Ruthenian: Difference between revisions

The use of the Ruthenian language is mostly stagnant with a bit of decline. Although there are 4 million ethnic Ukrainians in the territory, the Ruthenian language is prevalent only in western and southern Halicia. In Lwiw, Ukrainian, Polish and Ruthenian are spoken, a notable shift from the recent past when the city was primarily Polish-speaking. The shift is believed to be caused by a population influx and migrants from other regions of Ukraine. In rural areas Ukrainians also gradually shift from Ruthenian to Ukrainian.

==Dialects==

#Dolinian Ruthenian is spoken in the [[w:Transcarpathian Oblast|Transcarpathian Oblasť]]. It is notable for the retention of a distinct phoneme /ɤ/, /a/ in places of /e/ or /i/ in the standard and a phoneme /y/ in some places of a regular /i/ in the standard.

#Upper Dnistrian (Kresowy) is considered to be the main Halician Ruthenian dialect, spoken in the [[w:Lviv|Lwiw]], [[w:Ternopil|Ternopiľ]], and [[w:Ivano-Frankivsk|Iwano-Frankiwsk]] and the standard is mostly based on this dialect. Its distinguishing characteristics are the influence of Polish and the German vocabulary, which is reminiscent of the Austro-Hungarian rule.

#Pokuttia is spoken in the [[w:Chernivtsi Oblast|Czerniwci]] and [[w:Ternopil Oblast|Ternopiľ Oblasť]] of Ukraine. This dialect has some distinct phonetic and lexical features, most notable of which is a shift of /ɛ/ into /æ/ in certain positions and /ɔ/ instead of /ɛ/ after some postalveolar fricatives (like in standard Ukrainian).

#Hutsul is spoken by the [[w:Hutsul people|Hucul people]] on the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, in the extreme southern parts of the Iwano-Frankiwsk Oblasť and Transcarpathian Oblasťs. It also preserves the /ɨ~ɤ/ sound and have /d͡ʐ/ reduced to /ʒ/.

==Phonology==

===Vowels===