Spelling

Question 0

What steps do we need to take when we spell?

Answer 0

1) retrieve identity of word
2) retrieve constituent letters and hold them in graphemic buffer
3) plan and execute output programme

Question 1

What are silent letters?

Answer 1

1a) endocentric: sound of digraph same as one of its constituent letters (e.g. double letters)
b) exocentric: sound of digraph different to either of its constituent letter (e.g. ph)

2) dummy letters: bear no relation to neighbouring letters and have no correspondence in pronunciation (e.g. subtle, answer)

Question 2

What evidence is there that we hold more information than about letter identity and order?

Answer 2

1) double letters behave as single units:

LB

All errors preserved CV status
Double letters: errors often involved doubling incorrect letters
Multiple output modalities affected: suggests error at the level of abstract representation shared by all outputs

2) Complex graphemes representing one phoneme stored as single unit:

Evidence from normal reading:
Takes longer to detect a target letter when it forms a complex grapheme than when it does not (e.g. float vs slope)

Case alternating words recognised more slowly when it disrupts unity of digraphs (e.g. BREad vs BRead)

Evidence from dysgraphia:

BWN: significantly fewer cases of broken letter sequences for digraphs than letter clusters