Map of Ukrainian dialects and subdialects (
2005).
Northern group South-eastern group South-western group
A dialect is a territorial, professional or social variant of a standard literary language.
In Ukrainian there are 3 major dialectical groups according to territory: the south-western group, south-eastern group and the northern group of dialects.
Several modern dialects of Ukrainian exist[1][2]
North-western group
South-western group
South-eastern group
Southeastern dialects[5]
| Name |
Description |
| Middle Dnieprian |
the basis of the Standard Literary Ukrainian. It is spoken in the central part of Ukraine, primarily in the southern and eastern part of the Kiev Oblast). In addition, the dialects spoken in Cherkasy, Poltava and Kiev regions are considered to be close to "standard" Ukrainian. |
| Slobozhan |
spoken in Kharkiv, Sumy, Luhansk, and the northern part of Donetsk, as well as in the Voronezh and Belgorod regions of Russia.[6] This dialect is formed from a gradual mixture of Russian and Ukrainian, with progressively more Russian in the northern and eastern parts of the region. Thus, there is no linguistic border between Russian and Ukrainian, and, thus, both grammar sets can be applied. This dialect is considered a transitional dialect between Ukrainian and Russian.[7] |
| Steppe |
is spoken in southern and southeastern Ukraine. This dialect was originally the main language of the Zaporozhian Cossacks.[8] |
Northern dialects
Northern (Polissian) dialects[9]
| Name |
Description |
| Eastern Polissian |
spoken in Chernihiv (excluding the southeastern districts), in the northern part of Sumy, and in the southeastern portion of the Kiev Oblast as well as in the adjacent areas of Russia, which include the southwestern part of the Bryansk Oblast (the area around Starodub), as well as in some areas in the Kursk, Voronezh and Belgorod Oblasts.[10] No linguistic border can be defined. The vocabulary approaches Russian as the language approaches the Russian Federation. Both Ukrainian and Russian grammar sets can be applied to this dialect. Thus, this dialect can be considered a transitional dialect between Ukrainian and Russian.[7] |
| Central Polissian |
spoken in the northwestern part of the Kiev Oblast, in the northern part of Zhytomyr and the northeastern part of the Rivne Oblast.[11] |
| West Polissian |
spoken in the northern part of the Volyn Oblast, the northwestern part of the Rivne Oblast as well as in the adjacent districts of the Brest Voblast in Belarus. The dialect spoken in Belarus uses Belarusian grammar, and thus is considered by some to be a dialect of Belarusian.[12] To others it is a dialect of Polish. |
Dialects outside of Ukraine
| Name |
Description |
| Upper Sannian |
spoken in the border area between Ukraine and Poland in the San river valley. Often confused as Lemko or Lyshak. |
| Balachka |
spoken in the Kuban region of Russia, by the Kuban Cossacks. The Kuban Cossacks being descendants of the Zaporozhian Cossacks consider themself Cossack as a special ethnical identity. Their dialect is based on Middle Dnieprian with the Ukrainian grammar, but features the extensive use of Russian vocabulary. It varies somewhat from one area to another.[7] |
The Rusyn language is considered to be a dialect of Ukrainian by Ukrainian linguists:
Emigre dialects
Ukrainian is also spoken by a large émigré population, particularly in Canada, United States and several countries of South America like Argentina and Australia. The founders of this population primarily emigrated from Galicia, which used to be part of Austro-Hungary before World War I, and belonged to Poland between the World Wars. The language spoken by most of them is based on the Galician dialect of Ukrainian from the first half of the twentieth century. Compared with modern Ukrainian, the vocabulary of Ukrainians outside Ukraine reflects less influence of Russian, yet may contain Polish or German words. It often contains many loan words from the local language.
Recent trends
In recent times there have been attempts to categorise some of the Ukrainian dialects into separate languages. This has been happening primarily in the Carpathian regions of Ukraine, but also with the speakers of the Polissian dialect, the Kuban dialect and Rusyn. The debates as to independence of these dialects-languages has promoted inflamed discussions.
See also
References
Sources
- Dialects of Ukrainian language
- Luckyj, George S.N. ([1956] 1990). Literary Politics in the Soviet Ukraine, 1917–1934, revised and updated edition, Durham and London: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-1099-6.
- G.Y. Shevelov (1979). A Historical Phonology of the Ukrainian Language.. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Verlag. ISBN 3-533-02787-2. . Ukrainian translation is partially available online.
- Григорій Петрович Півторак (Hryhoriy Pivtorak) (1998). Походження українців, росіян, білорусів та їхніх мов (The origin of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians and their languages). Kiev: Akademia. ISBN 966-580-082-5. , (in Ukrainian). Available online.
- Subtelny, Orest (1988). Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6.
- Василь Німчук. Періодизація як напрямок дослідження генези та історії української мови. Мовознавство. 1997.- Ч.6.-С.3-14; 1998.
- Микола Лесюк "Різнотрактування історії української мови".
- Ilko V. Korunets' (2003). Contrastive Topology of the English and Ukrainian Languages. Vinnytsia: Nova Knyha Publishers,. ISBN 966-7890-27-9.
- "What language is spoken in Ukraine", in Welcome to Ukraine, 2003, 1.
- All-Ukrainian population census 2001
- Конституція України (Constitution of Ukraine) (in Ukrainian), 1996, English translation (excerpts).
- 1897 census
- Literaturnyy Forum (Ukrainian language)
- Ukrainian dictionary (from/to English and Russian)
- Ukrainian-English Dictionary
- English-Ukrainian Dictionary
- Ukrainian–English Dictionary
- Radio Canada International daily Ukrainian language news broadcasts and transcripts
- Ukrainian Linguistic Portal
- Ethnologue report for Ukrainian
- Dialects of Ukrainian language
- Ukrainian language - the third official? - Ukrayinska Pravda, 28 November 2005
External links
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