[senco-forum] Re Literacy/Dyslexia in China

apple, apricot, swan, water, banana, zebra

Spellings remain pronunciation changes, it used to be kaynock kaynow for
knock and know and if you look at Chaucer in the original you will find
kenown for known.  English is phonetically regular but has other layers of
organization (morpho phonemic etc.) the orthography may be complex but it is
logically organized.  If a is next to w it sounds /o/.  said used to be
pronounced sayed but pronunciation altered as the upper classes wanted to
sound different to the lower.   Read Coulmas for a good explanation of the
English and other writing systems, it is a fascinating history and will help
with your more curious pupils.  All writing systems are constrained by the
spoken form of the language but once a written form is established it is
hard to shift hence the failure of spelling reform.   We have the largest
vocabulary of any language.  Blame it all on the Normans.
As for the Chinese, the brightest will have a spoken vocabulary of 50,000
words and 'sight'  vocabulary of around 5000 written words and will need
access to a dictionary to deal with the unknowns both in reading and
writing, a bright English speaker will have a similar spoken vocabulary and
if a competent reader will be able to recognize almost all the 50,000 in
print.  Chinese does have phonetic markers but the rules for combination of
these and the signs are such as to make English seem a dawdle, it is also a
tonal language not a syllabic as is English.  I have seen some dyslexics
learn to read chinese script quite quickly but they always run up against
the limits on memory for abstract visual shapes, an alphabet lessens the
memory load but at the cost of taking the referent away from the concrete
ides, object and places it in the realm of the sub units of speech most the
perception and production of speech is dealt with outside of awareness and
that si where the problems for most begin.  The alphabet has lasted well,
about 4,000 years and this must mean that it is basically an efficient
method for coding speech to print.

Philip  EP

Philip  EP
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Cook" <richard_cook at blueyonder.co.uk>
To: <Mmilesep at aol.com>; <senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 8:47 PM
Subject: RE: [senco-forum] Re Literacy/Dyslexia in China

> apple, apricot, swan, water, banana, zebra
>
> Richard
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
> [mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk]On Behalf Of
> Mmilesep at aol.com
> Sent: 03 January 2007 20:06
> To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
> Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Re Literacy/Dyslexia in China
>
>
>
> In a message dated 03/01/2007 18:02:54 GMT Standard Time, Olanys at aol.com
> writes:
>
> That is  because English is non-visual and phonetic
>
>
> Said, light, beauchamp, trough, station.
>
> I hear what you mean
>
> Martin
>
>
>
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