Dniestrian Ukrainian dialect

Main features

Phonetics

• transition of the vowel into,, following palatalized consonants: гарьичий, дєкувати, сажі, compared to standard Ukrainian - гарячий, дякувати, сажа ;
• different formation of personal forms in some verbs, for example любˈять, ловˈять instead of Standard Ukrainian люблять, ловлять ;
• so-called ukannya - pronunciation of unstressed as : бджула, скору compared to literary Ukrainian бджола, скоро ;
• change of into, with softening of preceding consonant in unstressed positions: спечіна instead of standard спечена ;
• widespread use of before word-initial, and : вогірок, воріх compared to standard Ukrainian огірок, горіх ; in some varieties is replaced with : локунь instead of standard окунь ; usage of before word-initial, is also widespread: їндик instead of індик ;
• softer pronunciation of sibilants in word roots with preservation of original : шестий, вечєріти compared to standard Ukrainian шостий, вечоріти ;
• softening of consonants in -ки-, -хи- in both stressed and unstressed positions: глибокій, лихєй compared to standard Ukrainian глибокий, лихий ;
• shortening of -iy- into -i-: віт instead of standard Ukrainian війт ;
• big local variation in pronunciation of certain vowels and vowel combinations: свʼято, цвʼях or свато, цвах compared to standard Ukrainian свято, цвях ; здоровлє, памніть instead of literary здоровʼя, памʼять ; some varieties of Dniestrian dialect have an exclusively "hard" - зора, зорʼя, in others it can be palatalized, like in standard Ukrainian - зоря ;
• unlike in most other Ukrainian varieties, devoicing of consonants at the end of the word and before other unvoiced consonants is widespread in Dniestrian dialect;
• disappearance or replacement of in word-initial positions and in consonant clusters: пав, міти, дамно, рімний compared to normative Ukrainian впав, вміти, давно, рівний ; at the same time, "hard" at the end of a syllable may be replaced with : попіў, стіў, гоўка unlike standard попіл, стіл, голка .
• widespread change of,,,,, in some words into,,,, and respectively: саджє, дзерно, дзелений, скіна, наґія, гадюґа, фалити, форий compared to standard Ukrainian сажа, зерно, зелений, стіна, надія, гадюка, хвалити, хворий ;
• unsystematic development of old trъt clusters into -ир, -ри, -ро depending on the word form: кирниця, кривавий, дрива, брови compared to standard Ukrainian криниця, кривавий, дрова, брови;
• shortening of soft consonants in forms of neutral nouns: жикє, насінє in contrast to життя, насіння in standard Ukrainian;
• lack of palatalization of word-final : хлопиц, жнец compared to standard Ukrainian хлопець, жнець ;
• pronunciation of vowels in some roots differs from standard Ukrainian: дюра, видро, зазуля compared to literary діра, відро, зозуля ; assimilation in consonant clusters such as -лн-, -рн- is also widespread: мел:ик, мен:ик, терлиця instead of standard pronunciation мельник, терниця ;
• in some local varieties of Dniestrian dialect final consonants and are eliminated: порі, сні, гроше compared to standard Ukrainian поріг, сніг, грошей ;
• palatalized consonants,,, in Dniestrian dialect are normally pronounced softer than in other dialects and in literary Ukrainian;
• many pronouns, nouns and verbs in Dniestrian dialect have their accents on different syllables than in standard Ukrainian: мóго, твóго, хóджу, прóшу, трýна, кочéрга, пíду compared to standard Ukrainian могó, твогó, ходжý, прошý, трунá, кочергá, підý .

Grammar and word structure

• endings of feminine single nouns in instrumental case: землеў, душеў, головоў, ногом, солем ; in genitive case: ріли, земли, ночи, любови ; in genitive plural: бабіў, козіў, козуў ;
• endings of masculine single nouns in dative: братови, коневи, конови ; in instrumental: коном ; in locative у кінци ; in dative plural: конім, конем, коном ; in instrumental plural: гостями, гостєми, гостєма, гостіма ; in single locative plural: на грудьох, на дверох ; in dative: теляту, телятʼу ; in instrumental: телятьом, телятом ;
• shortening of endings in adjectives: добри, молоді ; assimilation in comparative adjectives: молоч:и ;
• different structure of many numerals: оден, їден, єден, штири, одинайціть, єдинайцік ; in instrumental case: двума ; complex numerals піўтретя, піўчетверта, девʼїдесєть, девидесєк, двіста, двасто ;
• dative forms of pronouns ми, ти ; locative pronoun form него ; instrumental forms неў, тоў ; directional pronoun тамтой ;
• different verb forms: infinitive печи, стрихчи ; present 1st person form лєю, лєїш ; 3rd person ending ходит, ходят ; parallel usage of present ast person plural verbs несемо and несем, ходимо and ходим ; lack of ending in 2nd person present singular of some verbs: дась, їсь ; usage of future form буду браў, past forms ходиў, ходиўїм, ходивем, робили, робилисмо ; subjunctive mood forms даў бим, даў бис ;
• widespread usage of particular suffixes and affixes: -май, -мак, -кут, -уємци, -иск, -анк, -альник.

Lexical features