Re: Words starting with Pf-

On May 30, 10:18 pm, Richard Fangnail <richardfangn...@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Are there any languages where Pf is not just pronouced as f?

Certainly. German, at least. Why shouldn't there be?

There's the drug company Pfizer and a guy named Pfefferberg.

What's the history of Pf?

It is a consequence ot the so-called Second Consonant Shift, which
distinguishes German from other Germanic languages. Due to the same
shift, such words as Zeit (time, but related to the English "tide" -
incidentally, the German word for "tide" is "Gezeiten"), zehn (ten),
Zeh (toe), Zimmer (room; related to the English word "timber") have a
z (pronounced as [ts]) instead of the English t- of cognate words.

Actually, the Second Consonant Shift is a feature of southern and
central German dialects, which are called High German. But standard
German is based on High German, of course.

Not all aspects of the Second Consonant Shift are found in all High
German dialects. The initial K's turned into Kch's only in Swiss
German (or Alemannic) dialects, and thus, this feature is not found in
standard German. In Switzerland, though, they still say "Chind"
instead of st.German "Kind" (child), and "chlii" for stG
"klein" (small, little).

This particular aspect of the Second Consonant Shift, i.e. the P
turning into a Pf, was not found very far north either, in the genuine
dialects. Even in Frankfurt, they still drink a kind of applejack or
cider called Äppelwoi, which is the local dialectal form of Apfelwein
"apple-wine". The Pf was found only in Bavarian and in Alemannic to
start with. However, one of the major influences of modern standard
German was the Gemeines Deutsch or Common German of the Austrian
Imperial Chancery, and that's where the Pf came into the language -
note that the dialects spoken in what is now Austria are classified as
Bavarian, so the Pf was of course part of the language there.

Any introductory textbook in the history of the German language will
contain more information about this. You can rest assured that this is
one of the first things you'll learn about German if you ever get more
profoundly involved with it.

.

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