Written Language & Literacy - Volume 15, Issue 1, 2012

Indian writing systems reveal a great variety of graphic forms, proceeding from the unique source which is Brahmi script. These graphic forms render structural oppositions developed in phonographic writing systems which stem from Brahmi. This paper aims to highlight the changes scripts underwent to satisfy demands of language structure. The comparison raises the issue of the complexity of writing systems. Keywords: writing system; grapheme; typology; Brahmi; abugida; alphasyllabary; akshara; diacritic; graphon; vowel differentiation

It is a matter of debate how far the description of a writing system should be based on the units and categories of the respective spoken language. The present paper pursues the idea of relative autonomy: accordingly, writing systems should be based on as little phonological information as possible. Otherwise, existing structures may be superimposed by structures from the spoken language and not be discovered. As a necessary step in this direction, the present paper proposes a procedure to identify vowel and consonant letters across languages without reverting to phonology. This is achieved by making use of the different distribution of vowel and consonant letters. The proposed identification procedure is shown to work for English, Dutch, and German. Keywords: letter distribution; written minimal pairs; multi-dimensional scaling

This paper presents a study of the impact of pronunciation on the spelling of /E/ verb endings in French. The pronunciation of /E/ endings varies according to which areas the French language is used. In some areas, the /E/ verb endings are pronounced either /e/ or /ε/, according to the verb tense, whereas in others this opposition has progressively disappeared in time. Since the opposition /e/ ~ /ε/ leads to spelling distinctions, it is hypothesized that contrasting phonological forms may help the writer to avoid spelling errors. To test this hypothesis, 136 fifth-graders from specific different regions were required to transcribe different verb endings in /E/. The transcriptions from areas where the phonological opposition is usually observed were compared with those from areas where the opposition is neutralized. The data reveals that, although there is a tendency for students in areas where phonological opposition is still present to use phonologically compatible endings, the absence of neutralization does not necessarily guarantee the correct selection of verb endings. Keywords: pronunciation; spelling; phonological neutralization; French; verb endings

Adolescents with dyslexia dysorthographia have some phonological skill deficiency and/or visual-attention deficit. Knowing that these same skills are required to use SMS codes, the main objective of this study is to understand how these subjects use texting language. To understand this, we compared the SMSs of adolescents with dyslexia dysorthographia with the SMSs of typical writers in a dictation task. We analyzed the number and the type of SMS codes used by the subjects. This study shows less use of SMS codes in quantitative terms in adolescents with dyslexia dysorthographia (DD), but globally equivalent use in terms of quality, in comparison with normal writers. Keywords: adolescent; SMS language; dyslexia; dysorthographia; writing; development

This article presents the results of a study of phonological awareness development with 43 grade 1 children in Russian primary school. It is suggested that languagespecific factors, such as the complexity of syllabic structure, as well as the salience of consonant-vowel (CV) units in Russian phonology and orthography influence the course of phonological awareness development of Russian schoolchildren. The findings suggest that the special cohesion of CV units in Russian orthography promotes rapid development of explicit awareness of CV units in Russian-speaking beginning readers, while the instability of syllabic boundaries slows down the process of developing explicit syllabic awareness. The results are discussed in terms of phonological units prominent at different levels of explicitness in connection with the qualitative shift in phonological awareness brought about by the onset of literacy acquisition. Keywords: reading development; phonological awareness; language-specific phonological patterns; orthographic depth; grain-size units; Russian-speaking beginning readers

This paper investigates the ways languages are used in Philadelphia Chinatown through qualitative content analysis of 330 photos. Examining the linguistic landscape of public spaces exposes issues of linguistic tensions, language vitality, and language shift in multilingual settings. While Chinese in the form of Mandarin is highly publicized, thereby placing disproportionate emphasis upon one language over others, Philadelphia Chinatown shows diversity, coexistence, and creative uses of multiple Chinese languages alongside English. The signage suggests linguistic rescaling connecting real and imagined audiences, conforming to broader ‘Chinese’ linguistic norms while localized to connect to a range of Chineses. We show how linguistic and cultural pluralism of ‘Chinese’ have always existed – and continue to exist – and the importance of developing socially sensitive literacy pedagogy, especially when there is a mismatch between the informal, community-level signage and what is formally taught in ‘Chinese’ language classrooms in the U.S. Keywords: linguistic landscape; Chinatown; Chinese languages; literacy education; heritage language; education