Weise's law

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/weise-s-law

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the language of origin?Proto-Indo-European
2. What is the discoverer?Oskar Weise
3. Why did palatovelar consonants lose their special sound before 'r'?Because the 'r' sound made the special consonants lose their extra 'y' quality, turning them into plain consonants like k and g.
4. How does Weise's Law work?When a palatovelar consonant like ḱ, ǵ, or ǵʰ is right before an r, it becomes a plain consonant (k, g, or gʰ) because the r changes its sound.

Palatovelar Consonants: A class of consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against the palate, often with a secondary palatal articulation.
Proto-Indo-European (PIE): A hypothetical reconstructed prehistoric language from which all Indo-European languages are believed to have descended.
Centum-Satem Isogloss: A linguistic boundary separating languages that preserve the PIE palatovelars as 'centum' (k-like) sounds from those that preserve them as 'satem' (s-like) sounds.