Vitalii Kyreyko
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WORK IN PROGRESS…
WORK IN PROGRESS…
Ukrainian Language Pronunciation Chart
The Audio Spoken Texts of the songs will help to clarify the rules below.
1. ‘j’ and the apostrophe ’ are pronounced similar to the ‘y’ in English: ‘yes’, ‘say’:
e.g. jabluko (apple), haj (grove), junyj (young),
e.g. n’i (no), d’ido (grandpa), l’ito (summer), z’irka (star) , ts’i (these),
horyt’ (it burns)
N.B. When the apostrophe follows the unvoiced consonants: ‘s’, ‘t’ and ‘ts’, the apostrophe will also be unvoiced:
e.g. dyvljus’ (I look), s’im (seven), t’i (those), ts’i (those) – as the ‘s’, ‘t’ and ‘ts’ are voiceless consonants, the following apostrophe is also voiceless, ie. a whispered, unvoiced ‘j’.
2. z.h compared with zh:
(i) z.h = ‘z’ + ‘h’ – 2 separate sounds
(ii) zh = voiced ‘sh’ as in vision – 1 sound
3. Ukrainian L
2 ways of pronouncing L in Ukrainian:
In the transliterated clusters: La, Le, Lo, Lu and Ly (pronounced as in English: sit – see chart below for Ukrainian И, и), L is pronounced further back in the mouth,
eg. as in English bottle;
The same applies if L is the last letter in a word or syllable, eg. zal (hall), pyl (dust), ry-bal-ka (fishing),
Even when the L is preceded by ‘i’, eg. rozd’il (chapter)
L is pronounced forward in the mouth as in English in 2 cases:
When followed by the letter ‘i’ as in leap, eg. L’ito (summer), L’ikar (doctor)
When followed by an apostrophe, eg. bil’ (pain), zhal’ (pity)
| UKRAINIAN | TRANSLITERATION |
| Imagine pronouncing all consonants as in Italian, ie. less aspiration. All vowels are pure, similar to Italian. No diphthongs | Examples taken from Italian or English languages. |
| А, а | a (as in Italian ‘caro’) |
| Б, б | b |
| В, в | v |
| Г, г | h (as in English ‘house’) |
| Ґ, ґ | g (as in English ‘garden’) |
| Д, д | d |
| Е, е | e (as in Italian ‘mezzo’) |
| Є, є | je (2 sounds as in English ‘yes’) |
| Ж, ж | Zh (a voiced ‘sh’ as in English ‘vision’) |
| З, з | z |
| И, и | y (as in English ‘sit’) |
| І, i | i (as in English ‘sheet’) |
| Ï, ї | ji (2 sounds as in English ‘yeast’) |
| Й, й | j (as in English ‘yet’) |
| K, к | k (unaspirated, as in Italian ‘caro’ |
| Л, л | L, l (see rule 3. above) |
| M, м | m |
| Н, н | n |
| O, о | o (as in Italian ‘oro’) |
| П, п | p (unaspirated, as in Italian ‘posso’) |
| Р, р | r (rolled as in Italian ‘torre’ |
| C, с | s |
| T, т | t (unaspirated, as in Italian ‘tempo’) |
| У, у | u (as in Italian ‘puro’) |
| Ф, ф | f |
| Х, х | kh (as in Scottish ‘Loch’) |
| Ц, ц | ts (as in English ‘nets’) |
| Ч, ч | ch |
| Ш, ш | sh |
| Щ, щ | shch (2 sounds as in English ‘moisture’) ie. ‘sh’ plus ‘ch’ |
| Ю, ю | ju (2 sounds, ‘j’ as in English ‘yes’ plus ‘u’ as in Italian ‘puro’) |
| Я, я | ja (2 sounds, as in English ‘yap’) |
| Ь, ь | ’ = gentle j (as in ‘say’) |
1. An Ever-Bright Star – Nez.hasna zorja
2. The Earth Blossoms And Rumbles – Tsvite j hude zemlja
3. I Stood And Listened To The Spring – Stojala ja i slukhala vesnu
4. The First Song Of Spring – Pershyj spiv
5. The Madonna Of The Sistine – S’ikstyns’ka Madonna
6. Music – Muzyka
8. A Distant Dawn – Svitaje dalyna
9. Spring – Vesna
10. Tempestuous Evenings – Vechory nad polem
11. How Does A Song Live On – Chym pisnja zhyva
12. The Prophet – Prorok
13. Anteу’s Song – Pisnja Anteja
14. Over The Sea – Nad morem
15. A Poplar Tree – Topolja