The Southeastern dialects (), sometimes referred to as the Eastern or Central-Eastern dialects, are one of the three dialect groups of the Ukrainian language, alongside the Southwestern and Northern dialect groups. The borders of the Southeastern dialects reach from the south of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

oblasts to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

and from the northern or western parts of

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

Kirovohrad Kropyvnytskyi (, ) is a city in central Ukraine, situated on the Inhul River. It serves as the administrative center of Kirovohrad Oblast. Population: Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its name several times. The settlement was k ...

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

, and

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

oblasts to Ukraine's eastern border. They are also spoken in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

as well as in

Belgorod Belgorod (, ) is a city that serves as the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River, approximately north of the border with Ukraine. It has a population of It was founded in 1596 as a defensiv ...

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, and

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

oblasts of Russia. The Southeastern dialects form the

literary standard Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, th ...

of Ukrainian. Phonetically, its closest relatives are the

Podolian Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...

and southern Volhynian dialects, while its simplified syntax, morphology, and vocabulary are closer in nature to the Northern dialects. In contrast to other dialects of Ukrainian, which historically used the sound in foreign loanwords prior to the Ukrainian orthography of 1933, the Southeastern dialects have consistently used both natively and in loanwords. According to a 1969 study by , is one of the least-used sounds in the Southeastern dialects alongside and , at a usage rate of 0.013.

Origins

The exact origins of the Southeastern dialects is a matter of some debate. and Olena Kurylo argued that they originated from speakers of the other two dialects during the , while and have asserted that the Southeastern dialects directly descend from the Polanians. The

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' (), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was created under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Europe (Sarcelles, near Paris). As the ...

rejects the latter hypothesis.

Classification

Southeastern Ukrainian comprises three dialects: Middle Dnieprian, spoken in

Dnieper Ukraine The term Dnieper Ukraine (), usually refers to territory on either side of the middle course of the Dnieper River. The Ukrainian name derives from ''nad‑'' (prefix: "above, over") + ''Dnipró'' ("Dnieper") + ''‑shchyna'' (suffix denoting a g ...

; Slobozhan, spoken in

Sloboda Ukraine Sloboda Ukraine, also known locally as ''Slobozhanshchyna'' or ''Slobozhanshchina'', is a historical region in northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. It developed from Belgorod Razriad and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the ...

; and the Steppe dialect, spoken on the

Wild Fields The Wild Fields is a historical term used in the Polish–Lithuanian documents of the 16th to 18th centuries to refer to the Pontic steppe in the territory of present-day Eastern and Southern Ukraine and Western Russia, north of the Black Sea ...

. The Slobozhan and Steppe dialects are both relatively young, having emerged from Middle Dnieprian no earlier than the 16th century.

References

{{Ukrainian language Ukrainian dialects