Re: Oyf vs. Af

[Robert A. Rothstein <rar...>]

When in doubt, ask the experts; in this case, Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter.  I
quote from his Laytish mame-loshn [Authentic Yiddish] (NY: League for
Yiddish, 1986), 311-12.

    It?s possible that it?s too late to teach the rising generations
that in natural Yiddish one
    doesn?t say /OYF/, put it?s probably still worth trying.  Yiddish
grammars on the one
    hand and dialectologists on the other have long pointed out that ?er
shtelt zikh aroyf oyfn
    tish? is in Northern Yiddish:  /ershteltsakh aruf afntish/, in the
Southeast :  /ershteltsekh
    arif afntish/, in Central Yiddish: /ershteltsekh arof ofntish/.
Soviet Yiddish makes the
    distinction in writing as well:  ?af? ? the preposition, ?uf? and
?aruf? ? the separable
    prefix.  But since we, outside the Soviet Union, follow the Yiddish
orthographic tradition
    and write ?oyf? for both the preposition and the prefix, sooner or
later the spelling
    pronunciation will probably supplant the natural pronunciation /af,
uf/, /af, if/, /of, of/.

In the original:
    Ken zayn az s?iz tsu shpet oystsulernen di untervaksndike doyres, az
in natirlekhn yidish
    zogt men nisht /OYF/, ober efsher iz fort keday tsu pruvn.  Yidishe
gramatikes fun eyn
    zayt, dialektologn fun der anderer hobn shoyn lang ongevizn, az ?er
shtelt zikh aroyf oyfn
    tish? iz in tsofn-yidish: /ershteltsakh aruf afntish/, in
dorem-mizrekh: /ershteltsekh arif
    afntish/, in tsentral-yidish: /ershteltsekh arof ofntish/.  Dos
sovetishe yidish diferentsirt
    oykh biksav: ?af? ? di prepozitsye, ?uf? un ?aruf? dem konverb.
Azoy vi mir, mikhutsn
    ratn-farband, shraybn ober, loyt der yidisher shrayb-traditsye,
?oyf? i di prepozitsye, i
    dem konverb, vet der oysyesdiker aroysred frier tsi shpeter efsher
aroysshtupn dem
    natirlekhn aroysred /af, uf/, /af, if/, /of, of/.

                                   Bob Rothstein

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