Written Language & Literacy - Volume 1, Issue 2, 1998

A part/whole judgment task was administered to adults in ten different language communities around the world. Participants were instructed to treat two-dimensional abstract line figures differently from the left/right mirror-image reflections of the same figures. The data support the proposal that sensitivity to this kind of mirror-image contrast is acquired: Literate individuals generally were better able to operate in terms of this distinction than were non-literate participants in the study. Contrary to this general pattern, however, Tamil literates as well as non-literates often treated the left/right mirror-image reflections as non-reflected figures, despite the training to treat them differently. The difference between the Tamil literates and the literate individuals in the other language communities sampled may reflect the fact that mirror-image contrasts are used to different degrees in their respective scripts.

On the surface, orthography selection and development are linguistic issues; but in practice they are loaded with imperatives arising from a number of sources. An orthography is constructed as a cultural semiotic, frequently holding sacred status at various levels, and representing the perceived political or technological advancement of one culture over another. This paper proposes a model for understanding the motivations which characterise the orthography selection process. At base, the authority which directs this process reflects a configuration of cultural discourses. Disagreement and imposed change can be explained in terms of conflict within or between discourses; choices which appear inexpedient according to the framework of one discourse become comprehensible from the perspective of the discourse that motivates them.A Hmong orthography project currently in progress in Coolaroo (Melbourne, Australia) can be seen as highlighting issues common to orthography establishment worldwide. Community representatives are working on the establishment of an orthography originating with the messianic figure Shong Lue Tang, on grounds including national identity, politico-religious allegiance, and linguistic suitability. The image of Shong Lue Tang arises from the hope, expressed throughout Hmong oral tradition, for a Messiah who brings political, spiritual, and literary autonomy to the Hmong. This project and its immediate and historical contexts serve as a case study for the model here proposed.

Three writing systems are currently available for writing Taiwanese, the variety of Southern Min Chinese which is spoken in Taiwan. Traditionally, it is written either in choan-han 'all character writing' or choan-lo 'all Roman script'; however, a mixture of these two scripts, called han-lo, has been developed in recent decades. This article evaluates these three writing systems from linguistic and socio linguistic perspectives. It is argued that han-lo can efficiently achieve the goals of corpus planning: graphization, standardization, and modernization. The educational implications of a mixed writing system are also discussed.