Abstract of

The Effects of Orthographic Depth on Learning to Read Alphabetic, Syllabic, and Logographic Scripts

Nick C. Ellis, University of Wales, Bangor, United Kingdom

Miwa Natsume, University of Wales

Katerina Stavropoulou, University of Wales

Lorenc Hoxhallari, University of Wales

Victor H.P. Van Daal, University of Wales

Nicoletta Polyzoe, University of Wales

Maria-Louisa Tsipa, University of Wales

Michalis Petalas, University of Wales

This study investigated the effects of orthographic depth on reading acquisition in alphabetic, syllabic, and logographic scripts. Children between 6 and 15 years old read aloud in transparent syllabic Japanese hiragana, alphabets of increasing orthographic depth (Albanian, Greek, English), and orthographically opaque Japanese kanji ideograms, with items being matched cross-linguistically for word frequency. This study analyzed response accuracy, latency, and error types. Accuracy correlated with depth: Hiragana was read more accurately than, in turn, Albanian, Greek, English, and kanji. The deeper the orthography, the less latency was a function of word length, the greater the proportion of errors that were no-responses, and the more the substantive errors tended to be whole-word substitutions rather than nonword mispronunciations. Orthographic depth thus affected both rate and strategy of reading.

Abstract from Ellis, N.C., Natsume, M., Stavropoulou, K., Hoxhallari, L., Van Daal, V.P., Polyzoe, N., Tsipa, M., & Petalas, M. (2004, October/November/December). The Effects of Orthographic Depth on Learning to Read Alphabetic, Syllabic, and Logographic Scripts. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(4), 438–468. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.39.4.5