Written Language & Literacy - Volume 14, Issue 1, 2011

This paper seeks to outline comparative graphematics as a linguistic approach within writing systems research and typology. In addition to providing a general outline of the approach and its benefits, it is exemplified through a discussion of the relation between the gemination of consonant letters and the graphemic representation of long consonants. Two different approaches within comparative graphematics are applied, one that asks about the meaning or function of the units of writing systems and one that starts with linguistic (e.g. phonological or morphological) units or structures and looks at whether they are represented (and, if so, how) in various writing systems. Consequently, two different typological matrices are presented. Moreover, through a combination of historical and comparative perspectives, the paper investigates the diachronic transitions in the functions of a graphemic construction, as observed within the history of a single writing system or in its adoption within several systems. It is shown that an inherited construction, such as the germination of consonant letters, can be reanalysed; if it loses its former representational function during the course of language change, it may subsequently be utilized for different purposes. A construction may also remain as an ‘evolutionary vestige’ within a writing system, at least for some time. Similar forms of reanalysis can be found if a construction is applied to a new language. Keywords: graphematics; orthography; writing system; script; comparative linguistics; cross-linguistic studies; typology; germination

Writing systems are usually studied in terms of the level of language that they represent, with little attention to the shapes that are used to do so. Those shapes are not random or accidental, however. They tend to be similar to one another within a script. Many of the Latin letters have a roughly vertical stem or hasta with an appendage or coda to the right. This arrangement is more common than one with the coda on the left of the hasta. We present data to show that young children are generally better at copying and writing from memory shapes such as and , which have the typical arrangement with the coda on the right, than those such as and , which do not. The results suggest that children start to learn about the statistics of the letter shapes before they know how or that these shapes represent language. Keywords: letter shapes; letters; statistical learning; Latin alphabet; reversal; left-right orientation; directionality; hasta-coda-structure