Abstract This study examines the transcriptional practices of the handwritten Jinshang Chinese–Mongolian Glossaries and Phrasebooks (JCMGP), compiled by Shanxi merchants between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Focusing on a Jiaqing-period manuscript (1796–1820) and later versions from 1906 and 1907, it shows how mouth-radical characters — such as 哈 , 吔 , and 哦 — were systematically refunctionalized to mark vowel-initial syllables absent from the Chinese syllable template. Distributional analysis reveals that this strategy constituted a recurrent and distributionally stable pattern, while adaptive extensions (e.g., 吓 for ɣa and 𠳾 for xaa(n) ) addressed structurally adjacent phonological environments. Comparison across manuscripts further demonstrates a trajectory from stabilization to diversification without systemic collapse. The JCMGP thus exemplifies a locally grounded transcriptional subsystem that visualizes phonological irregularity within a logographic script, thereby refining discussions of literacy practices and writing system typology.
Abstract We examine effects of multilingualism on literacy acquisition in German, in two large-scale datasets with primary school children. First, we assess if there are overall differences in written language skills, after accounting for social factors and oral language skills. Second, we investigate whether heritage language characteristics (language distance from German, different scripts) and children’s heritage language skills (literate versus not literate in the heritage language) affect German literacy. In the first dataset ( N >3,000; 59 multilingual), we find a multilingual disadvantage in reading, which is most pronounced for children whose heritage language is written in a different script and who have been in Germany for a relatively short time. In the second dataset ( N >30,000; 141 multilingual), we find no differences in reading once oral language skills are controlled for, and a multilingual advantage for spelling. We find no effects of the heritage language characteristics or multiliteracy on literacy in German.
Abstract Older adults are increasingly active on social media, yet their digital writing practices remain underexplored. This study analyzes a corpus of intragenerational WhatsApp messages exchanged among adults aged 65 and over, examining how emojis and punctuation are integrated in later-life digital writing. Using mixed-effects regression models, the analysis specifically focuses on message-closure strategies and emoji frequency. The results reveal a strong persistence of traditional punctuation practices. Message-final emojis are nevertheless common and frequently co-occur with a punctuation mark, suggesting an intermediate writing style in which entrenched writing conventions are combined with new symbolic resources. This ‘bounded flexibility’ is further shaped by sociodemographic variables such as age, platform experience, educational level, and gender.
Abstract The study examines grammatical differences between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Palestinian Arabic (PA) in narrative and expository text production by adult PA native speakers. Specifically, we examine the distribution of action nouns to probe whether they can differentiate between varieties and modalities. Arabic is typically diglossic ( Ferguson 1959 ), where two varieties co-exist within the same speech community. Grammatical differences between varieties exist across all domains. Various studies examined differences between spoken Arabic varieties and MSA, but only few have examined them in actual usage in text production. Methodology is based on a cross-linguistic project on text construction ( Berman & Verhoeven 2002 ). 30 participants were shown a clip demonstrating conflicts, and were asked to produce texts based on it. Each participant produced six texts: three narrative and three expository texts in PA, spoken MSA (MSA SP) and written MSA (MSA W). Action nouns were coded according to roots, patterns, number of arguments and syntactic position. The results reveal significant differences in three domains: (i) Distribution: Action nouns reflected mainly variety-related differences, with MSA texts hosting more action nouns out of all content words and nouns; (ii) Number of arguments: Action nouns with no arguments were more common in PA, yet action nouns with two arguments were higher in MSA, and in some cases, higher in spoken than in written MSA; (iii) Syntactic position: Action nouns in direct object position were more frequent in PA, while action nouns in noun complement positions were more frequent in MSA. The results shed light on the actual usage of action nouns in texts hence serving as a diagnostic tool for variety differentiation (PA vs. MSA) and modality differentiation between (spoken vs. written texts). The study also provides evidence for the special status of spoken MSA as an intermediary variety between spoken PA and written MSA. The results suggest avenues for further corpus-based research on Arabic as well as applications for pedagogy.
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.
