deaffricates the Middle High German voiceless labiodental affricate to initially (as in funt, but this pronunciation is also quasi-standard throughout northern and central Germany); /pf/ surfaces as an unshifted medially or finally (as in and ). Additionally, final voiced stops appear in Standard Yiddish but not Northern Standard German. Comparison with Hebrew The pronunciation of vowels in Yiddish words of Hebrew origin is similar to Ashkenazi Hebrew but not identical. The most prominent difference is kamatz gadol in closed syllables being pronounced same as patah in Yiddish but the same as any other kamatz in Ashkenazi Hebrew. Also, Hebrew features no reduction of unstressed vowels and so the given name Jochebed would be in Ashkenazi Hebrew but in Standard Yiddish. Patah in open syllable, as well as hataf patah, are unpredictably split between A1 and A2: ; . References Bibliography Birnbaum, Solomon A., Yiddish: A Survey and a Grammar, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1979, . Herzog, Marvin, et al. ed., YIVO, The Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry, 3 vols., Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, 1992–2000, . Further reading External links Jewish Language Research Website Phonology Germanic phonologies