Wikipedia:2008 main page redesign proposal/AndonicO

Welcome to Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
6,914,395 articles in English
Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based, free content encyclopedia project, written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world.
Read more at Wikipedia:About...
Overview  Editing  Questions  Help

Contents  Categories  Featured content


Weise's epitaph in Eisenberg, Germany
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 * *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 *. 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...)

Recently featured:


Sydney Newman

Sydney Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer who played a pioneering role in British television and Canadian cinema. During the 1950s and 60s, he held the role of Head of Drama at ABC Weekend TV and later at the BBC. During this time, he created the spy-fi series The Avengers and co-created the science-fiction series Doctor Who. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman was appointed acting director of the Broadcast Programs Branch for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and then head of the National Film Board of Canada. He also occupied senior positions at the Canadian Film Development Corporation and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as acting as an advisor to the Secretary of State. His obituary in The Guardian declared that "for ten brief but glorious years, [he] ... was the most important impresario in Britain", and that his death marked the "laying to rest of a whole philosophy of popular art". (Full article...)

Did you know...

Aria from a Peking opera inspired
by the murder of Wang Lianying
LAPD helicopter
LAPD helicopter
A Bell 206 Jetranger helicopter of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) showing clearly the searchlight, loudspeakers, antennas and other law enforcement modifications.

Photo credit: Matthew Field

In the news

Benjamin Netanyahu in 2023
Benjamin Netanyahu

On this day...

November 22

Johnson taking the presidential oath of office
Johnson taking the presidential oath of office
More anniversaries:

Other areas of Wikipedia

  • Community portal – The central hub for editors, with resources, links, tasks, and announcements.
  • Village pump – Forum for discussions about Wikipedia itself, including policies and technical issues.
  • Site news – Sources of news about Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia movement.
  • Teahouse – Ask basic questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
  • Help desk – Ask questions about using or editing Wikipedia.
  • Reference desk – Ask research questions about encyclopedic topics.
  • Content portals – A unique way to navigate the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia languages

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects: