# Ukrainian: pronounciation of "e" like "i" ?



## slavic_one

Greets!
I heard that in some words like "широкеє" or "чекай" "e" is pronounced like "i". Is that true or I heard it bad?


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## kids_fox

Hello, *slavic_one*!

There are certain regions of Ukraine where people pronounce "*e*" in a similar way as they pronounce "*и*" (or sometimes even "*i*"). It sounds a little bit ugly as for me, and it is not correct.


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## WSMIR

Hi!
First of all, not широкеє but широке. The ending you wrote , I mean (-еє), is only sometimes used in poetry for euphony.
Secondly, we don't replace "e" with "i".
Now I will transcribe both words for you :
1) shyrоk*æ*
2) ch*æ*kaj


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## Natabka

Hi everyone!

Well, I'd say that with Ukrainian it is enough for a learner to learn how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet (and they, as far as I remember  have one basic sounding each). Then, in words, sentences, that is in different phonetic environment, sounds may get _altered _(never _changed_!) but it'll come out naturally. What I'm driving at is that *in Ukrainian you read as you see*, no worries about 'e' sounding like 'i' or whatever. Of course, we are not touching regional pronunciation differences or phonetic nuances. 

i.e. The nuances: There are positions (unstressed) when "*e*"[ɛ] gets closer to "*и*" (English, roughly [y]) (not /і/!). There is no problem with /a, о, у, i/ (English [a, o, u, i]), in that they can stand as independent words. But more important would be the phonetic difference between /*i*/ and /*и*/, given that the latter is in fact much closer phonetically to /e/[ɛ] than to _ (we see this particularly when /e/ and /i/ are unstressed)


P.S. Comment on WSMIR's transcription - Ukrainian [*e*] does NOT sound like English open [*æ*], especially in unstressed positions like in широке, чекай. It is more or less English 'e' ([ɛ]?) in "get"._


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## slavic_one

Hello!
Thank you all.


WSMIR said:


> Hi!
> First of all, not широкеє but широке. The ending you wrote , I mean (-еє), is only sometimes used in poetry for euphony.
> Secondly, we don't replace "e" with "i".
> Now I will transcribe both words for you :
> 1) shyrоk*æ*
> 2) ch*æ*kaj


I heard/saw it in song:

*Через поле широкеє*

Через поле широкеє
Протягнена нивка.
Чом до мене не приходив
...
Почекай до ранку.



Natabka said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> Well, I'd say that with Ukrainian it is enough for a learner to learn how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet (and they, as far as I remember  have one basic sounding each). Then, in words, sentences, that is in different phonetic environment, sounds may get _altered _(never _changed_!) but it'll come out naturally. What I'm driving at is that *in Ukrainian you read as you see*, no worries about 'e' sounding like 'i' or whatever. Of course, we are not touching regional pronunciation differences or phonetic nuances.
> 
> i.e. The nuances: There are positions (unstressed) when "*e*"[ɛ] gets closer to "*и*" (English, roughly [y]) (not /і/!). There is no problem with /a, о, у, i/ (English [a, o, u, i]), in that they can stand as independent words. But more important would be the phonetic difference between /*i*/ and /*и*/, given that the latter is in fact much closer phonetically to /e/[ɛ] than to _ (we see this particularly when /e/ and /i/ are unstressed)
> 
> 
> P.S. Comment on WSMIR's transcription - Ukrainian [*e*] does NOT sound like English open [*æ*], especially in unstressed positions like in широке, чекай. It is more or less English 'e' ([ɛ]?) in "get"._


_
That's what I thought that you read as you see, but then what I heard confused me so hence my question here. So let's just say it's some dialect or sth...
And as far as I got it, *и* is like Polish / Czech / Slovak *y* (not that hard as Russian *ы*), while *i* is like *i* (or Russian *и*)._


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## Natabka

slavic_one said:


> Hello!
> Thank you all.
> 
> I heard/saw it in song:
> 
> *Через поле широкеє*
> 
> Через поле широкеє
> Протягнена нивка.
> Чом до мене не приходив
> ...
> Почекай до ранку.
> 
> 
> That's what I thought that you read as you see, but then what I heard confused me so hence my question here. So let's just say it's some dialect or sth...



Where have you heard it? Maybe you could give a link or something? 

As for the song you've posted, there definitely are some lexical peculiarities (of poetic or dialectic character, or archaic, it's difficult for me to classify them right now): i.e. поле _широкеє _(definitely poetic, cf. широке), Коли_-м_ _тя_ чекала (=Коли тебе чекала), Не ходи _мі_ (=мені).



> And as far as I got it, *и* is like Polish / Czech / Slovak *y* (not that hard as Russian *ы*), while *i* is like *i* (or Russian *и*).


You got it right 

N.


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## slavic_one

Here you go:

Mod note:
I am really sorry but video and audio files need moderator approval - please ask before posting (they should be decent sites with no copyright concerns and ideally non-commercial). Approval of links after posting is not possible (also, this link would not fit the guidelines).
Please ask slavic_one by PM for the link (or google it with the song title).


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## Natabka

Бурдон - Коляда (Ой через поле)

Ой через поле, та й широкеє.
Святий вечур, та й широкеє.

Та й через море, та й глибокеє.
Святий вечур, та й глибокеє.

...

А третій каже, у пана Йвана.
Святий вечур, у пана Йвана.

Have a look at this song, Slavic_one (I only hope this is not violation of any rules ) This is "колядка", song that is sung at Christmas. They sing with accents on the end of the words that stand in the middle of each line and "e" is mostly stressed. I must say that this is not Standard Ukrainian because it is an old traditional колядка, but we speak of separate sounds not about correct stresses and modern words. 
In the song you've posted above I have a feeling that they pronounce 'e' closer to 'и', but still definitely not 'i'. And then there are other things, i.e. in the word "свічечка", 'i' [0:36] is closer to "и" but comapre it to clear "i" in "нічка" [0:15]. 
Anyway, it is very difficult to catch the pronunciation of separate sounds in songs, especially folk ones 
N.


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## slavic_one

Thanks!
The main think out of all that for me is that it's not standard Ukrainian and I don't have to worry about pronounciation coz it's always the same for every letter


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