Eye movements when reading spaced and unspaced Thai and English: A comparison of Thai–English bilinguals and English monolinguals

Winskel, Heather; Radach, Ralph; Luksaneeyanawin, Sudaporn

doi:10.1016/j.jml.2009.07.002

Cited by 84 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…However, despite this lack of interword spacing, word segmentation is just as important in these languages (see Li, Rayner, & Cave, 2009). For instance, text with added interword spaces has been found to increase reading rate for both Thai (Kohsom & Gobet, 1997;Winskel, Radach, & Luksaneeyanawin, 2009) and Chinese (Hsu & Huang, 2000a, 2000b, as compared with traditional text without such word spaces. Additionally, novel Chinese words are learned more efficiently when presented in sentences with interword spaces (Blythe et al, 2012).…”

Section: Interword Spacing Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of intraword and interword spacing on eye movements during reading: Exploring the optimal use of space in a line of text

Slattery

Rayner

2013

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Two eye movement experiments investigated intraword spacing (the space between letters within words) and interword spacing (the space between words) to explore the influence these variables have on eye movement control during reading. Both variables are important factors in determining the optimal use of space in a line of text, and fonts differ widely in how they employ these spaces. Prior research suggests that the proximity of flanking letters influences the identification of a central letter via lateral inhibition or crowding. If so, decrements in intraword spacing may produce inhibition in word processing. Still other research suggests that increases in intraword spacing can disrupt the integrity of word units. In English, interword spacing has a large influence on word segmentation and is important for saccade target selection. The results indicate an interplay between intra-and interword spacing that influences a font's readability. Additionally, these studies highlight the importance of word segmentation processes and have implications for the nature of lexical processing (serial vs. parallel).

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Section: Interword Spacing Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of intraword and interword spacing on eye movements during reading: Exploring the optimal use of space in a line of text

Slattery

Rayner

2013

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…In studies of readers of Thai which, like scriptura continua, is an unspaced script, the tone markings in Thai script make a significant contribution to saccading, reading speed and accuracy in silent reading (Winskel, 2011), supporting the view that the written script 'satisfices' the functional demands placed on it (Seidenberg, 2011). As expected from historical experience with Latin, introducing spaces into modern Thai improves reading speed for readers that are familiar with word-spacing in written text (Winskel et al 2009) -a phenomenon also identified in Japanese alphabetic scripts (Sainio et al, 2007). Without spaces in written English, meaning is far easier to derive when the text is read aloud , producing spoken patterns of intonation.…”

Section: Punctuation and Information Structurementioning

confidence: 86%

“…The introduction of spaces and punctuation marks into written Greek, Latin and later vernaculars such as English liberated them from the demand to be articulated (Saenger, 1997), which resulted in a quantitative and qualitative difference between reading spaced and unspaced text in an alphabetic system Winskel et al 2009). In studies of readers of Thai which, like scriptura continua, is an unspaced script, the tone markings in Thai script make a significant contribution to saccading, reading speed and accuracy in silent reading (Winskel, 2011), supporting the view that the written script 'satisfices' the functional demands placed on it (Seidenberg, 2011).…”

Section: Punctuation and Information Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

What’s the point? The role of punctuation in realising information structure in written English

Moore

2016

Functional Linguist.

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The main claim of this paper is that punctuation marks, in conjunction with spaces between words, function to provide visual rather than auditory cues for information structure in written English. INFORMATION STRUCTURE is defined here as dividing the flow of discourse into units, each containing a newsworthy element, and in contrast to the Systemic Functional systems of REFERENCE and THEME. A model of how these three systems interact is further supported by evidence from the historical development of reading and modern studies of the process of fluent silent reading. Reading silently does not require physical articulation and so written text is constrained by the saccading eye rather than the need to draw breath. The silent reader uses punctuation marks as a guide in a saccade to focus on the end of a clause which provides a non-arbitrary location for New information.Keywords: Punctuation, Information structure, Theme, Reference, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Embodiment Introduction Punctuation has vexed many writers past and present (e.g. Lowth, 1762;Truss, 2003). Surveys of the development of punctuation (e.g. Baron, 2001;Bruthiaux, 1993) reveal the longstanding divide between those that prescribe punctuation by prosodic principle and those that promote punctuation as the route to clarifying grammatical structure. This paper attempts to find a path through this apparent impasse by proposing not only that prosody and punctuation both realise the same function -that of information structure -but that they do so in a natural relationship to the spoken and written modes of language, respectively.The following section appraises a range of opinions on the topic of punctuation to reveal the contrast between punctuation by prosody and punctuation by grammar in written English. The next section examines the function and realisation of INFORMATION STRUCTURE within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), contrasting it with the systems of REFERENCE and THEME, and culminating in a model of how the three systems contribute to written text. The paper then attempts to provide explanations for the difference in the realisation of INFORMATION STRUCTURE between spoken and written English, investigating firstly important steps in the historical development of written English, and then examining current understanding of the process of silent reading. The discussion aims to reveal how texts

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“…However, in sentences using mixed script using both Kanji (the morphographic script) and Kana, interword spaces do not affect reading (Sainio et al 2007). In Thai, text with interword spaces results in facilitated word recognition, but does not differ from nonspaced text in lexical segmentation and initial saccade landing positions (Winskel et al 2009). The situation in Chinese is even more complex, as there seems to be disagreement among skilled readers as to which combination of characters constitutes a word.…”

Section: Diversity In Writing Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language and literacy in the context of brain, cognition, and culture

Eviatar

2017

J Cult Cogn Sci

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Eye movements when reading spaced and unspaced Thai and English: A comparison of Thai–English bilinguals and English monolinguals

Cited by 84 publications

References 31 publications

Effects of intraword and interword spacing on eye movements during reading: Exploring the optimal use of space in a line of text

Effects of intraword and interword spacing on eye movements during reading: Exploring the optimal use of space in a line of text

What’s the point? The role of punctuation in realising information structure in written English

Language and literacy in the context of brain, cognition, and culture

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