Pronunciation of v in German

The pronunciation of is one of the few cases of ambiguity in German orthography. The German language normally uses to indicate the sound (as used in the English word fight) and to indicate the sound (as in victory). However, does occur in a large number of German words, where its pronunciation is in some words but in others.
Originally, in Middle High German, the sound had been voiced in some dialects and was therefore written . Contemporary German has gone back to the unvoiced pronunciation, but idiosyncratically sometimes retained the medieval spelling. As a general (and defective) rule, it can thus be said that is pronounced in originally German words and in words of foreign origin.
Rules
is pronounced
* in the name of the letter ;
* in the frequent prefix and all words constructed with it, such as etc.;
* in the following words and all their derivations: "father"; "viola flower"; (the neuropathy St Vitus Dance); * "verse"; * "snack, small meal, evening prayer service"; "(in geographical names) fortress"; "(pejorative) old woman"; "male cousin"; "(pejorative) animal"; "livestock"; "much, many"; "four"; * "vice-, deputy"; "historic government official; (today humorously) sub-agent"; "raw wool, fleece"; "bird"; "historic rural administrator, reeve"; "folk, nation"; "full"; "of, from"; "before, in front of"; * "outrage, sacrilege"; (the words with * are pronounced by some speakers with , especially in Austria)
* in the following given names: (also pronounced with ), and all those beginning with , such as ;
* at the beginning of German family and place names, apart from names of foreign descent and few exceptions (this often leads to mispronunciations among English-speakers, who falsely use in names like );
* at the beginning of Dutch family and place names; word-initial is actually traditionally pronounced in Dutch, although is currently very common in the northern varieties, found in the Netherlands;
* at the end of words, e. g. "nerve" (its forms and derivatives are also usually pronounced with : ; but and have ), "naïve" (this word follows the rule of final obstruent devoicing, its forms and derivatives have : , ), "brave" (its forms are pronounced with either or : ).
is pronounced (or )
* where it occurs in the middle of a word stem, usually following the stressed vowel, as in , but also in (sometimes pronounced with in Austria and Switzerland) (however, exceptions to this rule are some place names, most prominently );
* at the beginning of words and given names other than those listed above, such as (all of which are of foreign descent, mostly Latin or French, and most especially loanwords of English origin);
* in family and place names which are neither German nor Dutch.
Pronunciation varies between and
* in the words "gospel" and "powder", where both alternatives may be considered standard;
* in the words "larva" and "nerves", where is the standard form and is used only by few speakers;
* in a number of words, such as "vicar", "viper", "closet, cabinet", where is the standard form and is used only by few (mostly less-educated) speakers.

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