Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 September 4

= September 4 =

pronunciation of Taras Shevchenko
Is correct? Why isn't Тарас tɐˈrɑs? And how is Lesya Ukrainka pronounced? -- Espoo (talk) 05:30, 4 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Quoting : "Ukrainian has assimilatory voicing: voiceless obstruents are voiced when preceding voiced obstruents." The obstruent is voiced. Without the middle name, you get.
 * Леся (Lesya) is a shortened form of Олеся (Olesya), for which Wiktionary gives the pronunciation . I guess that the darkening of the ⟨l⟩ is triggered by the preceding, so that Леся would become . (Our article Ukrainian phonology does not even mention possible velarization of the ⟨l⟩.) The common adjective українка is pronounced (again according to Wiktionary) ; the pseudonymous use as a proper noun would be pronounced identically. Combining the two, we get . --Lambiam 08:02, 4 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks! --Espoo (talk) 07:10, 6 September 2022 (UTC)