Ukrainian dialects

In the Ukrainian language there are three major dialectal groups according to territory: the southwestern group, the southeastern group and the northern group of dialects.

List of dialects

Southwestern group

Southeastern group

Name	Description
Middle Dnieprian	The basis of standard literary Ukrainian. It is spoken in the central part of Ukraine, including the southern and eastern part of Kyiv Oblast). The dialects spoken in Cherkasy, Poltava and Kyiv regions are considered to be the closest to standard Ukrainian.
Slobozhan	Spoken in Kharkiv, Sumy, Luhansk, northern part of Donetsk regions of Ukraine, as well as in the Voronezh and Belgorod regions of Russia. 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 both grammar sets can be applied. This dialect is considered a transitional dialect between Ukrainian and Russian.
Steppe	Spoken in southern and southeastern Ukraine. This dialect was originally the main language of Zaporozhian Cossacks.

Northern group

Name	Description
	Spoken in Chernihiv, in the northern part of Sumy and in the northeastern part of Kyiv Oblast, in the adjacent areas of Russia, which include the southwestern part of Bryansk Oblast, as well as in some areas in Kursk, Voronezh and Belgorod oblasts. 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.
	Spoken in northwestern part of Kyiv Oblast, in northern part of Zhytomyr and in northeastern part of Rivne Oblast.
	Spoken in northern part of Volyn Oblast, northwestern part of Rivne Oblast, as well as in the adjacent districts of Brest Region in Belarus. The dialect spoken in Belarus uses Belarusian grammar, and thus is considered by some to be a dialect of Belarusian. West Polissian dialects include Podlachian subdialects spoken in Podlachia in Poland. They are also known as Siedlce dialects, and Khakhlatska mova.

Emigre dialects

Ukrainian is also spoken by a large émigré population, particularly in Canada, The United States, Brazil, 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 loanwords. It often contains many loanwords from the local language as well.

Disputed status of some dialects

Balachka

is spoken in the Kuban region of Russia, by the Kuban Cossacks. The Kuban Cossacks being descendants of the Zaporozhian Cossacks are beginning to consider themselves as a separate ethnic identity. Their dialect is based on Middle Dnieprian with the Ukrainian grammar. It includes dialectal words of central Ukrainian with frequent inclusion of Russian vocabulary, in particular for modern concepts and items. It varies somewhat from one area to another.

Rusyn

The Rusyn language is classified as a dialect of Ukrainian by the Ukrainian government. However Rusyn is considered by some linguists to be a separate language.

Dolinian Rusyn or Subcarpathian Rusyn is spoken in the Zakarpattia Oblast.
Pannonian or Bačka Rusyn is spoken in northwestern Serbia and eastern Croatia. Rusin language of the Bačka dialect has been recognised as one of the official languages of the Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina).
Priashiv Rusyn is the Ukrainian dialect spoken in the Prešov region of Slovakia, as well as by some émigré communities, primarily in the United States of America.