The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Ukrainian pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Ukrainian distinguishes hard (unpalatalized or plain) and soft (palatalized) consonants (both phonetically and orthographically). Soft consonants, most of which are denoted by a superscript ⟨ʲ⟩, are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate, like the articulation of the y sound in yes.

See Ukrainian phonology and Ukrainian alphabet for a more thorough look at the sounds of Ukrainian.

Consonants
Hard Soft
IPA Examples English approximations IPA Examples English approximations
b бог[1] [bɔɦ] boot
d дим[1] [dɪm] do дім, мідь[1] [d⁽ʲ⁾im], [midʲ] media
dz дзе́ркало[1] [ˈdzɛrkɐlo] pads dzʲ ґедзь, дзьоб[1] [ɡɛdzʲ], [dzʲɔb] pad's yours
джміль[1] [dʒmilʲ] jump, ridge
f фа́рба [ˈfɑrbɐ] fool
ɡ ґа́нок[1] [ˈɡɑnok] good
ɣ чахохбі́лі[1] [tʃɐxoɣˈbil⁽ʲ⁾i] between good and hood
ɦ газе́та [ɦɐˈzɛtɐ] behind
j йти, гай, їда́льня [jtɪ], [ɦɑj], [jiˈdɑlʲnʲɐ] yes
k ключ [klʲutʃ] scar
l лось [lɔsʲ] bell лід, сіль [l⁽ʲ⁾id], [s⁽ʲ⁾ilʲ] million
m мир [mɪr] moot
n не́бо [ˈnɛbo] noon ні́жний, день [ˈn⁽ʲ⁾iʒnɪj], [dɛnʲ] canyon
p пил [pɪl] spare
r лі́кар [ˈl⁽ʲ⁾ikɐr] trilled r, like in Spanish riesgo рі́чка [ˈr⁽ʲ⁾itʃkɐ] trilled r, like in Spanish riesgo
s суп [sup] soup сі́но, вісь [ˈs⁽ʲ⁾ino], [wisʲ] assume (RP)
ʃ шпари́на, ви́ще [ʃpɐˈrɪnɐ], [ˈwɪʃtʃe] shop
t тин [tɪn] star тінь, мить [t⁽ʲ⁾inʲ], [mɪtʲ] stew (RP)
ts цибу́ля [tsɪˈbulʲɐ] cats tsʲ ціна́, віне́ць [ts⁽ʲ⁾iˈnɑ], [wiˈnɛtsʲ] cat's young
очере́т, вище [otʃeˈrɛt], [ˈwɪʃtʃe] choose
вчи́тель, став[2] [ˈu̯tʃɪtelʲ], [stɑu̯] tow
v Афганіста́н[1] [ɐvɦɐn⁽ʲ⁾iˈstɑn] vine
w віл[2] [wil] between wine and vine
x ховра́х [xou̯ˈrɑx] Bach, loch
z зуб[1] [zub] zoo зі́ллю, рі́зьблення[1] [ˈz⁽ʲ⁾ilʲːʊ], [ˈr⁽ʲ⁾izʲblenʲːɐ] presume (RP)
ʒ жи́то[1] [ˈʒɪto] measure
Vowels
Stressed Unstressed
IPA Examples English approximation IPA Examples English approximation
ɑ гай [ɦɑj] father ɐ гарма́та [ɦɐrˈmɑtɐ] hug
ɛ день, є [dɛnʲ], [jɛ] met e ефі́рний [eˈfirnɪj] rate
i кіт, і́кла [kit], [ˈiklɐ] meet i біле́т [biˈlɛt] meet
ɪ ми́ша [ˈmɪʃɐ] bit ɪ кра́сний[3] [ˈkrɑsnɪj] bit
ɔ по́ле, льон [ˈpɔle], [lʲɔn] off o ору́дний [oˈrudnɪj] cold
u дух, лють [dux], [lʲutʲ] fool ʊ туди́ [tʊˈdɪ] put
Other symbols
IPA Explanation
ˈ stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
ˌ secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
ː gemination (the consonant is pronounced twice as long)[4]
⁽ʲ⁾ optional nature of consonant palatalization before /i/

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Voiceless obstruents /p t ts tsʲ k x f s ʃ/ are voiced [b d dz dzʲ ɡ ɣ v z ʒ] before other voiced obstruents. [ɣ] and [v] only ever occur in this case.
  2. ^ a b The phoneme /w/ (spelled ⟨в⟩) has variable pronunciation, but is generally labiodental [ʋ]; it is [w] before /ɔ/ or /u/ and is vocalized to [] before a consonant at the beginning of a word, after a vowel before a consonant or after a vowel at the end of a word. For simplicity, we will use ⟨w⟩ for both [ʋ] and [w].
  3. ^ May also be realized as [e].
  4. ^ In Ukrainian, geminates are found between vowels: бага́ття [bɐˈɦɑtʲːɐ] 'bonfire', подру́жжя [poˈdruʒːɐ] 'married couple', обли́ччя [oˈblɪtʃːɐ] 'face'. Geminates also occur at the beginning of a few words: лля́ний [ˈlʲːɑnɪj] 'flaxen', forms of the verb ли́ти 'to pour' (ллючи́ [lʲːʊˈtʃɪ], ллю [lʲːu], ллєш [lʲːɛʃ], etc.), сса́ти [ˈsːɑtɪ] 'to suck' and derivatives.[citation needed]

Bibliography

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  • Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995). Ukrainian. Lincom Europa. ISBN 978-3-929075-08-3.
  • Жовтобрюх, М.А.; Кулик, Б.М. (1965). Курс сучасної української літературної мови. Частина I. (in Ukrainian). Kyiv: Радянська школа.

See also

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