Ukrainian pronunciation?

[Wayles Browne]

Dear colleagues,
At Cornell University, students can get a certain number of credits for
being a literate speaker of a language other than English, even
if it's a language which we don't regularly teach.
I give tests to interested students in various Slavic languages.
Part of the test involves reading a passage aloud in the language.
I get some young Ukrainian speakers from the U.S. and Canada
who pronounce soft s as in s'omyj very similar to sh as in shostyj
(perhaps even identical to it); likewise they say soft ts as in
misjatsja very much like ch as in chas. Should I consider this
to be
1) correct pronunciation of one variety of Standard Ukrainian
or
2) an accurate reproduction of the dialect pronunciation of
part of the Ukrainian speech area
or
3) the result of incomplete learning by the younger generation?
Comments and advice would be much appreciated.


Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 321, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu