Ukrainian Palatalization Rule

Ukrainian has a contrast between palatal and non-palatal consonants. The palatal consonant is often called soft, and the non-palatal consonant is often called hard. Russian also has hard and soft consonants. In both languages, palatalized consonants can occur in the syllable onset and coda. However, the rules for palatalization are not identical.

The high front vowel [i] always triggers palatalization in Russian. With the exception of three consonants which are never palatalized, all Russian consonants which precede the high front vowel are palatalized. This is not the case in Ukrainian.

In Ukrainian seven consonants are palatalized before [i]. They are [d], [z], [l], [n], [s], [t] and [ts]. The seven consonants are three plosives, two fricatives, one liquid and one affricate. However, in Russian many consonants are palatalized before [i]. They include [b], [p], [m], [f], [v] and [r].

To illustrate the difference, we can compare the Russian and Ukrainian pronunciations of the word for tomato. They are помидор (pomidor) in Russian and помiдор (pomidor) in Ukrainian. The nasal [m] is palatalized in Russian but not in Ukrainian. 

Russian and Ukrainian both have consonant pairs with and without palatalization. In Russian most consonants become palatalized when they precede the high front vowel. However, this is not the case in Ukrainian. The Ukrainian palatalization rule limits palatalization to seven alveolar consonants.