Written Language & Literacy - Current Issue

Abstract

This study investigates written vowel variation and stability in Imbabura Media Lengua, a contact language formed from Spanish lexicon and Kichwa morphosyntax. Through analyzing transcribed conversations by two native speakers, this research identifies patterns in orthographic choices, specifically focusing on written variability between mid and high vowels. Generalized linear mixed-effects models show that vowel choice is largely stable and source-aligned, though variation arises predictably in two domains, (1) root-final vowels preceding suffixes and (2) in lexical “reborrowings” — words originally borrowed into one source language from the other and subsequently borrowed again into Media Lengua. The minimal orthographic variation aligns closely with perceptual research, suggesting that how a vowel is perceived plays a greater role than how it is produced in determining spelling preferences. These results emphasize the roles of etymological origin and auditory perception in shaping Media Lengua’s nascent orthography.

Abstract

Non-obligatory control (NOC) gerundive adjuncts (e.g. ‘By reducing the effectiveness of the treatment, patients remain contagious for a longer period’) are common in government documents and require readers to integrate syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic information to identify the subject of the gerund, a process that can be challenging for older adults and low-literacy citizens. In this self-paced reading and similarity judgment study, 47 Italian native speakers (age range 18–85, including both men and women, with varying literacy levels) evaluated whether a target sentence containing an NOC gerundive adjunct matched a probe sentence with a corresponding finite verb. Results show that 30% of older and low-literacy participants failed to comprehend NOCs, and older readers were significantly slower than younger ones. We conclude that minimizing syntactic complexity in official documents — such as avoiding NOCs — could improve access to essential information for weaker readers, particularly on critical topics such as health, employment, security, taxes, and education.

Abstract

The following multiple-case pilot study examined the single-text comprehension strategies employed by 60+ adults (m = 65.5) when reading a text followed by comprehension tasks on screen in both L1 and L2. Sixteen experienced readers completed a questionnaire assessing their reading preferences in L1 and L2 on-screen and in print. Based on these results, four participants with diverse preferences were selected to read texts on-screen in L1 and L2 and complete comprehension tasks requiring skimming and scanning. Participants’ awareness of reading strategies was evaluated using two questionnaires administered in L1 and L2. The SMI Red 250 eye-tracker recorded their reading behaviour, and the accuracy of their responses was subsequently analysed to assess the effectiveness of the strategies they employed. The cross-case analysis demonstrated that participants’ awareness of existing strategies did not align with their automated use, suggesting that L2 reading instruction for adults 60+ could benefit from explicit teaching of skimming strategies and the supportive ones, such as rereading and double-checking while scanning.

Abstract

The term compositionality refers to the extent to which the meaning of an expression can be derived from its constituent parts plus the way they are combined. This study investigates bilingual Catalan-Spanish speakers’/writers’ judgments of adjective compositionality and which word properties best explained informants’ decomposability judgments. Two complementary phases were conducted using 729 written adjectives drawn from the GRERLI-CAT1 corpus. In Phase 1, university students rated adjective decomposability on a four-point Likert scale. Hierarchical cluster analysis yielded a 13-point compositionality scale. In Phase 2, multiple regression analyses examined predictors of decomposability judgments. Adjective length emerged as the strongest predictor, while suffix family size and stem complexity contributed modestly. These findings support dual-route models of lexical access, suggesting that speakers alternate between holistic and decomposed processing depending on word properties. Overall, the results provide empirical support for a continuum-based model of morphological awareness, bridging morpheme-based and word-based approaches.

This article reviews The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet978-1-394-21819-6