Editing East Slavic languages (section)

== Distinctive features ==

=== Vocabulary ===
The East Slavic territory exhibits a linguistic continuum with many transitional dialects. Between Belarusian and Ukrainian there is the [[West Polesian dialect|Polesian dialect]], which shares features from both languages. East Polesian is a transitional [[Variety (linguistics)|variety]] between Belarusian and Ukrainian on one hand, and between South Russian and Ukrainian on the other hand. At the same time, Belarusian and [[Southern Russian]] form a [[Dialect continuum|continuous area]], making it virtually impossible to draw a line between the two languages. [[Central Russian|Central]] or Middle Russian (with its Moscow sub-dialect), the transitional step between the North and the South, became a base for the Russian literary standard. [[Northern Russian]] with its predecessor, the [[Old Novgorod dialect]], has many original and archaic features.

Ruthenian, the ancestor of modern Belarusian and Ukrainian, was the official language of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] as "Chancery Slavonic"{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} until the end of the 17th century when it was gradually replaced by the Polish language. It was also the native language of the [[Cossack Hetmanate]] until the end of the 18th century, when the Ukrainian state completely became part of the Russian Empire in 1764.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Указ об учреждении губерний и о росписании к ним городов |url=https://constitution.garant.ru/history/act1600-1918/2005/ |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=constitution.garant.ru}}</ref> The [[Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk]] from 1710 is one of the most important written sources of the Ruthenian language. Due to the influence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth over many centuries, Belarusian and Ukrainian have been influenced in several respects by Polish, a [[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]] [[West Slavic languages|West Slavic]] language. As a result of the long Polish-Lithuanian rule, these languages had been less exposed to [[Church Slavonic]], featuring therefore less Church Slavonicisms than the modern Russian language, for example:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Comparison of the word "sweet"
!Ukrainian
!Belarusian
!Russian
|-
|солодкий (''solodkyj'')
|салодкі (''salodki'')
|сладкий (''sladkij'')
|}
Additionally, the original East Slavic phonetic form was kept in many words in Ukrainian and Belarusian, for example:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Comparison of the word "unit"
!Ukrainian
!Belarusian
!Russian
|-
|одиниця (''odynycia'')
|адзінка (''adzinka'')
|eдиница (''yedinica'')
|}
In general, Ukrainian and Belarusian are also closer to other Western European languages, especially to [[German language|German]] (via Polish). At the same time Russian was being heavily influenced by Church Slavonic (South Slavic language), but also by the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] and [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] languages.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-02-14 |title=Turkic words in Russian |url=https://www.languagesoftheworld.info/historical-linguistics/turkic-words-in-russian.html |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=Languages Of The World |language=en-US}}</ref> For example:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Comparison of the word "to search"
!Ukrainian
!Belarusian
!Russian
|-
|шукати (''šukaty'')
|шукаць (''šukać'')
|искать (''iskat́'')
|-
| colspan="2" |Compare Polish "szukać" and [[Old Saxon|Old Low German]] "sōkian" (German "suchen")
|Compare Bulgarian "искам" (''iskam'') (with a meaning shift: "to want") and Serbo-Croatian "искати" (''iskati'')
|}
What's more, all three languages do also have [[False friend|false friends]], that sometimes can lead to (big) misunderstandings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Database of False Friends in Slavic Languages |url=https://oesteuropastudier.dk/en/dictionaries/fauxamis |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Danish Portal for East European Studies |language=en-gb}}</ref> For example, Ukrainian орати (''oraty'') — "to plow" and Russian орать (''orat́'') — "to scream", or Ukrainian помітити (''pomityty'') — "to notice" and Russian пометить (''pometit́'') — "to mark".

===Orthography===

==== Alphabet ====
The alphabets of the East Slavic languages are all written in the Cyrillic script, however each of them has their own letters and pronunciations. Russian and Ukrainian have 33 letters, while Belarusian has 32. Additionally, Belarusian and Ukrainian use the [[apostrophe]] (') for the [[hard sign]], which has the same function as the letter Ъ in Russian.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: left; empty-cells: hide; font-size: 0.9em"
|+Cyrillic alphabets comparison table
! colspan="39" style="text-align: center" |East Slavic languages
|-
!Russian
|А
|Б
|В
|Г
|
|Д
|Е
|
|Ё
|Ж
|З
|И
|
|
|Й
|К
|Л
|М
|Н
|О
|П
|Р
|С
|Т
|У
|
|Ф
|Х
|Ц
|Ч
|Ш
|Щ
|Ъ
|Ы
|Ь
|Э
|Ю
|Я
|-
!Belarusian
|А
|Б
|В
|Г
|
|Д
|Е
|
|Ё
|Ж
|З
|
|І
|
|Й
|К
|Л
|М
|Н
|О
|П
|Р
|С
|Т
|У
|Ў
|Ф
|Х
|Ц
|Ч
|Ш
|
|'
|Ы
|Ь
|Э
|Ю
|Я
|-
!Ukrainian
|А
|Б
|В
|Г
|Ґ
|Д
|Е
|Є
|
|Ж
|З
|И
|І
|Ї
|Й
|К
|Л
|М
|Н
|О
|П
|Р
|С
|Т
|У
|
|Ф
|Х
|Ц
|Ч
|Ш
|Щ
|'
|
|Ь
|
|Ю
|Я
|}
Some letters, that are not included in the alphabet of a language, can be written as [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]]. For example, the sound values of the letter Ё, which doesn't exist in the Ukrainian alphabet, can be written as ЙО (ЬО after consonants), while the letter Щ in Russian and Ukrainian corresponds to ШЧ in Belarusian (compare Belarusian плошча and Ukrainian площа ("area")).

There are also different rules of usage for certain letters, e.g. the [[soft sign]] (Ь) cannot be written after the letter Ц in Russian, because the consonant /tsʲ/ does not exist in the Russian language, while in Ukrainian and especially Belarusian, on the contrary, it is relatively common (Ukrainian ць etymologically corresponds to Russian and Belarusian ц; Belarusian ць etymologically corresponds to Russian and Ukrainian ть). Moreover, the letter Щ in standard Russian is always pronounced softly ([[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]]).

Standard Ukrainian, unlike all the other Slavic languages (excl. [[Serbo-Croatian]]), does not exhibit [[Final-obstruent devoicing|final devoicing]]. Nevertheless, this rule is not that clear when listening to colloquial Ukrainian. It's one of the typical deviations that occur in the Ukrainian spoken language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Фонетика й вимова - Олександр Пономарів |url=http://ponomariv-kultura-slova.wikidot.com/fonetyka |access-date=2022-11-11 |website=ponomariv-kultura-slova.wikidot.com}}</ref>

==== Different sound values of letters ====
Besides the differences of the alphabets, some letters represent different sounds depending on the language. For example, the letter И (romanized as ''I'' for Russian and ''Y'' for Ukrainian) in Russian is mostly pronounced as {{IPA|/i/}} (identical with the Ukrainian І), while in Ukrainian it's mostly pronounced as {{IPA|/ɪ/}} (very similar to the Russian Ы). Other examples:
{| class="wikitable"
|+"False friends"
! colspan="2" |Letter
!Pronunciation
|-
|Belarusian and Russian Е
|Ukrainian {{lang|uk|Є}}
|{{IPA|/je/, /ʲe/}}
|-
|Belarusian and Russian Э
|Ukrainian {{lang|uk|Е}}
|{{IPA|/e/}}
|-
|Belarusian and Russian Ы
|Ukrainian {{lang|uk|И}}
|{{IPA|/ɨ/}} (B. and R.), {{IPA|/ɪ/}} (U.)
|-
|Belarusian and Ukrainian І
|Russian {{lang|ru|И}}
|{{IPA|/i/, /ʲi/}}
|-
|Belarusian and Ukrainian Г
|no sound in Russian
|{{IPA|/ɣ/, /ɦ/}}
|-
|Russian {{lang|ru|Г}}
|Ukrainian {{lang|uk|Ґ}}
|{{IPA|/ɡ/}}
|}

===Phonology===
{{unreferenced section|date=November 2014}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! [[Isogloss]]es
! [[Northern Russian dialects|Northern<br />Russian]]
! Standard Russian<br /> (Moscow dialect)
! [[Southern Russian dialects|Southern<br /> Russian]]
! Standard Belarusian
! Standard Ukrainian
! Examples
|-
! scope="row" | reduction<br />of unstressed {{IPA|/o/}} ([[akanye]])
| no || colspan="3" | yes<ref group=n>Except for the Polesian dialect of [[Brest, Belarus|Brest]]</ref> || no<ref group=n>Except for the Eastern [[Polesia]]n dialect</ref> || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|голова́}} {{IPA|/ɡɐlɐˈva/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|галава́}} {{IPA|/ɣalaˈva/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|голова́}} {{IPA|/ɦɔlɔˈʋa/}}<br>"head"
|-
! scope="row" | pretonic {{IPA|/ʲe/}} ([[yakanye]])
| {{IPA|/ʲe/}} || {{IPA|/ʲi/}} || colspan="2" | {{IPA|/ʲa/}} || {{IPA|/e/}}<ref group=n>Consonants are hard before {{IPA|/e/}}</ref> || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|земля́}} {{IPA|/zʲiˈmlʲa/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|зямля́}} {{IPA|/zʲaˈmlʲa/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|земля́}} {{IPA|/zeˈmlʲa/}}<br>"earth"
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''i''
| colspan="4" | {{IPA|/i/}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɪ/}}<ref group=n>Except for some dialects</ref> || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|лист}} {{IPA|/ˈlʲist/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|ліст}} {{IPA|/ˈlʲist/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|лист}} {{IPA|/ˈlɪst/}}<br>"leaf"
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''y''
| colspan="4" | {{IPA|/ɨ/}} || {{nowrap|R./B. {{wikt-lang|ru|ты}} {{IPA|/ˈtɨ/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|ти}} {{IPA|/ˈtɪ/}}<br>"thou, you"}}
|-
! scope="row" | stressed CoC
| colspan="4" | {{IPA|/o/}} || rowspan="2" | {{IPA|/i/}}<ref group=n>In some Ukrainian dialects C{{IPA|/o/}}C can be {{IPA|/y~y̯e~y̯i~u̯o/}}</ref><ref group=n>In some Ukrainian dialects PSl *''ě'' can be {{IPA|/e̝~i̯ɛ/}}</ref> || {{nowrap|R. {{wikt-lang|ru|ночь}} {{IPA|/ˈnot͡ɕ/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|ноч}} {{IPA|/ˈnot͡ʂ/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|ніч}} {{IPA|/ˈnʲit͡ʃ/}}<br>"night"}}
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''ě''
|  {{IPA|/e̝~i̯ɛ~i/}} || colspan="3" | {{IPA|/e/}} || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|се́мя}} {{IPA|/ˈsʲemʲa/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|се́мя}} {{IPA|/ˈsʲemʲa/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|сі́м'я}} {{IPA|/ˈsʲimja/}}<br>"seed"
|-
! scope="row" | /e/>/o/ change before nonpalatalized consonants<ref group=n>Also at the end of words (in Russian and Belarusian). In Belarusian (unlike Russian), the change is not present in stressed 2 and 3 sg. pres. ind. endings.</ref>
| always || colspan="3" | under stress || after /j/, /nʲ/, /lʲ/, /ʒ/, /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|зелёный}} {{IPA|/zʲiˈlʲonɨj/}}, <br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|зялёны}} {{IPA|/zʲaˈlʲonɨ/}}, <br> U. {{wikt-lang|uk|зеле́ний}} {{IPA|/zeˈlenɪj/}}<br>"green"
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''c''
| colspan="4" | {{IPA|/t͡s/}}<ref group=n>Can be {{IPA|/s/}} in South Russian</ref><ref group=n name="c">In some Northern Russian dialects, Proto-Slavic *''c'' and *''č'' have merged into one sound, variously pronounced as {{IPA|/t͡s, t͡sʲ, t͡ʂ, t͡ɕ/}} depending on a dialect.</ref> || {{IPA|/t͡s, t͡sʲ/}} ||R. волчица (volčica)
B. ваўчыца (vaŭčyca)
U. вовчиця (vovčyc’a)
”female wolf”
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''č''
| colspan="3" | {{IPA|/t͡ɕ/}}<ref group=n>Can be {{IPA|/ɕ/}} in Southern Russian</ref><ref group=n name="c"/> || {{IPA|/t͡ʂ/}} || {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}} || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|час}} {{IPA|/ˈt͡ɕas/}}<br> "hour",<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|час}} {{IPA|/ˈt͡ʂas/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|час}} {{IPA|/ˈt͡ʃas/}}<br>"time"
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''skj'', ''zgj''
| colspan="3" | {{IPA|/ɕː/}},<ref group=n>Can be {{IPA|/ɕt͡ɕ/}}, {{IPA|/ʂː/}}</ref>  {{IPA|/ʑː/}} || {{IPA|/ʂt͡ʂ/}}, {{IPA|/ʐd͡ʐ/}} || {{IPA|/ʃt͡ʃ/}}, {{IPA|/ʒd͡ʒ/}} ||R. ещё /jeˈɕːo/
B. яшчэ /jaˈʂt͡ʂe/
U. ще /ʃt͡ʃe/
“yet”
|-
! scope="row" | soft [[dental stop]]s
| colspan="3" | {{IPA|/tʲ/}}, {{IPA|/dʲ/}}<ref group=n>In Russian light affrication can occur: {{IPA|[tˢʲ]}} , {{IPA|[dᶻʲ]}}</ref> || {{IPA|/t͡sʲ/}}, {{IPA|/d͡zʲ/}} || {{IPA|/tʲ/}}, {{IPA|/dʲ/}} || {{nowrap|R. {{wikt-lang|ru|де́сять}} {{IPA|/ˈdʲesʲitʲ/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|дзе́сяць}} {{IPA|/ˈd͡zʲesʲat͡sʲ/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|де́сять}} {{IPA|/ˈdesʲatʲ/}}<br>"ten"}}
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''v''
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|/v, f/}}<ref group=n>In some Northern Russian sub-dialects {{IPA|/v/}} is not devoiced to {{IPA|/f/}}</ref> || {{IPA|/w/}} || {{IPA|/v/}}<br>{{IPA|[v, w]}} || {{IPA|/ʋ/}}<br>{{IPA|[β, w]}}
/u̯/ (at the end of a closed syllable)
| {{nowrap|R. {{wikt-lang|ru|о́стров}} {{IPA|/ˈostraf/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|во́страў}} {{IPA|/ˈvostrau̯/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|о́стрів}} {{IPA|/ˈostriu̯/}}<br>"island"}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{IPA|/f/}} (in loanwords)
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|/f/}} || {{IPA|/x~xv~xw~xu̯/}} || colspan="2" | {{IPA|/f/}} ||
|-
! scope="row" | Prothetic {{IPA|/v~w~u̯/}}
| colspan="2" | no<ref group=n>Except for ''восемь'' "eight" and some others</ref> || colspan="3" | yes || {{nowrap|R. {{wikt-lang|ru|о́стров}} {{IPA|/ˈostraf/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|во́страў}} {{IPA|/ˈvostrau̯/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|о́стрів}} {{IPA|/ˈostriu̯/}}<br>"island"}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Proto-Slavic]] *''g''
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɡ/}} || colspan="2" | {{IPA|/ɣ/}} || {{IPA|/ɦ/}} || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|голова́}} {{IPA|/ɡɐlɐˈva/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|галава́}} {{IPA|/ɣalaˈva/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|голова́}} {{IPA|/ɦɔlɔˈʋa/}}<br>"head"
|-
|-
! scope="row" | Hardening of final soft [[labial consonant|labials]]
| colspan="2" | no || colspan="3" | yes ||R. {{wikt-lang|ru|степь}} /sʲtʲepʲ/,
B. стэп /stɛp/,
U. {{wikt-lang|uk|степ}} /stɛp/

"steppe"
|-
! scope="row" | Hardening of soft {{IPA|/rʲ/}}
| colspan="3" | no || yes || hardened at the end of a closed syllable and not hardened elsewere ||R. матерь (máter’)
B. Вікторыя (Viktoryja)
U. кобзар (kobzár (nominative case)
кобзаря (kobzar’á (genetive case)
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *''CrьC, ClьC,<br/>CrъC, CrъC''
| colspan="3" | {{IPA|/rʲe/}}, {{IPA|/lʲe/}},<br/>{{IPA|/ro/}}, {{IPA|/lo/}} || {{IPA|/rɨ/}}, /ro/, {{IPA|/lʲi/}}, {{IPA|/lɨ/}} || {{IPA|/rɪ/}}, {{IPA|/lɪ/}},<br/>{{IPA|/ro/}}, {{IPA|/lo/}}||Protoslavic. ‘*kry (singular accusative case. krьvь);
R. кровь (krov’), кровавый (krovávyj)
B. кроў (kroŭ), крывавы (kryvávy)
U. кров (krov), кривавий (kryvávyj)
”blood, bloody”
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic *-''ъj-'', -''ьj''-
| colspan="3" | {{IPA|/oj/}}, {{IPA|/ej/}} || {{IPA|/ɨj/}}, {{IPA|/ij/}} || {{IPA|/ɪj/}} ||
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic adj. end. *''-ьjь''
| {{IPA|/ej/}} || {{IPA|/ij/}},<ref group=n name=chsl>Only unstressed, [[Church Slavonic]] influence</ref> {{IPA|/ej/}} || {{IPA|/ej/}}<ref group=n>Stressed, unstressed is usually reduced to {{IPA|[ʲəj]}}</ref> || {{IPA|/ij/}} || {{IPA|/ɪj/}}, {{IPA|/ij/}} ||
|-
! scope="row" | Proto-Slavic adj. end. *''-ъjь''
| {{IPA|/oj/}} || {{IPA|/ɨj/}},<ref group=n name=chsl/> {{IPA|/oj/}} || {{IPA|/oj/}}<ref group=n>Stressed, unstressed is usually reduced to {{IPA|[əj]}}</ref> || {{IPA|/ɨj/}} || {{IPA|/ɪj/}} ||
|-
! scope="row" | Loss of the vocative case
| no || colspan="3" | yes<ref group=n>In colloquial Russian, new vocative has appeared from a pure stem: мам, пап, Маш, Вань etc.</ref> || no ||
|-
! scope="row" | 3 sg. & pl. pres. ind.
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|/t/}} || {{IPA|/tʲ/}} || {{IPA|/t͡sʲ/}} || {{IPA|/tʲ/}} || {{nowrap|R. {{wikt-lang|ru|ду́мают}} {{IPA|/ˈdumajut/}},<br>B. {{lang|be|ду́маюць}} {{IPA|/ˈdumajut͡sʲ/}},<br>Uk. {{lang|uk|ду́мають}} {{IPA|/ˈdumajutʲ/}}<br>"(they) think"}}
|-
! scope="row" | Dropping out<br />of 3 sg. pres. ind. ending (in ''e''-stems)
| colspan="2" | no || colspan="3" | yes ||R. скажет (skážet)
B. скажа (skáža)
U. скаже (skáže)
”(he/she) will say”
|-
! scope="row" | 3 sg. masc. past ind.
| {{IPA|/v~w~u̯/}}<ref group=n>In the dialect of [[Vologda]]</ref> || colspan="2" | {{IPA|/l/}} || colspan="2" | {{IPA|/u̯/}}|| R. {{wikt-lang|ru|ду́мал}} {{IPA|/ˈdumal/}},<br>B. {{lang|be|ду́маў}} {{IPA|/ˈdumau̯/}},<br>U. {{lang|uk|ду́мав}} {{IPA|/ˈdumau̯/}}<br>"(he) thought"
|-
! scope="row" | [[Slavic second palatalization|2nd palatalization]] in oblique cases
| colspan="3" | no || colspan="2" | yes || R. {{wikt-lang|ru|рука|руке́}} {{IPA|/ruˈkʲe/}},<br>B. {{wikt-lang|be|рука|руцэ́}} {{IPA|/ruˈt͡se/}},<br>U. {{wikt-lang|uk|рука|руці́}} {{IPA|/ruˈt͡sʲi/}}<br>"hand"<br>([[locative case|locative]] or [[prepositional case]])
|}

===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=n|2}}