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] | ⓘ | boot | — | |||
| d | дим[1] | ⓘ | do | dʲ | дім, мідь[1] | ⓘ, ⓘ | media |
| dz | дзе́ркало[1] | ⓘ | pads | dzʲ | ґедзь, дзьоб[1] | ⓘ, ⓘ | pad's yours |
| dʒ | джміль[1] | ⓘ | jump, ridge | — | |||
| f | фа́рба | ⓘ | fool | ||||
| ɡ | ґа́нок[1] | ⓘ | good | ||||
| ɣ | чахохбі́лі[1] | [tʃɐxoɣˈbil⁽ʲ⁾i] | between good and hood | ||||
| ɦ | газе́та | ⓘ | behind | ||||
| — | j | йти, гай, їда́льня | ⓘ, ⓘ, ⓘ | yes | |||
| k | ключ | ⓘ | scar | — | |||
| l | лось | ⓘ | bell | lʲ | лід, сіль | ⓘ, ⓘ | million |
| m | мир | ⓘ | moot | — | |||
| n | не́бо | ⓘ | noon | nʲ | ні́жний, день | ⓘ, ⓘ | canyon |
| p | пил | ⓘ | spare | — | |||
| r | лі́кар | ⓘ | trilled r, like in Spanish riesgo | rʲ | рі́чка, буря́к | ⓘ, ⓘ | trilled r, like in Spanish riesgo |
| s | суп | ⓘ | soup | sʲ | сі́но, вісь | ⓘ, ⓘ | assume (RP) |
| ʃ | шпари́на, ви́ще | ⓘ, ⓘ | shop | — | |||
| t | тин | ⓘ | star | tʲ | тінь, мить | ⓘ, ⓘ | stew (RP) |
| ts | цибу́ля | ⓘ | cats | tsʲ | ціна́, віне́ць | ⓘ, ⓘ | cat's young |
| tʃ | очере́т, вище | ⓘ, ⓘ | choose | — | |||
| u̯ | вчи́тель, став[2] | ⓘ, [stɑu̯] | tow | ||||
| v | Афганіста́н[1] | [ɐvɦɐn⁽ʲ⁾iˈstɑn] | vine | ||||
| w | вода́[2] | ⓘ | between wine and vine | wʲ | ві́тер, цвях[2] | ⓘ, ⓘ | between weak and veal |
| x | ховра́х | [xou̯ˈrɑx] | Bach, loch | — | |||
| z | зуб[1] | ⓘ | zoo | zʲ | зі́ллю, рі́зьблення[1] | [ˈz⁽ʲ⁾ilʲːʊ], ⓘ | presume |
| ʒ | жи́то[1] | ⓘ | measure | — | |||
| Vowels | |||||||
| Stressed | Unstressed | ||||||
| IPA | Examples | English approximation | IPA | Examples | English approximation | ||
| ɑ | гай | ⓘ | father | ɐ | гарма́та | ⓘ | hug |
| ɛ | день, є | ⓘ, ⓘ | met | e | ефі́рний | ⓘ | rate |
| i | кіт, і́кла | ⓘ, [ˈiklɐ] | meet | i | біле́т | ⓘ | meet |
| ɪ | ми́ша | ⓘ | bit | ɪ | кра́сний[3] | ⓘ | bit |
| ɔ | по́ле, льон | ⓘ, [lʲɔn] | off | o | ору́дний | ⓘ | story |
| u | дух, лють | ⓘ, ⓘ | fool | ʊ | туди́ | ⓘ | 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Voiceless obstruents /p t tʲ ts tsʲ tʃ k x f s sʲ ʃ/ are voiced [b d dʲ dz dzʲ dʒ ɡ ɣ v z zʲ ʒ] before other voiced obstruents. [ɣ] and [v] only ever occur in this case.
- ^ a b c The phoneme /w/ (spelled ⟨в⟩) has variable pronunciation, but is generally labiodental [ʋ]; it is [w] before /ɔ/ or /u/ and is vocalized to [u̯] 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].
- ^ May also be realized as [e].
- ^ In Ukrainian, geminates are found between vowels: бага́ття ⓘ 'bonfire', подру́жжя ⓘ 'married couple', обли́ччя ⓘ 'face'. Geminates also occur at the beginning of a few words: лля́ний [ˈlʲːɑnɪj] 'flaxen', forms of the verb ли́ти 'to pour' (ллючи́ ⓘ, ллю [lʲːu], ллєш [lʲːɛʃ], etc.), сса́ти ⓘ 'to suck' and derivatives.[citation needed]
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