Graphemes as Motor Units in the Acquisition of Writing Skills

This study examined whether the graphemic structure of words modulates the timing of handwriting production during the acquisition of writing skills. This is particularly important during the acquisition period because phonological recoding skills are determinant in the elaboration of orthographic representations. First graders wrote seven-letter bi-syllabic words on a digitiser. We measured movement duration and fluency and evaluated reading performance. In Experiment 1, the words varied in number of graphemes and grapheme structure. In Experiment 2, the words varied in graphemic structure but the number of graphemes was held constant. The results revealed that the children wrote the first syllable of the words grapheme-by-grapheme, irrespective of the number of letters that composed them. They prepared the movement to produce the first grapheme before starting to write. The following graphemes were processed on-line. They then prepared the movement to write the second syllable. The progressive decrease of duration and dysfluency values towards the end of the word indicates that the children prepared the entire syllable in advance. Movement time and dysfluency measures presented very similar patterns in the two experiments. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between reading performance and handwriting measures. The grapheme and syllable structure of the words therefore modulates the timing of motor production during handwriting acquisition. Once the children have learned the phonological recoding rules, they apply them systematically, irrespectively of the size of the graphemes they have to write.     

Interaction between orthographic and graphomotor constraints in learning to write

We investigated the combined effects of orthographic and graphomotor constraints as a function of handwriting proficiency in children. Twenty-four first graders, 20 third graders, and 21 fifth graders wrote single five-letter words in cursive writing on a sheet of paper affixed to a digitizing tablet. The words were chosen according to two orthographic constraints, namely their lexical frequency and the graphemic complexity of the last three letters, and one graphomotor constraint resulting from the motor difficulty of tracing the first letter. In addition to massive improvements of handwriting with grade, the results revealed, in the youngest group only, an interaction between first-letter difficulty and lexical frequency. This finding suggests that, before handwriting movement becomes automated, the cognitive resources needed for retrieving word spelling interferes with motor processing while writing a difficult letter. When students start learning to write, they are particularly sensitive to the combination of orthographic and graphomotor constraints.     

The effect of the number of syllables on handwriting production

Four experiments examined whether motor programming in handwriting production can be modulated by the syllable structure of the word to be written. This study manipulated the number of syllables. The items, words and pseudo-words, had 2, 3 or 4 syllables. French adults copied them three times. We measured the latencies between the visual presentation and the first production (L1), the first and second production (L2), and the second and third production (L3). The results show an effect of the number of syllables in L1 for pseudo-words but not for words and on L2 and L3 for all the items (Experiments 1 and 2). Experiment 3 ruled out an interpretation of the latencies for pseudo-words in terms of reading time with a delayed copying task. Experiment 4 replicated the previous results and assessed the effect of varying the temporal interval between the second and third trials. The results of the four experiments confirm the role of the syllable in word writing. The number of syllables of a word modulates the time course of handwriting production.

港台汉语独特的简缩形式及其与内地的差异

港台汉语是指以港台“国语”为代表的地区所使用的现代汉语,它的缩略词语很有特点,与内地有明显差异,其主要表现是有大量临时性组合的简缩,以及三音节成词的双音化简缩等,它们具有面广量大、复现率相对较低和可懂度相对较高等几个特点,由此反映了两地词语简缩观的差异,包括原型标准观的差异、语言效率观的差异和表达效用观的差异。     

Social contexts of development in natural outdoor environments: children’s motor activities,personal challenges and peer interactions at the river and the creek

This study examined the influence of spending time outdoors on young children’s physical and socioemotional development. We observed preschoolers’ activities in two naturally provisioned outdoor environments over the course of one year. Eleven preschoolers were videotaped continuously for 16 days at a local river and 9 days at a creek adjacent to the school. In addition to the quantitative analyses of children’s behaviors, a case study of three children’s experiences over the course of the year was conducted. Both the river and the creek settings encouraged a multitude of physical and play behaviors with similar types of affordances, including flat surfaces for running, rocks for climbing and jumping off, and water for exploration and play, but the wilder environment (river) afforded more risk and personal challenges. Observations of children’s motor activities, play and responses to challenging environmental features supported the importance of accumulated experience and social context for the development of confidence in the face of risk, individual exploration and positive social support and engagement with peers.     

汉语缩略语的构成与自然音步的关系

缩略语是人们对已有语言的再创造、再加工,因此它应该符合人们的语言习惯和自然的节律属性。汉语中,双音节是韵律模型中的最佳单位,因此,人们在构造缩略语时,不管原式有几个音步,总是倾向于构造双音节音步,即使需要舍弃一些信息。单音节和三音节的出现条件是有限制的：单音节缩略语必须“组双”后才能出现,三音节缩略语则是在双音节不能满足表意要求下才出现,且有双音化的趋势;四音节构成复合韵律词,但不符合经济性原则,因此用例也较少。五音节以上为超复合韵律词,与四音节类似,也有悖经济性原则,用例较少。     

The influence of a gesture-based learning approach on preschoolers’ learning performance,motor skills,and motion behaviors

This study developed a gesture-based learning approach to build a virtual interactive learning environment for preschoolers by combining a gesture-based computing device and a game-based learning model. Using sequential analysis, this study investigated how this approach influenced children’s learning performance, motor skills, and motion behaviors. A quasi-experiment was conducted with 142 kindergarten-level-3 preschoolers. The results showed that the gesture-based learning approach improved the students’ learning performance and motor skills compared with the traditional activity-based learning approach. The main learning pattern showed that the preschoolers controlled their body motion behaviors and movements to learning cognitive knowledge, which achieving a flow state that improved preschoolers’ learning performance and motor skills. In addition, the main motion pattern showed that the preschoolers interacted with the game by coordinating their body movement with the projected human skeleton’s movement, which improved their motor skills.     

The Role of Orthographic–Motor Integration in the Production of Creative and Well‐Structured Written Text for Students in Secondary School

There is a strong relationship between orthographic–motor integration related to handwriting and students' ability to produce creative and well‐structured written text. This relationship is thought to be due to the cognitive load which results when attention is required by writers to write letters and words on the page. Lack of automaticity in orthographic–motor integration means that writers do not have sufficient cognitive resources to accomplish the more demanding aspects of text production such as ideation, text monitoring, and pragmatic awareness. A systematic handwriting program can significantly improve the quality of written text by young children experiencing problems with orthographic–motor integration. This study investigated the effectiveness of a handwriting program in remediating older students' problems in orthographic–motor integration and consequently enhancing their written language skills. Two groups of students in Grades 8 and 9 were provided with either practice in handwriting or daily completion of a written journal. There were no differences between the two groups at pre‐test. However, at post‐test, the handwriting group had significantly higher scores in orthographic–motor integration as well as for the length and quality of the text they wrote.     

现代语言学“联绵字”内涵及分类之商榷

现代语言学把＂联绵字＂的内涵界定为＂双音节单纯词＂,导致在＂联绵字＂分类上关于＂叠字＂归属有分歧。为了教学和研究的方便,＂联绵字＂内涵应重新界定为＂由不同音节组成的双音节单纯词＂,这样就可以将＂重言＂与＂联绵字＂区别开来。     

Prosodic correlates of stress in babbling: an acoustical study

Prelinguistic babbling often seems remarkably speech-like, not because it has recognizable words but because it seems to have adult-like prosody. To quantify this impression, we compared disyllabic sequences from five infants and five adults in terms of the use of frequency, intensity, and duration to mark stress. Significantly larger values for the three acoustic variables were observed on stressed than on unstressed syllables independent of syllable position for both groups. Adults showed the correlates of utterance final syllables--lower f0, lower intensity, and longer duration; infants showed only decrease in intensity. Ratios for stressed to unstressed syllables and participation of the three variables in stress production in individual disyllables were highly similar in both groups. No bias toward the English lexical trochaic stress pattern was observed. We conclude that infants in English environments produce adult-like stress patterns before they produce lexical items, which specify stress. Acoustic and perceptual analyses are used to explore stress marking by prelinguistic infants in an English language environment. Results show that infants employ the three acoustic correlates of stress in individual syllables in a manner largely similar to that of adult speakers, although they do not show second-syllable declination effects or an English language trochaic stress bias.     

从《日本书纪》看汉文训读的性格

通过平安中期岩崎本等对《日本书纪》中的双音节词是怎样加训问题的再检讨,大概可以得出这样的结论:《日本书纪》及其训读在口语性的二字汉语名词的场合几乎可以正确地理解一个词;而在连词的场合则约有一半的词对双音词有正确的理解,其中也有没有作为和训意思解释的或不恰当的现象。对双音副词、连词还没有形成一个系统;对古汉语的双音节词的多样化构词方式认识不足,特别是对古汉语中的附加式双音词的学习还不够,因此汉文训读对副词、连词以及带有感情色彩的词,要正确理解还有困难,尤其对中国口语的认识方面比较贫乏,因而利用日本的训读系统要正确理解汉文还有一段距离。     

玉林话的小称变音

玉林话实词中的一些词语，在表示原有的基本意义之外，还常常附加“小巧”、“可爱”等意义，类似普通话的儿化，称为“小称”。表示小称的办法是改变声调，有时还会改变韵母。它是用最经济的办法来增加词语附加意义的一种词语增值手段。小称的语音变化，分为单音节和双音节两种。单音节由自身音节变调或变韵。双音节的前一个音节按多音节连续变调，后一个音节按小称规律变调。入声类单音节词和双音节词的第二个音节在变调的同时，把塞音尾改为同部位的鼻音韵尾。这种语音变化属于共时的条件音变。能够发生小称音变的不仅是名词，还有形容词、动词、数词、量词、代词。     

上海手语的音节结构

文章以上海自然手语为语料,根据当代手语音系学理论,对上海手语的音系结构进行分析.文章认为上海手语的“手势”首先是音系结构中的音节单位,大多数也是最小语义单位,并能独立运用,即上海手语的单词以单音节单语素为主体.但上海手语也有单音节双语素或双音节单语素结构.文章认为手势的运动和位置是上海手语中的两种基本音段,运动是音节的音核;位置在其前后不与运动相邻的情况下也可以成为音核.音核是手语中承载手形变化、方向变化和次要运动的基本形式.     

连读变调的方向性及串行优选论下的解决方案

连读变调的方向性是指作用在两字组的连读变调规律,在应用于三字组或三字以上结构时,其运用顺序或方向会出现不统一的现象。最为典型的案例就是天津方言三字组的连读变调。变调方向上的差异实际上是对标记性结构修复模式上的差异,而这种差异是声调稳定性与声调异化制约条件相互作用的结果。串行优选论弥补了经典优选论的不足,从而能够描述和分析天津方言三字组的连读变调。     

The role of number words in preschoolers’ addition concepts and problem‐solving procedures

Preschoolers’ conceptual understanding and procedural skills were examined so as to explore the role of number‐words and concept–procedure interactions in their additional knowledge. Eighteen three‐ to four‐year‐olds and 24 four‐ to five‐year‐olds judged commutativity and associativity principles and solved two‐term problems involving number words and unknown numbers. The older preschoolers outperformed younger preschoolers in judging concepts involving unknown numbers and children made more accurate commutativity than associativity judgements. Children with conceptual profiles indicating a strong understanding of concepts applied to unknown numbers were more accurate at solving number‐word problems than those with a poor conceptual understanding. The findings suggest that an important mathematical development during the preschool years may be learning to appreciate addition concepts as general principles that apply when exact numbers are unknown.     

Frequency analyses of prephonological spellings as predictors of success in conventional spelling

The present study explored how children's prephonological writing foretells differential learning outcomes in primary school. The authors asked Portuguese-speaking preschool children in Brazil (mean age 4 year 3 months) to spell 12 words. Monte Carlo tests were used to identify the 31 children whose writing was not based on spellings or sounds of the target words. Two and a half years later, the children took a standardized spelling test. The more closely the digram (two-letter sequence) frequencies in the preschool task correlated with those in children's books, the better scores the children had in primary school, and the more preschoolers used letters from their own name, the lower their subsequent scores. Thus, preschoolers whose prephonological writing revealed attentiveness to the statistical properties of text subsequently performed better in conventional spelling. These analytic techniques may help in the early identification of children at risk for spelling difficulties.     

The influence of the morphological structure of words on the dynamics of handwriting in adults and fourth and sixth grade children

Reading and Writing - Grapheme and syllable units have been shown to influence the dynamics of handwriting in adults and children, but the influence of morphemes remains to be clarified. We tested...     

Learning a transparent orthography at five years old: reading development of children during their first year of formal reading instruction in Wales

This study compared the early reading development of five‐year‐old children who were learning to read either English (an opaque orthography) or Welsh (a shallow orthography). The children were being educated in Welsh and English‐speaking primary schools in Wales during their first year of formal reading instruction. Teaching methods in both schools emphasised phonics. The reading, letter recognition and phonological awareness skills of the children were tested at three points in the year (November 1998, March 1999 and June 1999). By March, the children who were learning to read in Welsh were performing better than the English‐speaking group at word recognition. The English‐speaking children showed some improvement in their ability to read regular words across the three test phases, but no significant improvement in their ability to read irregular words. The children learning to read in Welsh also performed better on a phoneme counting task in March and June than the English‐speaking children. Both groups performed similarly on tests of letter recognition throughout the year. The results suggest that a transparent orthography facilitates reading acquisition and phoneme awareness skills from the earliest stages of reading development onward.     

同义单双音节时间副词的对比分析

同义的单音节时间副词和双音节时间副词之间,存在三个方面的差异：修饰对象的音节差异、语用移位的差异以及语法功能的差异。     

Handwriting isolated cursive letters in young children: Effect of the visual trace deletion

This study assesses the handwriting of isolated cursive letters in five-year-old children and the effect of a modification in visual feedback. Sixty-four children copied twelve cursive letters with an inking pen and a non-inking pen. Reducing visual feedback decreased the mean number of penlifts, and increased mean velocity and fluency. However, it increased the size of the letters (trajectory length) and reduced their quality. We suggest that processing visual feedback of the emerging visual trace may interrupt the fluency of the movement, while writing without seeing the trace may place greater emphasis on motor control and the use of somatosensory feedback. This study supplies reflection about sensory feedback and the moment when it should be provided in handwriting instruction. Practitioners should be aware that variation in the writing environment (surface, tools …) modifies sensory feedback and affects handwriting learning (gesture and outcome) in different manner.