Hirshorn Elizabeth A, Fiez Julie A
University of Pittsburgh, Learning Research & Development Center, Pittsburgh, PA.
University of Pittsburgh, Learning Research & Development Center, Pittsburgh, PA; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology, Pittsburgh, PA; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Pittsburgh, PA; University of Pittsburgh, Department of Neuroscience, Pittsburgh, PA; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, PA.
J Neurolinguistics. 2014 Sep;31:69-85. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2014.06.006. Epub 2014 Jul 22.
Reading and writing are cultural inventions that have become vital skills to master in modern society. Unfortunately, writing systems are not equally learnable and many individuals struggle to become proficient readers. Languages and their writing systems often have co-varying characteristics, due to both psycholinguistic and socio-cultural forces. This makes it difficult to determine the source of cross-linguistic differences in reading and writing. Nonetheless, it is important to make progress on this issue: a more precise understanding of the factors that affect reading disparities should improve reading instruction theory and practice, and the diagnosis and treatment of reading disorders. In this review, we consider the value of artificial orthographies as a tool for unpacking the factors that create cognitive and neural differences in reading acquisition and skill. We do so by focusing on one dimension that differs among writing systems: grain size. Grain size, or the unit of spoken language that is mapped onto a visual graph, is thought to affect learning, but its impact is still not well understood. We review relevant literature about cross-linguistic writing system differences, the benefits of using artificial orthographies as a research tool, and our recent work with an artificial alphasyllabic writing system for English. We conclude that artificial orthographies can be used to elucidate cross-linguistic principles that affect reading and writing.
阅读和写作是文化发明，在现代社会已成为必须掌握的重要技能。不幸的是，书写系统并非同等易学，许多人在努力成为熟练读者时面临困难。由于心理语言学和社会文化力量的作用，语言及其书写系统往往具有共同变化的特征。这使得难以确定阅读和写作中跨语言差异的根源。尽管如此，在这个问题上取得进展很重要：更精确地理解影响阅读差异的因素应该会改进阅读教学理论与实践，以及阅读障碍的诊断和治疗。在这篇综述中，我们认为人工正字法作为一种工具，对于剖析在阅读习得和技能方面造成认知和神经差异的因素具有价值。我们通过关注书写系统之间存在差异的一个维度来做到这一点：粒度。粒度，即映射到视觉图形上的口语单位，被认为会影响学习，但其影响仍未得到很好的理解。我们回顾了关于跨语言书写系统差异、使用人工正字法作为研究工具的益处以及我们近期使用英语人工字母音节书写系统开展的工作。我们得出结论，人工正字法可用于阐明影响阅读和写作的跨语言原则。
