Abstract
Newly literate children have a tendency to spell s-stop sequences in words like spin, stop, sky with B, D, G (SBIN, SDOP, SGY), rather than with standard P, T, K. This observation potentially has implications for theories of English phonology as well as of language and literacy acquisition. Understanding these implications, however, requires data about the spelling preferences of preliterate children. In this study, a training-and-transfer design was used to test these spelling preferences in preliterate children. Results confirm that these children relate words with stops after /s/ to words with initial /b, d, g/ rather than to words with initial /p, t, k/. The paper outlines several possible interpretations: that preliterate children have a different phonemic analysis from adults, that they believe spelling represents archiphonemes that they believe spelling represents allophones, and that their early spelling attempts track the phonetic surface. The data suggest rejection of the second interpretation and in our view favour the last over the remaining interpretations. Several theoretical issues are raised that need to be resolved before a full account of the data can be offered.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Byrne B. (1992). Experimental psychology and real life: The case of literacy acquisition. In J. Alegria, D. Holander, J. Junca de Morais, M. Radeau (Eds.), Analytic approaches to human cognition (pp. 169–182). Amsterdam: Elsevier
Byrne B. (1996). The learnability of the alphabetic principle: Children’s initial hypotheses about how print represents spoken language. Applied Psycholinguistics 17:401–426
Byrne B. (1998). The foundation of literacy: The child’s acquisition of the alphabetic principle. Hove, Psychology Press
Catts H. W., Kamhi A. G. (1984). Simplification of /s/ + stop consonant clusters: A developmental perspective. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27:556–561
Crowley T., Lynch J., Siegel J., Piau J. (1995). The design of language: An introduction to descriptive linguistics. Auckland, Longman Paul
Derwing B., Dow M. (1987) Orthography as a variable in psycholinguistic experiments. In P. Luelsdorf (Ed.) Orthography and phonology. Amsterdam, John Benjamins
Docherty G. (1992). The timing of voicing in British English obstruents. Berlin, Foris
Fink R. (1974). Orthography and the perception of stops after /s/. Language and Speech, 17:152–159
Giannelli L., Cravens T. (1997). Consonantal weakening. In M. Maiden, M. Parry (Eds.), The dialects of Italy. London, Routledge, pp. 32–41
Hockett C. F. (1955). A manual of phonology. International Journal of American Linguistics, 21:1–23
Ladefoged P., Maddieson I. (1996). The sounds of the world’s languages. Oxford, Blackwell
Laver J. (1994) Principles of phonetics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Mackay I. (1987). Phonetics: The science of speech production (2nd ed). Boston, MA, Allyn and Baker
Mompeán J. (2004). Category overlap and neutralization: The importance of speakers’ classifications in phonology. Cognitive Linguistics, 15:429–469
Olson D. (1994). The world on paper: The conceptual and cognitive implications of writing and reading. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Read C. (1986). Children’ s creative spelling. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul
Reeds J. A., Wang W. S. Y. (1961). The perception of stops after s. Phonetica, 6:78–81
Sawusch J. R., Jusczyk P. (1981). Adaptation and contrast in the perception of voicing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 7:408–421
Treiman R. (1985). Spelling of stop consonants after /s/ by children and adults. Applied Psycholinguistics, 6:261–282
Treiman R. (1993). Beginning to spell: A study of first-grade children. New York, Oxford University Press
Trubetzkoy N. (1939/1969). Principles of phonology. Los Angeles, CA, University of California Press
Woolfolk A. (1998). Educational psychology (7th ed). Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon
Acknowledgments
We thank the staff and students of the school in which we conducted this study for their cooperation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hannam, R., Fraser, H. & Byrne, B. The sbelling of sdops: Preliterate children’s spelling of stops after /s/. Read Writ 20, 399–412 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-006-9038-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-006-9038-6