Re: Dutch labiodental fricatives [was: Re: *oy vey*]

Wednesday, April 10, 2002, 8:39:25 PM, Dirk Elzinga wrote:

>>Has Dutch been vary evil against labiodental
>>fricatives during some period of it's history?
DE> As I understand it, Proto-Germanic had no voicing contrast in
DE> fricatives. Voicing occured in each daughter language under slightly
DE> different conditions.  In some varieties of Dutch, *f was voiced
DE> initially and medially, while in others it wasn't (there may also
DE> have been a Frisian substrate influence on the northern dialects
DE> which either nipped voicing in the bud, or prevented it from
DE> occurring it at all). Dutch spelling reflects a mixed dialect
DE> situation.

I guess this is also why Old English didn't make much distinction
between f/v, s/z and so on -- and, come to think of it, why modern
English doesn't always, either! Fascinating stuff -- thanks!
--
Matthew