Handbook of Nonlinear Writing Systems Complex Processes and Learning Challenges

This book provides rich and varied insights into a diverse range of writing systems, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Alphasyllabaries (Abugidas), Abjads, and other lesser-studied writing systems. It also covers alphabetic writing systems with diacritics, such as Roman script. These writing systems contrast with the Roman script used for English, which is written in a left-to-right linear order without diacritics. This book explores the challenges of learning to read and write these different writing systems. This book is divided into nine parts: (1) Introduction, (2) Alphabetic Writing Systems (3) Chinese, (4) Japanese, (5) Korean, (6) Abugidas or Alphasyllabaries, (7) Under-studied Writing Systems, (8) Abjads, and (9) Implications and Future Research. The 39 chapters, written by leading specialists from around the world, offer scientifically grounded discussions on the complex mechanisms involved in reading and writing nonlinear writing systems. Accessible to students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, this book serves as an invaluable reference for future research and practice.

Introduction to the Volume.- A Typology Overview of Nonlinear Writing Systems Peter Daniels.- Research on Nonlinear Writing Systems.- Normativity in writing and grapholinguistics.- The Role of Diacritics in the Recognition of Words across Different Writing Systems.- The Manchu Writing System.- Multi-linear featurality in Roman script African orthographies.- Understanding the Processing of Chinese Compounds: Insights from Recognition and Production Tasks.- The Perceptual Span during the Reading of Chinese Sentences.- Brain changes with Chinese reading development and disorders.- Divergent and Convergent Paths in Chinese Reading Development: A Systematic Review of Recent Advancements in L1 and L2 Research.- Contemporary Japanese Writing System: An Overview of Its Component Scripts and Graphematic Conventions.- Orthographic Processing and Lexical Competition in Japanese Scripts.- Eye Movement Control in Morphographic Word Recognition.- The Orthographic Orthodoxy: How Japanese Flies in the Face of “Typical” Literacy Development.- Exploring the Cognitive Underpinnings of Reading Hangul.- The Effects of Deleting Interword Spaces on Korean Reading.- Reading Processing and the Cognitive Factors of Its Development in Hangul among Korean-Speaking Children.- Literacy Acquisition in Kannada Akshara.

Heather Winskel, Ph.D., is a Professor of psychology, psycholinguistics, and cross-cultural psychology. She has been a lead author of numerous articles, book chapters, and an edited book on South and Southeast Asian psycholinguistics (with CUP). She has also reviewed numerous articles for international journals and grant applications.

Hye K. Pae, Ph.D., is a Professor of applied linguistics and psycholinguistics at the University of Cincinnati, USA. She has been the lead author of numerous articles, two single-authored books (both published by Springer), and two edited books (published by Springer and John Benjamins). She has served as an editorial board member for several international journals. She is currently working as key personnel on two five-year grant projects funded by the US Department of Education (5.8 M).