Far from being a mere technical skill, spelling is now perceived in psychological and psycholinguistic literature as a window into what an individual knows about words, and the acquisition of spelling is regarded as a process of conceptual and linguistic learning. In recent years linguists and psychologists have shown growing interest in the linguistic nature of alphabetic orthographic systems, in their psycholinguistic representation in adults and in their developmental history in children learning to read and write.

The question of orthographic depth - to what extent an...

Perspectives on Language and Language Development brings together new perspectives on language, discourse and language development in 31 chapters by leading scholars from several countries with diverging backgrounds and disciplines. It is a comprehensive overview of language as a rich, multifaceted system, inspired by the lifework of Ruth A. Berman. Edited by Dorit Ravid and Hava Bat-Zeev Shyldkrot, both from Tel Aviv University, Israel, the book offers state-of-the-art portrayals of linguistic and psycholinguistic phenomena with new insights on the interrelations of...