Not Zaporizhzhia residents or Kharkiv residents. What is the correct way to refer to the inhabitants of regional centers in Ukrainian?
Since the onset of the full-scale war, many Ukrainians are trying to switch to their native language. However, not everyone knows the correct terms for residents of regional centers in Ukraine.
Many make mistakes and, influenced by the Russian language, use the suffix -чани, which contradicts the rules of Ukrainian word formation.
To avoid using mixed-language terms, "Telegraph" will explain how to correctly name the residents of various regional centers in our country.
Rules of the Ukrainian Language
In the Ukrainian language, due to the influence of Russian, many names for city residents have emerged with the suffix -чани, which goes against the norms of Ukrainian word formation and is not suitable for every resident of Ukraine's regional centers.
Thus, names with -чани are formed only from those settlements that have the suffixes -иць-, -ець-, -цьк-, -ц-, -ч-, -к-. For example, "Чернівці – чернівчани".
The Ukrainian language tends to use the suffix -ець for naming city residents: полтавець, луганець, краматорець.
There are also names in the Ukrainian language where parallel forms can be created with -ян-. For example, "іванофранківці / іванофранків'яни".
How to Correctly Name the Residents of Regional Centers in Ukrainian
- Чернігів — чернігівці;
- Полтава — полтавці;
- Луганськ — луганці;
- Запоріжжя — запоріжці;
- Дніпро — дніпровці;
- Херсон — херсонці;
- Миколаїв — миколаївці;
- Черкаси — черкасці;
- Ужгород — ужгородці;
- Житомир — житомирці;
- Івано-Франківськ — іванофранківці;
- Тернопіль — тернопільці;
- Сімферополь — сімферопольці;
- Рівне — рівенці;
- Суми — сумці;
- Харків — харківці;
- Київ — кияни;
- Львів — львівʼяни;
- Чернівці — чернівчани;
- Луцьк — лучани;
- Кропивницький — кропивничани;
- Хмельницький — хмельничани;
- Вінниця — вінничани;
- Донецьк — донеччани;
- Одеса — одесити / одесці.
As you can see, only a quarter of these demonyms have morphological grounds for -чан-.
There are also names where parallel forms can be created with -ян-:
- іванофранківці / іванофранківʼяни;
- тернопільці / тернополяни;
- рівенці / рівняни;
- дніпровці / дніпряни;
- харківці / харківʼяни;
- сумці / сумʼяни;
- житомирці / житомиряни;
- чернігівці / чернігівʼяни.
Previously, "Telegraph" discussed how to correctly say in Ukrainian "суспільний діяч" or "громадський". Many people use these two terms as synonyms, although this is not entirely accurate. Additionally, there is another word "громадянський," which can also be confused with "громадський."