Synopses & Reviews
A formal computational theory of writing systems relating to psycholinguistic results.
Review
"...this is easily the most original piece of writing in linguistics that I have read in the last ten years." Gerald Penn, Written Language &Literacy
Synopsis
A formal computational theory of writing systems relating to psycholinguistic results.
Table of Contents
List of figures; List of tables; Preface; Part I. Reading Devices: 1. Text-to-speech conversion: a brief introduction; 2. The task of pronouncing aloud: a model; 3. Terminology and conventions; 4. An overview of finite-state automata and transducers; Part II. Regularity: 5. Planar regular languages and planar regular relations; 6. The locality hypothesis; 7. Planar arrangements: examples; 8. Cross-writing-system variation in the SLU; 9. Macroscopic catenation: text direction; 10. Sample Chinese characters and their analyses; Part III. ORL Depth and Consistency: 11. Russian and Belarusian orthography: a case study; 12. English; 13. The orthographic representation of Serbo-Croatian consonant devoicing; 14. Cyclicity in orthography; 15. Surface orthographic constraints; 16. English deep and shallow ORLs; Part IV. Linguistic Elements: 17. Taxonomies of writing systems: a brief overview; 18. Chinese writing; 19. Japanese writing; 20. Some further examples; Part V. Psycholinguistic Evidence; 21. Multiple routes and the orthographic depth hypothesis; 22. 'Shallow' processing in 'deep' orthographies; 23. Connectionist models: the Seidenberg-McClelland model; 24. Summary; Part VI. Further Issues: 25. Adaptation of writing systems: the case of Manx Gaelic; 26. Orthographic reforms: the case of Dutch; 27. Other forms of notation: numerical notation and its relation to number names; 28. Abbreviatory devices; 29. Non-Bloomfieldian views on writing; 30. Postscript; Bibliography; Index.