Sounds and spelling 35 1.1.10 THE ALTERNATIONS [o] - [і], [є] - [і] One of the characteristic features of Ukrainian is that there are many words where the vowel і is in a relationship with either the vowel о or the vowel e. In the simplest terms, we have і before a single consonant which belongs to the same syllable. Typically this will occur in grammatical forms (mostly of nouns, but also some past-tense verb forms) in which a zero ending alternates with a vocalic ending, triggering the o-i or e-i alternation; thus: рік year but G.sg. року which have the syllable division (using V to separate syllables): рік/ but ро/ку/ and: він ніс he carried ніс nose (N.sg\) шість six (N.) кінь horse (NL?g.) Київ Kyiv (N.sg.) but but but but but вона несла she carried носа (G.sg.) шести (G.) коня (G.sg.) Києва (G.sg.) and, the other way round: сіл villages (G.pl.) but село (N.sg.) rip mountains (G.pl.) but гора (N.sg.) And we may find that the word regularizes itself so as to have the same vowel throughout. Thus: доріжка path (N.sg.) but доріжок (G.pl.) кінця end (G.sg.) but кінець (N.sg.)5 і does not always alternate with o/e (the last two are examples of this; others include ліс 'forest', літо 'summer', сіла 'she sat down', білий 'white'6) and, as in the penultimate set of examples, o/e do not always alternate with i. These exceptions include: (і) -opo-, -єре-, -ОЛО-, -еле- between consonants: мороз frost молот mallet берег bank, shore шелест rustling, lisping голод famine (ii) -op-, -ep-, -OB- between consonants: горб hump вовк wolf (iii) Where there is a vowel-zero alternation (zero alternation affects o, e), typically in the declension of many nouns when a vocalic ending appears:
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