Re: Dutch questions

On Sun, 7 May 2006 15:46:06 +0200, Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
wrote:

>What's the difference between |f| and |v|, by the way? ISTR reading
>that |fiets| and |vier| have (at least for some people) a different
>initial consonant ... so it's not just a positional thing (|v| at the
>beginning of the syllable, |f| at the end, except for exceptions, or
>the like).
>
>I'd say both of them as [f], since that's what syllable-initial |f|
>and |v| sound like in German (the latter in "native" German words, at
>least; it's [v] in many borrowed words).
>
>There is regular alternation between |f| and |v|, though, isn't there?
>As when adding an inflection to a word ending in |f|, it turns into
>|v|? (Does that, then, change the pronunciation of the sound for those
>who distinguish between |f| and |v|?)
I'm wondering something similar here, too.  Namely, why is it that some
words that begin with |f| in English begin with |v| in Dutch and German?
Same thing goes with |s| and |z|, it seems.

- Rob