How do Ukrainian sounds differ from those in other Slavic languages

Ukrainian sounds differ from those in other Slavic languages in several phonetic and phonological aspects:

1. Vowel System: Ukrainian tends to have a richer vowel inventory compared to some Slavic languages. It includes sounds that are not common in Russian, for example, the pronunciation of the letter “и” as [ɪ] rather than the Russian [ɨ]. Ukrainian also maintains distinctions in vowel length and has more diphthongs compared to languages like Russian or Polish. ¹

2. Consonants: Ukrainian features soft consonants marked by a slight palatalization, similar to Russian, but with different realizations. It also preserves some archaic Slavic consonant sounds that have shifted or disappeared in other Slavic languages. Additionally, it has the sound [ɦ], a voiced glottal fricative, which is rare or absent in many other Slavic tongues. ^{2, 1}

3. Prosody and Intonation: Ukrainian prosody differs in intonation patterns from other Slavic languages, with a distinct melodic contour. It has preserved a specific prosodic system that affects the meaning and grammatical function of words, such as in vocative forms. ³

4. Phonological Rules: Ukrainian underwent phonetic changes specific to it, like the reduction of certain vowels in unstressed positions differently from Russian or Polish. The evolution of Ukrainian phonology also shows unique historical sound changes which make its sound system distinct. ^{4, 2}

Overall, Ukrainian’s sound system contains unique vowels, consonants (notably the voiced glottal fricative), and prosodic features that set it apart from other Slavic languages such as Russian, Polish, Czech, or Belarusian. ^{1, 2, 3, 4}

If you’d like, more detailed comparisons with specific Slavic languages can be provided.

References

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• THE ANTIQUITY OF UKRAINIAN, REFLECTED IN NEIGHBORING LANGUAGES.2

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• PAVLO ZHYTETSKYI: THE HISTORY OF THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE IN THE GENERAL SLAVIC CONTEXT

• Functional and grammatical peculiarities of Ukrainian verbal nouns with the meaning of action comparing to other Slavic languages

• DIFFERENTIATION OF HOMONYMS IN RELATED SLAVIC LANGUAGES

• Specific Character of the Folklore Translation: After the Material of Hungarian and Slavic Languages

• THE SYNTACTIC RELATIONSHIP OF GOVERMENT IN POLISH AND UKRAINIAN LANGUAGES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF VERBAL PHRASES)

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• Macrocomparativistics: new in the study of Slavic and Turkic languages

• Nomination of extramarital relations in the language of traditional folk culture (based on the material of Slavic languages and cultures in comparison with English)

• Between Three Languages, Dialects and Forms of Mixed Speech: Dialect and Language Contacts in Ukrainian-Belarusian Transitional Area

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• On “historical unity” of Russian and Ukrainian: A linguistic perspective on language conflict and change

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• Multi-source morphosyntactic tagging for spoken Rusyn

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• Ukrainian biaspectuality: An instantiation of compositional aspect in a verbal-aspect language

• Genetic admixture and language shift in the medieval Volga-Oka interfluve