)

• наш [naʃ] ('our')
• наш дід [nɐʒ ˈd^⁽ʲ⁾id] ('our grandfather')

There is no such assimilation in the reverse direction (voicing of voiceless obstruents following voiced obstruents).^[16]

• бере́за [beˈrɛzɐ] ('birch')
• бері́зка [beˈr⁽ʲ⁾izkɐ] ('small birch')

With a few exceptions, there is no word-final or assimilatory devoicing in Ukrainian. The exceptions are легко, вогко, нігті, кігті, дьогтю, дігтяр, and their derivatives: /ɦ/ may then be devoiced to [h] or even merge with /x/.^[5]

Unpalatalized dental consonants /n, t, d, t͡s, d͡z, s, z, r, l/ become palatalized if they are followed by other palatalized dental consonants /nʲ, tʲ, dʲ, t͡sʲ, d͡zʲ, sʲ, zʲ, rʲ, lʲ/. They are also typically palatalized before the vowel /i/. Historically, contrasting unpalatalized and palatalized articulations of consonants before /i/ were possible and more common, with the absence of palatalization usually reflecting that regular sound changes in the language made an /i/ vowel actually evolve from an older, non-palatalizing /ɔ/ vowel. Ukrainian grammar still allows for /i/ to alternate with either /ɛ/ or /ɔ/ in the regular inflection of certain words. The absence of consonant palatalization before /i/ has become rare, however, but is still allowed when the і succeeding a consonant originated from older о, evidenced by о preserved in some word forms such as стіл / стола ("table", N sg./G sg.).^[5]

While the labial consonants /m, p, b, f, w/ cannot be fully phonemically palatalized, they can still precede one of the iotating vowels є і ьо ю я, and are realized as semi-palatalized, with many speakers replacing the would-be sequences *|mʲ, pʲ, bʲ, fʲ, wʲ| with the consonant clusters /mj, pj, bj, fj, wj/, a habit also common in nearby Polish.^[5] The separation of labial consonants from /j/ is already hard-coded in many Ukrainian words (and written as such with an apostrophe), such as in В'ячеслав /wjat͡ʃɛˈslaw/ "Vyacheslav", ім'я /iˈmja/ "name" and п'ять /pjatʲ/ "five".^{[citation needed]} The combinations of labials with iotating vowels most commonly occur in loan words, e. g. бюро /bʲuˈrɔ/ "bureau", as well as in certain native words when following consonants and followed by /a/ or /ɔ/, e.g. духмяний /duxˈmʲanɪj/ "aromatic", мавпячий /ˈmawpʲat͡ʃɪj/ "monkey (adj.)", and цвьохнути /ˈt͡sʲwʲɔxnutɪ/ "to clang". Such combinations are written without the apostrophe after consonants (except ⟨р⟩) in the same morpheme, e.g. свято /ˈsʲwʲatɔ/ "holiday" (but черв'як /t͡ʃerˈwjak/ "worm" and зв'язок /zwjaˈzɔk/ "union", where з- is a prefix).^[17] Unlike other semi-palatalized labial consonants, /wʲ/ can have a distinguishing role in words, e.g. свят /ˈsʲwʲat/ "holiday, G pl." and сват /swat/ "matchmaker".^[5]

Dental sibilant consonants /t͡s, d͡z, s, z/ become palatalized before any of the labial consonants /m, p, b, f, w/ followed by one of the iotating vowels є і ьо ю я, but the labial consonants themselves cannot retain full phonemic palatalization.^[5]

Sibilant consonants (including affricates) in clusters assimilate with the place of articulation and palatalization state of the last segment in a cluster. The most common case of such assimilation is the verbal ending -шся in which |ʃsʲa| assimilates into /sʲːa/.^[5]

Dental plosives /t, tʲ, d, dʲ/ assimilate to affricate articulations before coronal affricates or fricatives /t͡s, d͡z, s, z, t͡sʲ, d͡zʲ, sʲ, zʲ, t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ and assume the latter consonant's place of articulation and palatalization. If the sequences |t.t͡s, d.d͡z, t.t͡sʲ, d.d͡zʲ, t.t͡ʃ, d.d͡ʒ| regressively assimilate to */t͡s.t͡s, d͡z.d͡z, t͡sʲ.t͡sʲ, d͡zʲ.d͡zʲ, t͡ʃ.t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ.d͡ʒ/, they gain geminate articulations /t͡sː, d͡zː, t͡sʲː, d͡zʲː, t͡ʃː, d͡ʒː/.^[5]

Vowel alternations

Ukrainian exhibits a system of vowel alternations, where the open-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ get raised to /i/ in closed syllables:^[18]

In turn, vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ in closed syllables drop in open syllables:

Some rarer vowel alternations include:

1. /ɔ/ - /a/ (before a stressed /a/)

горіти /ɦɔritɪ/ "to burn" - гарячий /ɦarʲat͡ʃɪi̯/ "hot"

2. /ɛ/ - /ɔ/ (after post-alveolars)

шестима /ʃɛstɪma/ "six (gen.)" - шостий /ʃɔstɪi̯/ "sixth"

3. /ɛ/ - /ɪ/ - ∅ (in some verb roots)

беру /bɛru/ "I take" - збирати /zbɪratɪ/ "to gather" - брати /bratɪ/ "to take"

Palatalization

1. Iotation: Occurred in *Cj combinations. Now is mainly seen it verb conjugations:
   • /tj/ → /t͡ʃ/: летіти /lɛtitɪ/ "to fly" → лечу /lɛt͡ʃu/ "I fly"
   • /dj/ → /d͡ʒ/: водити /ʋɔdɪtɪ/ "to lead" → воджу /ʋɔd͡ʒu/ "I lead"
   • /sj/ → /ʃ/: просити /prɔsɪtɪ/ "to request" → прошу /prɔʃu/ "I request"
   • /zj/ → /ʒ/: возити /ʋɔzɪtɪ/ "to transport" → вожу /ʋɔʒu/ "I transport"
   • /stj/ → /ʃt͡ʃ/: простити /prɔstɪtɪ/ "to forgive" → прощу /prɔʃt͡ʃu/ "I will forgive"
   • /zdj/ → /ʒd͡ʒ/: їздити /jizdɪtɪ/ "to drive" → їжджу /jiʒd͡ʒu/ "I drive"
   • /pj/ → /plʲ/: топити /tɔpɪtɪ/ "to heat" → топлю /toplʲu/ "I heat"
   • /bj/ → /blʲ/: любити /lʲubɪtɪ/ "to love" → люблю /lʲublʲu/ "I love"
   • /mj/ → /mlʲ/: ломити /lɔmɪtɪ/ "to overcome" → ломлю /lɔmlʲu/ "I overcome"
   • /ʋj/ → /ʋlʲ/: давити /daʋɪtɪ/ "to squeeze" → давлю /daʋlʲu/ "I squeeze"
2. First palatalization: Occurred to velars before front vowels. Now is mainly seen in derivations, like the diminutive -ик/-ок/-ка/-ко:
   • /k/ → /t͡ʃ/: рука /ruka/ "hand" → ручка /rut͡ʃka/ "handle"
   • /x/ → /ʃ/: муха /muxa/ "fly" → мушка /muʃka/ "little fly"
   • /ɦ/ → /ʒ/: нога /noɦa/ "leg" → ніжка /nʲiʒka/ "little leg"
3. Second palatalization: Occurred to velars before front vowels. Now is mainly seen with the locative ending -і:
   • /k/ → /t͡sʲ/: рука /ruka/ "hand" → на руці /na rut͡sʲi/ "on the hand"
   • /x/ → /sʲ/: вухо /ʋuxɔ/ "ear" → у вусі /u ʋusʲi/ "in the ear"
   • /ɦ/ → /zʲ/: нога /noɦa/ "leg" → на нозі /na nɔzʲi/ "on the leg"

Alternation of vowels and semivowels

The semivowels /j/ and /w/ alternate with the vowels /i/ and /u/ respectively. The semivowels are used in syllable codas: after a vowel and before a consonant, either within a word or between words:^{[citation needed]}

він іде́ /ˈʋ⁽ʲ⁾in iˈdɛ/ ('he's coming')

вона́ йде /wɔˈna ˈjdɛ/ ('she's coming')

він і вона́ /ˈʋ⁽ʲ⁾in i wɔˈna/ ('he and she')

вона́ й він /wɔˈna j ˈʋ⁽ʲ⁾in/ ('she and he');

Утоми́вся вже /utɔˈmɪwsʲa ˈwʒɛ/ ('already gotten tired')

Уже́ втоми́вся /uˈʒɛ wtɔˈmɪwsʲa/ ('already gotten tired')

Він утоми́вся. /ˈʋ⁽ʲ⁾in utɔˈmɪwsʲa/ ('He's gotten tired.')

Він у ха́ті. /ˈʋ⁽ʲ⁾in u ˈxat⁽ʲ⁾i/ ('He's inside the house.')

Вона́ в ха́ті. /wɔˈna w ˈxat⁽ʲ⁾i/ ('She's inside the house.')

підучи́ти /piduˈt͡ʃɪtɪ/ ('to learn/teach (a little more)')

ви́вчити /ˈʋɪwt͡ʃɪtɪ/ ('to have learnt')

Vowel epenthesis

When two or more consonants occur word-finally, a vowel is epenthesized under the following conditions:^[19] Given a consonantal grouping C₁(ь)C₂(ь), ‘C’ being any consonant, the vowel is inserted between the two consonants and after the ь. A vowel is not inserted unless C₂ is /k/, /w/, /l/, /m/, /r/, or /t͡s/. Then:

1. If C₁ is /w/, /ɦ/, /k/, or /x/, the epenthesized vowel is always [o].
   • No vowel is epenthesized if the /w/ is derived from a Common Slavic vocalic *l, for example, /wɔwk/ (see below).
2. If C₂ is /l/, /m/, /r/, or /t͡s/, then the vowel is [e].
3. The combinations /-stw/ and /-sk/ are not broken up.
4. If C₁ is /j/ (й), both the form with the epenthetic vowel (according to the above rules) and the form without it can be found.