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ArchivesATTN: Jim Young (and anyone else that can help)
I was looking at your reply with regard to the pronounciation of the surname Svirzocsky (hope I got that right). You mentioned the fact that various stresses on syllables differ depending on the ethnic background of the surname.
Well, I'm really interested in Eastern European names and surnames, and would like to know the syllable-stressing (or the like) rules for Ukrainian surnames. You said "Then there's Ukrainian!" and I instantly got really excited and wanted to know about pronounciation. I initially thought that Ukrainian surnames had a lot of emphasis on the first syllable, but this is just from listening to one surname from one fluent speaker.
Thank you in advance.
Well, I'm really interested in Eastern European names and surnames, and would like to know the syllable-stressing (or the like) rules for Ukrainian surnames. You said "Then there's Ukrainian!" and I instantly got really excited and wanted to know about pronounciation. I initially thought that Ukrainian surnames had a lot of emphasis on the first syllable, but this is just from listening to one surname from one fluent speaker.
Thank you in advance.
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Replies
I have to confess, the reason I was so vague about Ukrainian names is that I don't know. All the examples I could think of stressed the next to last syllable, and I was thinking that's the rule, as with Polish. Then I began to doubt. Maybe Ukrainian's more like Russian with no hard and fast rule about accentuation. I've never read anything about the pronunciation of Ukrainian, and I don't know where to look at the moment.
I know that the surnames ending in -enko (patronymic ending) seem to be stressed on the penultimate syllable. I'm pretty sure that names ending in -ovsky, adopted under Polish influence, would also be so stressed.
A website that might help is www.lemko.org/genealogy/krasovskij/intro.html
Ivan Krasovskij wrote a work on the surnames of a branch of the Ukrainian people called Lemkos, but these extracts seem pretty comprehensive to me.
I know that the surnames ending in -enko (patronymic ending) seem to be stressed on the penultimate syllable. I'm pretty sure that names ending in -ovsky, adopted under Polish influence, would also be so stressed.
A website that might help is www.lemko.org/genealogy/krasovskij/intro.html
Ivan Krasovskij wrote a work on the surnames of a branch of the Ukrainian people called Lemkos, but these extracts seem pretty comprehensive to me.
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Since previous posting I've looked up a Ukrainian language course on the web. It appears that the accent does move about.
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