A Matter of Typology

Bright, William

doi:10.1075/wll.2.1.03bri

Cited by 46 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The script is usually organised by space-separated syllable clusters, which consist of independent, identifiable graphemes that represent phonemes (Bright, 2000). This dual-level representation of phonological information requires sensitivity to both syllable-level and phoneme-level information for word reading across several alphasyllabaries, including Hindi (Vaid & Gupta, 2002), Kannada (Nag, 2007), Korean (Cho & McBride-Chang, 2005;Simpson & Kang, 2004), Telugu (Vasanta, 2004), and Thai (Winskel & Iemwanthong, 2009).…”

Section: Role Of Phonological Awareness In Learning To Readmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orthographic constraints on phonological awareness in biliteracy development

Reddy

Koda

2013

Writing Systems Research

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Section: Role Of Phonological Awareness In Learning To Readmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orthographic constraints on phonological awareness in biliteracy development

Reddy

Koda

2013

Writing Systems Research

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“…Like alphabetic systems, alphasyllabaries distinguish vowels and consonants, and like syllabic systems, the grapheme is mapped to a syllable. [12] The Devanagari script used to write Hindi is an alphasyllabary and a descendent of the Brahmi script. While Hindi is used by over 200 million people in South Asia,[13] the Devanagari script is used to write several languages in North India, including Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Nepali, and Konkani.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reading in Devanagari: Insights from functional neuroimaging

Singh

Rao

2014

Indian Journal of Radiology and Imaging

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Objectives:The current study used functional MRI (fMRI) to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the neural network underlying visual word recognition in Hindi/Devanagari, an alphasyllabic – partly alphabetic and partly syllabic Indian writing system on which little research has hitherto been carried out.Materials and Methods:Sixteen (5F, 11M) neurologically healthy, native Hindi/Devanagari readers aged 21 to 50 named aloud 240 Devanagari words which were either visually linear – had no diacritics or consonant ligatures above or below central plane of text, e.g. फल, वाहन, or nonlinear – had at least one diacritic and/or ligature, e.g. फूल, किरण, and which further included 120 words each of high and low frequency. Words were presented in alternating high and low frequency blocks of 10 words each at 2s/word in a block design, with linear and nonlinear words in separate runs. Word reading accuracy was manually coded, while fMRI images were acquired on a 3T scanner with an 8-channel head-coil, using a T2*-weighted EPI sequence (TR/TE = 2s/35ms).Results:After ensuring high word naming accuracy (M = 97.6%, SD = 2.3), fMRI data analyses (at FDR P < 0.005) revealed that reading Devanagari words elicited robust activations in bilateral occipito-temporal, inferior frontal and precentral regions as well as both cerebellar hemispheres. Other common areas of activation included left inferior parietal and right superior temporal cortices. Primary differences seen between nonlinear and linear word reading networks were in the right temporal areas and cerebellum.Conclusion:Distinct from alphabetic scripts, which are linear in their spatial organization, and recruit a primarily left-lateralized network for word reading, our results revealed a bilateral reading network for Devanagari. We attribute the additional activations in Devanagari to increased visual processing demands arising from the complex visuospatial arrangement of symbols in this ancient script.

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“…Devanagari therefore consists of linear and non-linear words. The basic unit of writing is called akshara, which is a syllable (Bright, 2000). Studies on segmentation in Devanagari by native Hindi speakers have suggested a partly phonemic and partly syllabic level of segmentation (Vaid & Gupta, 2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like alphabetic systems, alphasyllabaries distinguish vowels and consonants and like syllabic systems, the grapheme is mapped to a syllable (Bright, 2000). Devanagari, used to write Hindi, is an alphasyllabary and a descendent of the Brahmi script.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortical network for reading linear words in an alphasyllabary

et al. 2010

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Functional imaging studies have established cortical networks for reading alphabetic, syllabic and logographic scripts. There is little information about the different cortical areas that participate in reading an alphasyllabary. We use functional brain imaging to study the reading network for Devanagari, an alphasyllabary. Similar to syllabic scripts, the basic phonological unit that corresponds to a grapheme in Devanagari, called an akshara, is a syllable but the component consonant and vowel within akshara can always be visually analyzed giving it the appearance of an alphabetic system. Unlike an alphabetic system wherein arrangement of consonants and vowels is linear, in Devanagari, vowels can also be placed linearly in a sequential manner or non-linearly, above or below, making it visuospatially complex. In this study we used functional neuroimaging to ascertain the cortical reading network when 10 native speakers of Hindi, read linear words in Devanagari. Akin to other word reading studies, we find activation in the midfusiform gyrus (visual word form area, BA 37). Region of interest analysis shows involvement of left superior temporal gyrus (BA 41), inferior (BA 40) and superior parietal (BA 7) lobules. These findings suggest that the reading network for Devanagari, an alphasyllabary encompasses cortical areas involved in reading both alphabetic and syllabic writing systems.

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A Matter of Typology

Cited by 46 publications

References 3 publications

Orthographic constraints on phonological awareness in biliteracy development

Orthographic constraints on phonological awareness in biliteracy development

Reading in Devanagari: Insights from functional neuroimaging

Cortical network for reading linear words in an alphasyllabary

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