Case and mood inflection (CMI) is traditionally regarded as a central feature of Standard Arabic, even though it is typically not graphemically represented. In reading, these inflectional suffixes are often omitted. This is the first study to empirically explore this omission in reading for comprehension. 18 native skilled readers read texts aloud while being audio recorded, instructed to focus on the content of the text. The recordings were analyzed for production of CMI. Participants produced on average 6.4% of all CMI expected according to standard grammatical descriptions, far below the prescriptive ideal of complete use of CMI. Furthermore, around one fifth of all inflected forms produced were incorrect. These results indicate that reading without CMI may be a more appropriate benchmark for reading proficiency than is reading with CMI, despite the latter traditionally being regarded as more correct. Implications of these findings for reading research and reading instruction are discussed.
In German, written language interfaces with all major layers of grammar, including pragmatics. However, while the connections to phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics are widely acknowledged, the interface with pragmatics has received comparatively little attention. Although numerous studies have addressed individual phenomena such as quotation marks or emojis, a systematic overview of the relevant devices is still lacking. This article provides a first survey of key examples of pragmatic writing in contemporary German and highlights parallels between phenomena that have largely been discussed in isolation. We argue that pragmatic writing devices are widespread and not limited to the digital era. Our selection is guided by a set of defining characteristics: all included phenomena relate to the context of the written utterance. We classify these devices according to the contextual dimension they engage with, be it the utterance situation, illocutionary force, textual structuring and attention management, or the social context through expressions of emotion, (im)politeness, or group identity. While not exhaustive, this overview aims to initiate a broader discussion of a linguistic interface that has long been overlooked.
This paper revisits the problem of the derivation of phonographic signs in Mayan writing (cf. Mora-Marín 2003 ). The primary goal is to evaluate Lacadena’s ( 2010a , 2010b ) proposal that the Mayan syllabary was initially derived through the wholesale adoption of a Mixe-Zoquean-based script. Lacadena argued that Mayan syllabograms based on consonants shared by both Mayan and Mixe-Zoquean generally lack acrophonic explanations, while syllabograms for consonants exclusive to Mayan can be explained either by Mayan-based acrophony or graphic modifications of existing graphemes (i.e. addition of graphic elements, or coinage of digraphs). After (1) preparing a more comprehensive dataset of Mayan syllabograms using the Maya Hieroglyphic Database ( Looper and Macri (1991–2025) ), and (2) conducting a more thorough review of the literature for possible acrophonic derivations and the nature of graphic modifications and seemingly digraphic combinations, the paper carries out a statistical test of a syllabary development model based on Lacadena’s proposal, concluding that such model is not viable, and that on present evidence, the Mayan syllabary was mostly an autochtonous invention.
How detailed is the implicit knowledge of regularities in written form? To address this question experimentally in Chinese, we examined a subtle feature correlation in which left stroke curving is obligatory in narrow arched-shaped components but not in wide ones, despite neither feature being lexically contrastive. While width did not directly affect curving classifications in a perception experiment, a statistically significant subset of participants gave significantly more “curved” responses and/or significantly increased them for narrow arches. In a handwriting experiment, the contrast in written curving degree was significantly greater for wide arches, and stroke speeds were also significantly more similar, as if they were planned separately. Together these results confirm that even very subtle formal patterns may become mentally active through experience with a writing system, and also suggest that stroke planning in handwriting shares similarities with the effects of prosody on articulation in speech and signing.
A well-known Turkish saying states that “Turkish is written the way it is read and it is read the way it is written”; however, not many investigations have been completed to test this assumption. The current study aims to question the transparency of Turkish orthography with two measures. Firstly, a word-initial entropy analysis is carried out. Then secondly, the ratio of transparent words among the most frequently occurring words in children- and adult-oriented written texts is investigated. The results indicate that Turkish is quite transparent word-initially, but when the whole words are considered, its transparency decreases. Only about 75 to 81% of the most frequently used words in written texts are transparent. This demonstrates that Turkish orthography, while still highly transparent, might not be as transparent as previously assumed.
A well-known Turkish saying states that "Turkish is written the way it is read and it is read the way it is written"; however, not many investigations have been completed to test this assumption. The current study aims to question the transparency of Turkish orthography with two measures. Firstly, a word-initial entropy analysis is carried out. Then secondly, the ratio of transparent words among the most frequently occurring words in children- and adult-oriented written texts is investigated. The results indicate that Turkish is quite transparent word-initially, but when the whole words are considered, its transparency decreases. Only about 75 to 81% of the most frequently used words in written texts are transparent. This demonstrates that Turkish orthography, while still highly transparent, might not be as transparent as previously assumed.
This study investigated how single-text reading comprehension and individual differences contribute to multiple-text integration. One hundred fourteen students read sets of multiple texts on two distinct topics and completed two multiple-text integration tasks for each topic: an essay and a sentence verification task. The tasks were evaluated across three integration levels: selecting main ideas, forming generalizations, and generating deep-level inferences. The researchers conducted a series of linear regressions and hierarchical linear models separately for each integration task and integration level. The findings revealed that reading comprehension measures differentially influenced the two tasks and three integration processing levels. Additionally, individual differences - including reading strategies, interest, and vocabulary - were found to predict multiple-text integration performance. Overall, the results suggest that reading comprehension skills and individual differences uniquely predict various aspects of intertextual integration, highlighting the complex nature of how readers process and synthesize information across multiple texts.
Spelling words containing phonologically and orthographically irregular letters presents a significant challenge for young writers. This study investigates the impact of spelling-to-sound regularity and different types of frequency on the spelling of Hebrew verbs with the root letter Aleph N. Aleph functions both as a consonant and a vowel, offering a unique lens through which to explore the influence of regularity and irregularity on the process of Hebrew spelling acquisition. Participants included 133 Hebrew-speaking children (grades 3, 5, 8, and 11) and college students, who completed two verb dictation tasks. In each task, half of the items featured Aleph as a consonantal root letter (representing a glottal stop), and the other half featured Aleph as a vowel. The first task varied in word frequency, while the second varied in root frequency. The results indicate that the acquisition of Aleph spelling develops gradually, with full mastery occurring by 11th grade. Notably, Aleph as a consonant is learned more quickly than as a vowel. Word frequency influences spelling accuracy across all age groups, particularly when Aleph represents a vowel. Root frequency affects the spelling of Aleph as a vowel at all ages, whereas its impact on consonantal Aleph is limited to younger age groups (up to grade 8). These findings underscore the critical role of both phonological and orthographic irregularity in spelling development. The study highlights the importance of addressing the intersection of phonology, morphology, and orthography in language instruction, as this approach can help identify irregularities and enhance spelling acquisition.
Research in (early) literacy development involving creoles in post-colonial contexts is scarce. Therefore, Papiamento (L1) and Dutch (L2) early literacy of 296 kindergartners in post-colonial Dutch Caribbean was assessed to determine the extent to which their L1 and L2 phonological awareness and letter knowledge correlate with each other and are related to L1 and L2 precursors (speech decoding, receptive vocabulary, rapid naming, verbal short-term memory). Higher phonological awareness and precursor scores were found for Papiamento. In Papiamento, speech decoding, vocabulary and rapid naming predicted phonological awareness; while phonological awareness along with vocabulary, rapid naming and verbal short-term memory predicted letter knowledge. In Dutch, speech decoding and vocabulary predicted phonological awareness. There was evidence of transfer from Papiamento- as the stronger language- to Dutch for both phonological awareness and letter knowledge. Results reveal an important role for the Papiamento Creole in both L1 and L2 literacy acquisition in a post-colonial language setting.
In the Hellenistic age, contact with the Ionic alphabet used to write koine Greek rapidly changed the Pamphylian alphabet, initiating the processes of koineization and standardization. The analysis of three case studies (personal names with -muua; personal names built from the root F alpha nu alpha xi-; -alpha upsilon and -epsilon upsilon diphthongs) shows how the need to write dialectal personal names led to the creation of a 'local standard' of spellings suited to the koine alphabetic set. However, some features of the epichoric alphabet survived in competition with this local standard. It is therefore argued that the process of standardization of the Pamphylian alphabet in contact with the koine alphabet affected different alphabetic features according to the social and identity values given to them by the community.
It was easy to say that writing was invented out of nothing three times (that we can be sure of), in Sumer, China, and Mesoamerica. That syllables were important in those inventions emerged from attention to modern inventions of writing. But in recent years, specialists in Mesopotamian and Mesoamerican texts have been uncovering details about the development of cuneiform and glyphs that, perhaps surprisingly, prove to be comparable and mutually illuminating. In both cases, it seems legitimate to say that the earliest forms did not yet represent the actual writing of specific languages (Writing: A system of more or less permanent marks used to represent an utterance in such a way that it can be recovered more or less exactly without the intervention of the utterer). Chinese writing, even though we cannot observe any essential changes in the system from its earliest known examples to the present day, also proves to have something to contribute, in the wake of a comparative study of how Chinese writing was adapted for writing neighboring (and unrelated) languages. And even half a century of experience with a semiotic system designed to be alinguistic, "Blissymbolics," has something to tell us about non-writing turning into writing.
The German writing system reflects a lot of grammatical structures, such as morphological structures or syllables. Writing shows grammar. This is already true in printed texts, but even more so in handwritten texts, because the potential for variation is greater in those texts. Writers can more easily deviate from the usual shape of a character and use these deviations to mark grammatical patterns. This article presents a suggestion for a methodology for the systematic categorisation of such form deviations in handwritten German texts. Subsequently, it is shown with < e > and < h > that form deviations can indeed correlate with linguistic structures.
This paper proposes a linguistic theoretical review of French spelling surrounding regularity and consistency questions both in the description of forms and in the estimation of regularity. After having described the terminological ambiguity that prevails in these analyses and after having shown the impact of this ambiguity on the analysis of written errors, we propose a new classification of French written errors passing through theoretically-driven and concept-driven analyses. This classification, focuses on the production of lexical and grammatical spelling created for the DynaPen project and is available on OSF.
This paper compares the little-known writing system Thaana, used for the Maldivian language, with Hangeul, used for Korean. Both were intentional inventions by native speakers in early modern times, and both contain some unique features. Both are segmental in their representation while also arranging their letters into higher-order structures: syllables or CV groupings. These structures obey well-formedness constraints that are well known from the study of phonological (spoken) syllables. This paper argues that the operation of these constraints is evidence that these writing systems employ a grammar, which is analyzed here using Optimality Theory. Thaana and Hangeul use the same syllabification constraints, but the rankings differ between the two systems. The rankings also differ between each writing system and its related spoken language. This paper adds to the growing body of research that applies the tools of linguistic analysis to writing systems and finds evidence of grammar in their structure.
In this paper we propose a formalized and expandable approach to the taxonomy of writing systems. Taking the mixed nature of writing systems fully into account, our approach focuses on the classification of functionally homogenous subsystems, which together and in interaction with each other constitute an overall writing system. Such subsystems make use of a script or a subset of a script, which is understood here as an inventory of graphs that is (conventionally considered to be) graphically homogeneous. A basic distinction is made into phonographic and morphographic systems, but complemented by an in principle open number of subtypes, building and expanding on Gnanadesikan (2017) and Poser ( 1992 , 2004 ) for segmental and syllabic systems respectively. Types are designated by a notation that employs a set of symbols, relating to both form (boundedness of graphs and their organization into segmental spaces) and function (mapping type), but by separate means.
Since their coinage a quarter-century ago, the terms abugida and alphasyllabary (Bright 1999; Daniels & Bright 1996) have revolutionised our conceptualisation of writing systems. Together with alphabet, these terms have proven invaluable in classifying subtypes of segmentaries-writing systems whose grain size is the phonological segment (Gnanadesikan 2017). Nevertheless, there remain areas of ambiguity. Segmentaries that are either abugidas or alphasyllabaries-but not both-may be classified under various labels, and inconsistently so. Moreover, certain minoritised writing systems such as those based on Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics or Braille are only rarely covered in typological studies, despite the potential insights they offer.In this paper, I use Bright's (1999) and Gnanadesikan's (2017) typology of vowelled segmentaries as the point of departure to propose an augmented classification based on specific graphematic criteria. Aside from illustrating the proposed typology by applying it to various writing systems, I also identify avenues for further refinement.
The standardisation of English spelling is widely assumed to have happened, or at least started, during the fifteenth century, with a variety of theories about the location and spread of the process. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of a single spelling feature: the vowel in the word said. It demonstrates that there were four main variants used across the country during the fifteenth and early sixteenth century, with preference for the modern standard form < ai > in Cambridgeshire, Middlesex and the Northern counties but for < ei > elsewhere. The analysis further raises serious questions about the claim that standardisation of the spelling system was well underway by the end of the fifteenth century, clearly showing that there was no reduction in either intra- or inter-document variation during the period covered by the MELD corpus, 1399-1525.
We can observe a systematic reorganization of the Latin Spelling System in the II and I centuries BC. We will focus on the etiology and diffusion of < XS > spelling for the /ks/ cluster instead of < X >, highlighting the interplay between centripetal and centrifugal forces in the standardization process. Its etiology and further diffusion will be compared to the emergence of other spelling innovations in the Latin writing system of the second century BC. We will propose that the progressive integration of < XS > spelling in the systematic orthography of Latin was favored by both morpho-graphemic and phono-graphemic factors. Moreover, we will take into consideration the complex social network of the Roman Republic to trace back < XS > diffusion path. We will propose that, alongside the leading role of the urban elites in its diffusion, also local communities independently developed such a spelling variant, probably as a consequence of Greek systematic orthography's influence.
