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Today's featured article

Weise's epitaph in Eisenberg, Germany

In historical linguistics, Weise's law describes the loss of palatal quality some consonants undergo in specific contexts in the Proto-Indo-European language. In short, when the consonants represented by *ḱ *ǵ *ǵʰ, called palatovelar consonants, are followed by *r, they lose their palatal quality, leading to a loss in distinction between them and the plain velar consonants *k *g *gʰ. Some exceptions exist, such as when the *r is followed by *i or when the palatal form is restored by analogy with related words. Although this sound change is most prominent in the satem languages, it is believed that the change must have occurred prior to the centum–satem division, based on an earlier sound change which affected the distribution of Proto-Indo-European *u and *r. The law is named after the German linguist Oskar Weise (epitaph pictured), who first postulated it in 1881 as the solution to reconciling cognates in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit. (Full article...)

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In the news

Benjamin Netanyahu

The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured), former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif in its investigation of war crimes in Palestine.
Forty-five pro-democracy activists are sentenced under the Hong Kong national security law for their participation in the 2020 pro-democracy primaries.
In Canadian football, the Toronto Argonauts defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to win the Grey Cup.

Today's featured picture

Wait for Me, Daddy is a photo taken by Claude P. Dettloff of The Province on October 1, 1940, of the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) marching down Eighth Street at the Columbia Street intersection, New Westminster, British Columbia. While Dettloff was taking the photo, Warren "Whitey" Bernard ran away from his mother to his father, Private Jack Bernard. The picture received extensive exposure and was used in war-bond drives.

Photograph credit: Claude P. Dettloff; restored by Yann Forget

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Aria from a Peking opera inspired
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