Ukrainian orthography
The Ukrainian orthography is the orthography for the Ukrainian language, a system of generally accepted rules that determine the ways of transmitting speech in writing.
Until the last quarter of the 14th century Old East Slavic orthography was widespread. The Cyrillic alphabet generally corresponded to the sound structure of the Old East Slavic language. For example, orthography consistently conveyed the softness and hardness of sounds—а, о, ы, ѹ, ъ were written after hard consonants, and ѧ, є, и, ю, ь were written after soft consonants. The letters ж, ч, ш, ц conveyed soft consonants.
From the 12th century the orthography changes: ъ and ь decline, there is a double spelling, and instead of these, the letters о, е are used, labial and hissing begin to lose softness.
In the 15th and 16th centuries the orthography of written texts changed according to the rules developed in the Bulgarian city of Tarnovo by scribes under the guidance of Patriarch Euthymius : forms appear primarily in confessional-style texts твоа, всеа, accents are placed at the beginning and end of the word. The rules of the Tarnovo school are reflected in the spelling, which was normalized in the work Slovenian Grammar by Zizanii Lavrentii in 1596.
From the 17th century changes in the Ukrainian orthography come from Meletius Smotrytskyi's «Ґрамма́тіки Славе́нския пра́вилное Cv́нтаґма» in 1619, when the letter ґ, the digraphs дж and дз, as well as й were introduced; in the orthography of the magazine Mermaid of the Dniester in 1837 the letter є was first used in its modern meaning, and also first introduced digraphs йо, ьо; kulishivka in 1856, when first extended consonants began to be denoted by two letters, changes to Kulishivka P. Zhitetsky and K. Mikhalchuk in the Notes of the South-Western Branch of the Russian Geographical Society in 1874–1875, when the letter ї began to be used in its present meaning; zhelekhivka of 1886 with the final establishment of the use of the letters е, є, и and the apostrophe in their present meaning, to the spelling of B. Hrinchenko in the Dictionary of the Ukrainian language for 1907–1909, which is the basis of modern spelling.
From the beginning of the 18th century most Ukrainian orthographic systems use the "Civil Script", only M. Hatsuk in 1860 proposed to use "pre-Petrine" Cyrillic. There were also attempts to Latinize the Ukrainian language, which is still being debated.
As stated in the preface to the Ukrainian orthography of the third edition, it "is an organic continuation of the first (1946) and second (1960)." "The orthography commission at the Department of Literature, Language and Art Studies of the [National National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine|Academy of Sciences of Ukraine|UkrSSR Academy of Sciences] prepared and approved the third edition on November 14, 1989." On June 8, 1992, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine accepted the proposal of the Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine to introduce the orthographic norms of the third edition into language practice starting in 1992. Subsequently, the Naukova Dumka Publishing House of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine republished the spelling. At the same time, “at first, stereotypical reprints of spelling continued to be numbered, Then simply noted without numbering that the reprint is stereotypical, and in the latter there is no bibliographic description at all". There is no bibliographic description in the new version of the Ukrainian orthography of 2019.
Periods of development
There are from 3 to 5 main stages of formation of the spelling of the Ukrainian language:- Ruthenian-Ukrainian period
- * ancient Ruthenian-Ukrainian period: 10th Ruthenian-Ukrainian the third quarter of the 14th century.
- * Old Ukrainian period: ost. quarter 14th–beg. 17th century
- Norms of Grammar by Meletius Smotrytsky in 1619
- New Ukrainian period
- * search for the best spelling of the modern language: 19th century
- * spelling standardization with the involvement of state factors: from the beginning of the 20th century
Ruthenian-Ukrainian period (early 10th–17th centuries)
The origins of the Ukrainian orthography come from the Slavic orthography, initiated by the creators of the Slavic alphabet. Most Ukrainian graphics have hardly changed since then. In particular, the current alphabet has only two letters that, according to prof. Ilarion Ohiienko, were not in the Cyril and Methodius alphabet: ґ, which is known since the end of the 16th century and became widespread in the 17th century; and ї, which was first written instead of the former letter ѣ and in place of е in the newly closed syllable, and then took over the functions of the sound combination й+і.The orthography, which was based on the Slavic alphabet, was largely supported in Ukraine by natives of Bulgaria, who worked here and rewrote texts. In the period from 14th to 16th centuries the liturgical manuscripts were dominated by the spelling developed by the Tarnovo Patriarch Euthymius. In Ukraine, the influence of this spelling has been felt since the end of the 14th century, and lasted until the 1720s. This period is known in linguistics as the "Second South Slavic Influence".
Smotrytskyi's "Grammar" of 1619 (17th and 18th centuries)
In 1619, Meletius Smotrytskyi's work «Грамматіка славенскія правилноє синтагма» was published, where Slavic-Ukrainian writing was partially adapted to Ukrainian phonetics. Then the meanings of the letters г and ґ were distinguished, the letter combination дж and дз was introduced to denote the corresponding Ukr. sounds, the use of the letter й is legal.In 1708, the spelling of the letters changed, and the traditional Cyrillic alphabet was replaced by a simplified version, the so-called "Civil Script". Ukrainian scientists also took part in the development of the new alphabet and graphics. The first images of 32 letters of the new font, which still form the basis for Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian spelling, were printed in the city of Zhovkva near Lviv. Outdated letters have been removed from the alphabet: omega, fita, ksi, psi, Izhitsa, yus the big, yus the small, instead the letter я has been fixed.
New Ukrainian period (from the 19th century)
Orthography search of the 19th century
In 1798, Ivan Kotlyarevskyi's Eneida was published, a work that pioneered new Ukrainian literature and prompted the search for modern ways of reproducing the Ukrainian language in writing. There was a need to change the traditional script. Writers who sought to write in the living Ukrainian language had to look for means to convey the true sound of the word, rather than being guided by ancient writing. In 1818 the letter і acquired its current use, in 1837 there was the letter є and combination йо, ьо, in 1873 letter ї was added.Instead, the letters ъ, ы and э could be found less and less often. The rapid and constant change of elements of the alphabet and their various uses gave rise to a significant number of experiments with the Ukrainian language and the creation of a large number spelling systems.
The most famous of these attempts:Orthography of PavlovskyiShashkevychivka Kulishivka — Panteleimon Kulish's orthography system in Notes on Southern Rus and in Grammar Drahomanivka Zhelekhivka created by Ukrainian scientist Yevhen Zhelekhivskyi while working on his own Little Russian-German Dictionary. This spelling is enshrined in the Ruthenian Grammar by Stepan Smal-Stotskyi and Theodor Gartner, published in 1893 in Lviv. Borys Hrinchenko used some corrections in the fundamental four-volume Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language. Most of the spelling rules used in Grinchenko's dictionary are still valid.
| The sound and the corresponding letter of the modern Ukrainian alphabet | «Slavonic Grammar with Correct Syntax» Meletius Smotrytskyi, 1619 | «Civil Script», 1708 | Orthography of Kamenetskyi, 1798 | Orthography of Pavlovskyi, 1818 | Maksymovychivka, 1827 | Shashkevychivka, 1837 | Hatsukivka, 1857 | Orthography of Taras Shevchenko, in particular in the "Primer of South Russia", 1861 | Kulishivka, 1856 | Changes to the Kulishivka of P. Zhitetskyi and K. Mikhalchuk, Notes of the South-Western Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, 1874–75 | Yaryzhka, 19th century | Drahomanivka, 1870s | Zhelekhivka, 1886 | Hrinchekivka, 1907 | One of the variants of Latin | Latynka Josefa Jirečeka, 1859 |
| — а | a | a | ||||||||||||||
| — б | b | b | ||||||||||||||
| / — в | letter with titlo у҄ : у҄сю ручку | v | v | |||||||||||||
| — г | h, gh | h | ||||||||||||||
| — ґ | letter ґ: фѣґура | letter г | digraph кг: кгрунтъ | letter г: грунт | letter г | letter г: дзигари | letter g: дзиgа | digraph кг: кгрунт | as in modern orthography | g | g | |||||
| — д | d | d | ||||||||||||||
| — дь | letter with titlo д҄ | d | ď | |||||||||||||
| — softened дд | always ддь | one letter д | dd | |||||||||||||
| — дж | digraph дж | digraph дж | letter џ : розраџає | dzh | dž | |||||||||||
| — дз | digraph дз | digraph дз | in some versions of drahomanivka — ѕ | dz | dz | |||||||||||
| — дзь | dz | dź | ||||||||||||||
| — е | letter э at the beginning of the word / after vowels, letters е / и after consonants: эолъ, поэтъ, теперъ, минѣ | letters ы / е: чырвоный, очеретъ | letter є, at the beginning of a word sometimes э: жєньци | letters и / е: почали, лебонь | letter є: вєчир | letters е, и, ы: тиче, ныначе | letters е / и: друже, пиромъ | letter е: не чуе | as in modern orthography | e | e | |||||
| — є | letter е: мое | letter ѣ : маѣшъ | letter е: збирае | first letter є: почуєш | letter є́ : має́ | after vowels a letter е, after soft consonants — ѣ : твое, синѣ | letter е: попивае | letter є: має | letter е: не чуе | digraphs је / ье: сподівајетцьа | as in modern orthography | ye, i.e.: Yenakiieve | je/ 'e | |||
| — ж | zh | ž | ||||||||||||||
| — softened жж | always жжь | one letter ж | zhzh | |||||||||||||
| — з | parallel prefixes роз- / рос-, prepositions зъ / съ: зъ неи, съ кварты | parallel prepositions зъ / съ: зъ воломъ, съ конемъ | z | z | ||||||||||||
| — зь | letter with titlo з҄ | z | ź | |||||||||||||
| — softened зз | always ззь | one letter з | zz | |||||||||||||
| — и | alternation и / ы: другий / другый | letters и, і, ы: великій, сынъ | letters ы, и, е: підняты, називаю, шепшина | letter ы / и : мы ходили, сынъ, сила | letters и, ы, е: думы, тыхенько, вешневий | letters и / е: вимие, задзвонемо | letter ы, after hissing — ы, и, і | as in modern orthography | in a large group of words - the initial и: идол, ижиця, индик, иржа | y | y | |||||
| — ы | for the first time deleted | deleted | ||||||||||||||
| — і | etymological ѣ : фѣґура | letters ѣ, и, і : лѣто, жинка, твій | letter only і: гомінъ | depending on the etymology of the letter о̂, е̂, и̂, ѣ : но̂съ, пе̂чъ, добри̂, снѣѵъ ; in the endings of adjectives of the hard group in the nominative plural to denote, ы / ыи are used: прекрасны, добрыи | якщо походив від й — позначався як і, якщо походив від ѣ — позначався як ѣ : рідна, недѣля | letter и, before vowels — letter і: идучи, патріот | always і: стілъ, попіл, моіх | letters и / і | letter і, before з, с, д, т, н, л, ц, якщо etymologically derived from /e/ / — letter ї: поділ, принїс, лїс | after soft consonants only і, not ї | i | i | ||||
| — ї | most often as ѣ, less often than и / е : ѣжакъ, ии | letter ѣ : кроѣла | letter і́ : церкоу҄ноі́ | letters и / і: ихъ, моій | letter і: Вкраіна, моіх, тихоі | letter ї: їсти | letter і | digraph јі: Украјіна | as in modern orthography | yi, I, 'i : Yizhakevych, Kadiivka | ji | |||||
| — й | entered й | letters а̏, е̏, и̏, і̏, у̏, ю̏, ѧ̏ for modern ай, ей, ий, ій, уй, юй, яй: перши̏, та̏ | letter ј: свьатиј | y, i | j | |||||||||||
| — йо / ьо | digraph іо: іому, тріома | digraph іо: у іого | letter ё: ёго, сёго | for the first time digraphs йо, ьо: його, сьогодні | letter о̂ : важко о̂му | letter ё or digraph йо: ёго, слёзы / слйози | letter ё: ёго, лёнъ | letter ё, softness of the consonant before — ьо: ёго, трьох | digraph іо: сліозы | digraph јо / ьо: сльоза | as in modern orthography | yo, 'o | jo / 'o | |||
| — к | k | k | ||||||||||||||
| — л | in foreign words - soft л: кляса, блюза | l | l | |||||||||||||
| — ль | letter with titlo л҄ | l | ľ; pered nastupnoju pryholosnoju abo v kinci slova l | |||||||||||||
| — softened лл | extended pronunciation in the letter was not transmitted: бездѣлье | extended pronunciation in the letter was not transmitted: зѣля | double л: весіллє | always лль | one л: зїлє | ll | odna litera ľ | |||||||||
| — м | m | m | ||||||||||||||
| — н | n | n | ||||||||||||||
| — нь | letter with titlo н҄ | n | ń | |||||||||||||
| — softened нн | always ннь | one letter н: знанє | nn | odna litera ń | ||||||||||||
| — о | o | o | ||||||||||||||
| — п | p | p | ||||||||||||||
| — р | r | r | ||||||||||||||
| — рь | letter with titlo р҄ | r | abeceda skladala śa na osnovi halyckoji literaturnoji movy XIX stoliťa, jaka ne mala danoho zvuka | |||||||||||||
| — с | s | s | ||||||||||||||
| — сь | letter with titlo с҄ | s | ś | |||||||||||||
| — softened сс | letter combinations сь + iotated vowel: волосья | always ссь | one letter с | ss | ||||||||||||
| — т | t | t | ||||||||||||||
| — ть | letter with titlo т҄ | t | ť | |||||||||||||
| — softened тт | always тть: завзяттьа | one letter т: житє | tt: Zakarpattia | odna litera ť | ||||||||||||
| — у | u | u | ||||||||||||||
| — в / у | alternation у / в: урядъ / врядъ | at the end of the syllable is a letter ў : ходиў, sometimes verbs in the masculine singular form of the past tense retained an ancient ending in writing -лъ: ходилъ, читалъ | letter ў : порубаў | v / u | v / u | |||||||||||
| — ф | f | f | ||||||||||||||
| — х | kh | ch | ||||||||||||||
| — ц | ts | c | ||||||||||||||
| — softened цц | always цць | one letter ц | tsts | |||||||||||||
| — ць | letter with titlo ц҄ | ts | ć | |||||||||||||
| — ч | ch | č | ||||||||||||||
| — softened чч | always ччь | one letter ч | chch | |||||||||||||
| — ш | sh | š | ||||||||||||||
| — softened шш | always шшь | one letter ш | shsh | |||||||||||||
| — щ | digraph сч: счобъ | digraph шч: шчука | sch | šč | ||||||||||||
| ь in most positions | ь | ь | ь | ь | ҄ титло: тїл҄ки | ь | Ø | ' abo ˇ | ||||||||
| ь after the final hissing, labial consonant and «р» — now Ø | alternation ь / ъ: пишешь / пишешъ | Writing «рь» at the end of the word | ||||||||||||||
| ь in words світ, свято | with a letter ь: сьвіт, сьвято | |||||||||||||||
| — ю | digraph ју / ьу: в ріднім крају | yu, iu: Yurii, Kriukivka | ju / 'u | |||||||||||||
| — я | letter ѧ | the letter є is in middle nouns: щастє | digraphs ја /ьа : јаблуко, свьатиј | ya, ia | ja / 'a | |||||||||||
| apostrophe | letters ъ and ь: зъѣвъ, напьявсь | not used: позавязовани | did not affect the letter — бю | ' — м'яка зупинка | letters ъ / ь: семьі, разъединила | letter j: відобјетцьа | first introduced | apostrophe systematically after labial consonants before є, ї, я, ю | missing | |||||||
| ъ after the final consonant now Ø | always ъ: бувъ | always ъ: Чмыръ | always ъ: изъ | deleted | v — важка зупинка | always ъ: ихъ | always ъ: безъ пана | deleted | most often written | deleted | ||||||
| ѣ — now mostly і | letter only і: гомінъ | the letter ѣ meant sound : снѣгъ, бѣдный | if the sound came from ѣ, the letter ѣ was preserved: недѣля | letter ѣ for sound | deleted | |||||||||||
| simplification in groups of consonants стн — now сн | alternation of a simplified / complete group of consonants: честний / чесний | |||||||||||||||
| etymological /т'с'а/ — now -ться | -тся, -ться or -тця: дадуться, остатця | -цьця: быцьця | -т-ся: бют-ся | -ця, -тця, -тся: дивиця / дивитця, радуются | -тьця, -тця: вертаютьця | ‑тцьа: усміхнетцьа | -тця, -цця: зоветця, робицця | -ť śa častka «śa» zavždy vžyvajeť śa okremo | ||||||||
| sound combination — now -чці | -ццѣ : боляццѣ | -цьці: печуроцьці | -чцѣ : дочцѣ | -ці, -цці: вкупоці, колисоцці | -čci | |||||||||||
| etymological /шс'я/ — now шся | -сься: засміѣсься | -ся / -шся: вибераєся, напєшся | -ся, -сся: умыеся, подинесся | -шся, -сся: одібъешся | -сся: поденесся | častka «śa» zavždy vžyvajeť śa okremo | ||||||||||
| etymological /тч/ — now тч | -ч- : квічали | tč | ||||||||||||||
| ѥ | deleted | |||||||||||||||
| ѕ | deleted | |||||||||||||||
| ѡ — now mostly о / і | deleted | |||||||||||||||
| ѫ — now mostly у | deleted | |||||||||||||||
| ѱ — now пс | deleted | |||||||||||||||
| ѯ — now кс | deleted | |||||||||||||||
| ѵ — now mostly і | deleted |
Orthography standardization (20th and 21st centuries)
Hrinchenko's work became an informal spelling and model for Ukrainian writers and publications from 1907 until the creation of the first official Ukrainian spelling in 1918.On January 17, 1918, the Central Council of Ukraine issued the "Main Rules of Ukrainian Spelling," which, however, did not cover the entire scope of the language. On May 17, 1919, the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences approved the "Main Rules of Ukrainian Orthography", which became the basis for all subsequent revisions and amendments.
On July 23, 1925, the Council of People's Commissars of the UkrSSR decided to organize a State Commission for the Regulation of Ukrainian Orthography. It included more than 20 scientists from the UkrSSR, who also expressed a desire to invite representatives of Western Ukraine: Stepan Smal-Stotskyi, Volodymyr Hnatiuk and Vasyl Simovych.
After almost a year of work in April 1926, the "Draft of Ukrainian Orthography" was published to acquaint the general public. After several months of discussion and consideration of the draft at the All-Ukrainian Orthography Conference, the orthography was adopted in accordance with the CPC resolution of September 6, 1928. It went down in history as "Orthography of Kharkiv" or "Orthography of Skrypnyk" from the place of creation or the name of the then People's Commissar for Education Mykola Skrypnyk.
In 1929, Hryhorii Holoskevych published the Orthographic Dictionary, agreed with the full spelling produced by the State Orthographic Commission and approved by the People's Commissar for Education.
In 1933, the orthography commission headed by the Deputy People's Commissar for Education of the UkrSSR Andrii Khvylia banned the Ukrainian orthography of 1928 as "nationalist", immediately stopped publishing any dictionaries and without any discussion in a very short time created a new orthography that as never before he unified the Ukrainian and Russian languages. The letter ґ was removed from the alphabet, and Ukrainian scientific terminology was revised and agreed with Russian-Ukrainian dictionaries. It was connected with the document "Rules of Russian orthography and punctuation", which was published in 1956. From 1960 until 1990, the official edition was 1960.
After the beginning of the "perestroika" the issue of improving the Ukrainian spelling became relevant again - the editing of the spelling code was started by the Spelling Commission at the LMM of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The project was also discussed in the newly established Ukrainian Language Society. T. Shevchenko. The new version was approved on November 14, 1989, and published in 1990. The main achievements were the restoration of the letter ґ and the vocative case.
During the First International Congress of Ukrainians a resolution was adopted on the need to develop a single modern spelling for Ukrainians living in Ukraine and in the diaspora, which should be based on the entire historical experience of the Ukrainian language.
On June 15, 1994, the Government of Ukraine approved the composition of the Ukrainian National Commission on Orthography under the Cabinet of Ministers. The initial goal was to prepare a new version of the spelling in years, but the work on preparing the updated rules was significantly delayed. Finally, all developed proposals were submitted to the Institute of the Ukrainian Language in mid-January 1999. This project is known as the "Draft Ukrainian orthography of 1999".
Some modern Ukrainian publishing houses deviated somewhat from the rules of writing at the time, such as borrowed neologisms and foreign proper names. Thus, in many geographical, historical and artistic books, they use transliteration methods, regardless of the spelling: «А-Ба-Ба-Га-Ла-Ма-Га» in a series books about Harry Potter; «Астролябія» in a series of works by Tolkien ; «Літопис» ; «Мапа» and the encyclopedia УСЕ published by «Ірина», as well as the publishing house «Критика». These editions refer to the German H and G in their proper names as Г and Ґ. According to the orthography of 1993, "G and h are usually transmitted by the letter г".
On May 22, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting approved the Ukrainian orthography in a new version developed by the Ukrainian National Orthography Commission.
On January 27, 2021, the Kyiv District Administrative Court annulled Cabinet Resolution No. 437 “Issues of Ukrainian Orthography”, which approved a new version of “Ukrainian Orthography” allegedly due to the fact that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine did not have the appropriate competence. The Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal found the decision of the Kyiv District Administrative Court to cancel the new spelling illegal and annulled it.
The structure of the current orthography
Given in accordance with the wording of the orthography of 2019.I. Orthography of parts of the word base
II. Orthography of endings of declension words
III. Orthography of words of foreign origin
IV. Orthography of proper names
'''V. Punctuation'''