Spelling Morphology

Modern Hebrew is a highly synthetic Semitic language—its lexicon is rich in morphemes. This volume supplies the first in-depth psycholinguistic analysis of the interaction between morphological knowledge and spelling in Hebrew. It also examines how far this model can be applied to other languages. Anchored to a connectionist, cognitive, cross-linguistic and typological framework, the study accords with today’s perception of spelling as being much more than a mere technical skill. Contemporary psycholinguistic literature views spelling as a window on what people know about words and their structure. The strong correlation between orthographies and morphological units makes linking consistent grammatical and lexical representation and spelling units in speaker-writers a key research goal. Hebrew’s wealth of morphological structures, reflected in its written form, promotes morphological perception and strategies in those who speak and write it, adding vitality and relevance to this work. Anchored in a cross-linguistic, typological framework, Spelling Morphology: Psycholinguistic, Typological and Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Spelling Acquisition in Hebrew provides for the first time an in-depth account of the relationship between morphological knowledge and spelling acquisition. It analyzes Hebrew morphological structures and meanings and their expression in spelling from a psycholinguistic developmental perspective, and shows to what extent this model is applicable to other languages. Spelling Morphology: Psycholinguistic, Typological and Crosslinguistic Perspectives on Spelling Acquisition in Hebrew will be of special interest to psychologists, psycholinguists, linguists and educators working on morphology, morphological processing, orthographic systems, reading and writing, the development of spelling, or emergent literacy. Speech-language pathologists specializing in literacy development and remedial reading, writing and spelling as well as Semitic specialists working on Hebrew and Arabic morphology and syntax and their orthographies will also benefit from this research.