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The spelling of vowels is influenced by Australian and British English dialect differences
Citation
Kemp, NM, The spelling of vowels is influenced by Australian and British English dialect differences, Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, (1) pp. 53-72. ISSN 1088-8438 (2009) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2009 Taylor & Francis Group
DOI: doi:10.1080/10888430802633474
Abstract
Two experiments examined the influence of dialect on the spelling of vowel sounds. British and Australian children (6 to 8 years) and university students wrote words whose unstressed vowel sound is spelled i or e and pronounced /I/ or //. Participants often (mis)spelled these vowel sounds as they pronounced them. When vowels were pronounced similarly in both dialects (e.g., comic, with /I/; fossil, with //), British and Australian writers wrote the correct spelling similarly often. For vowels pronounced as /I/ in British English but // in Australian English and spelled with i (e.g., muffin), British writers correctly wrote i significantly more than Australian writers. For vowels with this same pronunciation pattern but spelled instead with e(e.g., rocket), Australian writers correctly wrote e significantly more often than British writers. Dialect-related phonological differences influenced the spelling of both beginning and skilled spellers across both familiar and unfamiliar words.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Research Division: | Psychology |
Research Group: | Cognitive and computational psychology |
Research Field: | Psycholinguistics (incl. speech production and comprehension) |
Objective Division: | Education and Training |
Objective Group: | Learner and learning |
Objective Field: | Learner and learning not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Kemp, NM (Associate Professor Nenagh Kemp) |
ID Code: | 56584 |
Year Published: | 2009 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 6 |
Deposited By: | Psychology |
Deposited On: | 2009-05-13 |
Last Modified: | 2014-11-25 |
Downloads: | 2 View Download Statistics |
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