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Processing phonological information in a semi-syllabic script: Developmental data from Telugu

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Abstract

Three experiments were undertaken to examinesecond and fifth grade Telugu-speaking children's awareness of phonological andorthographic properties of familiar Teluguwords. Experiment 1 focused on the strategies thechildren used in completing word fragments.Experiment 2 examined the children's ability tojudge and generate rhyming words, and Experiment 3examined the children's strategies incomprehending meanings of orthographicallysimilar rhyming vs. non-rhyming word pairs in asentence completion task. The results demonstrated that specific features ofsemi-syllabic alphabets such as Telugu interactwith phonological knowledge during theprocessing of meaningful words such thatchildren with more formal instruction inreading are able to access phonologicalinformation better than younger children withless well developed orthographic knowledge.Some pedagogic implications of the results arediscussed.

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Vasanta, D. Processing phonological information in a semi-syllabic script: Developmental data from Telugu. Reading and Writing 17, 59–78 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:READ.0000013830.55257.3a

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