Languages & Linguistics
Spelling
Spelling refers to the correct arrangement of letters in a word according to established conventions. It involves understanding the relationship between sounds and letters in a language and applying rules for forming words. Spelling is an essential aspect of written communication and is important for conveying meaning accurately.
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9 Key excerpts on "Spelling"
eBook - PDF- William Bright(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
LINGUISTICS AND THE TEACHING OF READING AND Spelling SUMNER IVES and JOSEPHINE PIEKARZ IVES GENERAL THEORY AND DEFINITIONS The topic which has been assigned to us suggests that the discussion should be designed for at least two audiences which have essentially different orientations. One includes persons concerned with the development of linguistic information — information about language and about the details of specific languages. The other includes persons concerned with proficiency in two linguistic activities: first, the acquisition of 'mean-ing' from linguistic forms which have been manifested by means of an orthography; and second, the correct formation of certain orthographic sequences, those called words because they begin and end with spaces. These two activities are essentially similar, in that both reading and Spelling involve an orthographic system for mani-festing linguistic forms rather than a phonological one. On the other hand, they are essentially different in that reading requires the recognition and interpretation of forms in an existing utterance, but Spelling involves the correct representation of certain forms in the manifestation of an utterance. In somewhat different terms, reading is an inferential process; Spelling is a representational system. Both have an orthographic base. These distinctions apply regardless of any conclusions or theories as to the nature and details of the relationships between orthographic and phono-logical systems. The fact that we must consider both sets of readers requires us to deal with the topic in very basic terms. Some parts of this discussion will necessarily be quite familiar to some readers, and other parts will be equally familiar to other readers. Nevertheless, even those who find any part to be merely a review will need to know which assump-tions and conclusions we are accepting.
eBook - PDF- Martin Neef, Anneke Neijt, Richard Sproat, Martin Neef, Anneke Neijt, Richard Sproat(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter(Publisher)
Rather, they are expected to spell correctly. Teachers are a different matter: LI language teachers are indeed expected to understand the linguistic structure of their native tongue, to have a systematic knowledge of its linguistic categories and concepts, and to be able to relate and analyze them explicitly, using conven-tional linguistic terminology. This meta-knowledge about language is a component of what makes them teachers and presumably enables them to understand what processes children go through in their literate development, to evaluate this development, and to provide remedial treatment when necessary (Wilson, Shulman & Richert 1987). 1.1.1. Spelling and language awareness Spelling, though belonging to the written domain and related to school-type activities, is an authentic linguistic act which usually addresses the spelled word as a whole when conducted in the natural course of writing. When attending to a Spelling test, spellers may need to pay more attention to specific sites in the word which are likely to cause trouble. Thus the task of Spelling requires a certain degree of language awareness, but this does not go beyond identi-fying the set of possible graphemes to be inserted in the word. Reconstructing a Spelling test on linguistic grounds, and providing the motivation for the selection of Spelling items, is a very different matter. It calls for the ability to represent a number of linguistic systems, examine them from phonological, morphological and syntactic points of view, and map lin-guistic categories onto a set of graphemes in accordance with specific conventions. This requires a highly analytical ability, access to a broad array of linguistic structures, systematic knowledge of the language domains involved, and the ability to relate domains in novel ways as well as verbalize the process.
eBook - PDFWho Climbs the Grammar-Tree
[leaves for David Reibel]
- Rosemarie Tracy(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter(Publisher)
Linguists have a vested interest in showing that its superficial chaos is mere surface realization of deeper regularity, which fits into their more general model of human language. The English writing system is usually thought of as alphabetic. If the actual uses of the system are studied, then it turns out to be a mixed system: alphabetic, but with a large number of logographic and other symbols. Since the standardized English Spelling system has been thoroughly discussed in the literature, I will refer only briefly to some of its main features, emphasizing that it relates not only to phonology, but also to other levels of language, and therefore conveys different kinds of meanings. A basic principle is that semantically related words have related Spellings, while semantically unrelated words do not. Morphology generally overrides phonology. (1) sine, sign, signature; *grammer, hammer, grammar, grammatical. 223 But the system is not consistently morphemic: the examples in (2) have different Spellings for the same morphemes, and therefore for the same meanings. Phonology sometimes overrides morphology. (2) impossible, indefinite, irregular, illegal; leaf, leaves. English Spelling is a mixed morphophonemic and morpholexical system. The kinds of example in (3) are discussed thoroughly by Chomsky and Halle (1968) and by many subsequent articles on Spelling. (3) divine, divinity; serene, serenity. However, the system has limits on the amount of letter-sound discrepancy which it will tolerate: hence thought, not *thinked (pronounced thought), as a consistently morphemic system would have. (4) think, thought, *thinked. English Spelling is a phonemic system, with morphemic and lexical information incorporated. Many Spelling rules relate more directly to the word classes in the grammar. In (5), for example, word-initial letters th correspond to different sounds: voiced and unvoiced.
- Joshua A. Fishman(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
It sometimes happens that one makes a statement about writing which may be right in some sense, and then infers from it something nonsensical about orthography. Writing is the process or result of recording language in graphic signs. Written language can be defined as one of the 'modes of linguistic communication', whereas writing system is 'a code of con-ventional graphic signs representing speech'. 28 Orthography or Spelling can be defined as representation of speech in graphic signs by means of standardized rules. One can say that the purpose of writing or written language is to convey meaning, but this is not true of orthography. It is the orthography that is relevant in orthography planning. We are con-cerned only with the alphabetic writing system in this paper. Archibald A. Hill has clearly defined the purpose of orthography: 'A speaker of the language should be able to pronounce correctly any sequence of letters that he may meet, even if they were previously unknown, and secondarily, to be able to spell any phonemic sequence, again even if previously un-known.' 27 Ability to pronounce correctly an unknown sequence of letters is essential, for example, when new words are introduced in writing.That writing is not independent of speech is proved also by fact that in in-troducing new words one should avoid sequences of graphemes which are difficult to pronounce and that often in constructing a new word one tries to use a sequence of phoneme which well symbolizes the meaning. Regarding orthography, it is not the fact that writing can be read with-out voice or even without knowledge of how it is pronounced that is essential, but the fact that it can be read aloud. Nor should one forget that many texts are written mainly for the purpose of being rendered Speech and Spelling 23 aloud, e.g. speeches and dramas.
eBook - PDF- David L. Coker, Kristen D. Ritchey(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- The Guilford Press(Publisher)
However, this is certainly not the case. Children will be interacting with print and developing their under- standing of the written system well before kindergarten. Literacy experiences prior to kindergarten are important in developing Spelling and other writing abilities. Foundations of Spelling Instruction In this section, we provide a brief overview of the important linguistic foundations for Spelling success. Spelling achievement depends on the coordination of three kinds of linguistic knowledge: phonological, orthographic, and morphological knowledge (see Figure 4.2). While a strong understanding of the linguistic struc- ture of English is not a requirement to teach Spelling, we think it enriches teachers’ ability. As you incorporate high-quality Spelling instruction into your instructional routines, we encourage you to continue to develop your mastery of the subject by consulting more detailed texts on the subject (e.g., Henry, 2003; Moats, 2010). Phonological Knowledge The phonological part of language refers to the sounds we hear. Phonological awareness is simply students’ awareness of the sounds in language (Moats, 2010). Students’ phonological awareness has repeatedly been identified as important for both Spelling and reading (Graham, Bollinger, et al., 2012; National Early Literacy Panel, 2009). To spell correctly, students need to be able to identify the sounds in words so they can match letter units to them. Literacy instruction (whether FIGURE 4.2. Knowledge sources for Spelling. Spelling Phonology Orthography Morphology Teaching Spelling 57 implemented from published curriculum materials or from teacher-developed plans) typically targets different phonological units in language (e.g., syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes), depending on students’ needs. The goal of instruction in phonological awareness is for students to be able to identify phonemes in words.
eBook - PDFEnglish and Literacies
Learning How to Make Meaning in Primary Classrooms
- Robyn Ewing, Siobhan O'Brien, Kathy Rushton, Lucy Stewart, Rachel Burke, Deb Brosseuk(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
Graphotactic: the arrangement of letters and letter patterns to inform Spelling rather than pronunciation. ENGLISH AND LITERACIES 300 Connection between Spelling and other literacy skills As discussed in previous chapters, the components of literacy are strongly interrelated, with oral language providing the foundation for literacy learning (Mackenzie & Hemmings, 2014). Oral language (expressive and receptive) is essential to the learner’s ability to hear and prod- uce sounds (Westwood, 2014). Awareness of the different sounds in words is needed to be able to decode and encode (spell) these words (Mackenzie & Hemmings, 2014). Learners also need to combine hearing and producing sounds with a correlated graphic system in order to understand and communicate written messages (Fellowes & Oakley, 2020). Vocabulary development and comprehension also play a role in the ability to understand and reproduce written texts, and these factors are explored in other chapters (see Chapters 8 and 9). Successful Spelling development relies on the underlying visual, motor, auditory and cog- nitive processes (Westwood, 2014) and this is explored in the next section. Underlying processes of Spelling development While theories of Spelling acquisition help teachers understand different ways they may observe skill development, there are some important underlying processes that support Spelling development. These include the visual and visual-motor aspects of Spelling, as well as the auditory, phonological, cognitive and metacognitive aspects (Westwood, 2014). Visual and visual-motor development Visual discrimination, visual sequential memory and visual-motor coordination combine to support the development of Spelling (Westwood, 2014). It is the visual memory that supports writers to spell words correctly beyond reliance on the use of phonetic Spelling (i.e. Spelling words how they sound).
No longer available |Learn more- Marco Condorelli(Author)
- 0(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
According to this framework, the standardisation of English Spelling would therefore be best described as a multiple, rather than a unitary process, one that more faithfully describes “the hybrid linguistic nature of Standard English” (Hope, 2000: 49). The understanding of standardisation as a convergence of multiple axes of linguistic change does not need to reject all internal irregularities as erroneous but can accommodate them as “struc- tured variation”, markers of the process of linguistic selection between com- peting standards (Milroy, 2000: 20–2). The development of structure in Spelling, therefore, stems from the develop- ment of each individual Spelling feature, which in turn comes out of a complex, dynamic and often unpredictable scenario. Among the linguistic elements which participated in defining orthography as we know it today, the develop- ment of English Spelling in particular is perhaps one of the most convoluted and unpredictable in the history of standardisation; it is in fact the intriguingly complex patterns that characterise English Spelling that make it a perfect subject for a chapter-long discussion about orthographic standardisation. The process of Spelling standardisation in English is not something that we can usefully chart in a linear temporal continuum, if we are to avoid oversimplifi- cations and distortions of language history; instead, we can only represent aspects of it, which can help us to glean insights into its continuous develop- ment. A more sophisticated way to understand the overall patterns of develop- ment in English would be to see orthographies within sections of the history of English as Gleichzeitigkeit des Ungleichzeitigen (a term used in Burkhard, 2002; Schlögl, 2013).
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- University Publications(Publisher)
Such a combination of advantages has been claimed to be impossible. However, psychological and linguistic research and technological advances now make such a systematic reform more feasible, including breakthroughs by innovations that run counter to the usually expected proposals for Spelling reform. English speling needs imprùvment. ________________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ________________________ It is a màjor contribùtor to iliteracy, semi-literacy and scool failure despite masiv financial resòrces spent on teaching, rèsearch and remèdiàtion. It is prùven to slo down literacy lerning, to several years behìnd contries with consistent Spellings. Most pèpl can't spell well, and too many can't read eficiently. Its too idiosyncratic Spelling is a màjor reason why English will luse its position as the wurld's lingua franca, which it inherited for politicl and comercial reasns. The rest of the wurld has problems lerning two English languajes, the spoken and the written, when it shud be posibl to lern the one from the other. For over 200 years English Spelling has been a sòcial opression used to screen out from sòcial mòbility those with fewer educational advantajes and oportùnities and less linguistic ability to mesure its pecùliarities. Literacy raises intelijens, and functional iliteracy is costly for sòcìety as well as individuals. Interspel levels Interspel-style reform, still in process of development and testing, has the following three levels for learning and use: 1. The alphabetic principle of sound-symbol correspondence, for beginner learners and for dictionary pronunciation keys. The correspondence is diaphonic, that is, broad and conventionalized so that dialect variations are subsumed, as in the spel-lings dog and banana , and it represents clear formal speech, not casual slurring.
eBook - ePubLiteracy for QTLS
Achieving the Minimum Core
- Julia Hickey(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
• Not knowing the rule for a particular Spelling pattern. (More about Spelling rules on page 106.)• Mixing up sounds or not knowing the grapheme–phoneme links (letter-sound links).Letter.GraphemeSmallest unit of sound.Phoneme• Reliance on Spelling a word as it sounds.• Reliance on spell-check facilities which do not pick out homophone errors, additions or omissions if a ‘correct’ word is produced.Snippet“Spelling Bees are a popular pastime in the USA. Nine million children between the ages of 12 and 14 compete for a place in the national competition. The finalists spell words like tmesis (putting a word in another one), izzat (honour) and kundalini (life force in your spine), poiesis (the act of making) and koine (common language). There’s even an award-winning documentary about the Spelling contest called Spellbound .”Spelling strategies and their implications
Good spellers use a range of different strategies to ensure they have increased the probability of selecting the correct letters to represent the different sounds within a word (the grapheme-phoneme links).• Spelling phonetically
This strategy is usually described as Spelling a word the way that it sounds. It is a useful strategy but there are limitations. There are approximately 44 different phonemes but there are only 26 graphemes. This means that letters have to be paired up to form some of the sounds. Pairs of letters that form a single sound such as ch are called digraphs. Some sounds such as tch are formed from three letters called trigraphs. Other sounds can be blended together so that each sound can be still be heard but they are frequently used patterns of sound such as pl as in plunge or cl as in clear . Spelling phonetically requires knowledge of the different links between graphemes and phonemes. It also requires an understanding of the fact that because English has developed over a period of at least two thousand years, many sounds have more than one possible Spelling choice.There are twenty-one consonants. Some of them, such as the sound /b / as in hub, offer limited links between the phonemes and their written representation. Other sounds such as /k
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