Alberto Fedrigotti: Irish Lenition & Orthographic Depth

[Elizabeth J. Pyatt]

Delivered-To: CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 23:59:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Alberto Fedrigotti <fedrigotti at rocketmail.com>
Subject: Re: Brian Doyle: Irish Lenition & Orthographic Depth
To: The Celtic Linguistics List <CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>

I am ready to be in the group.

>>  a Chairde,
>>
>>  I am currently completing a graduate seminar in
>>  research design and
>>  methodology. For our final project, we have been
>>  assigned to write up a
>>  quantitative research proposal.
>>
>>  I have taken an interest in orthography,
>>  particularly in L2 reading/writing
>>  instruction and how this issue relates to spelling
>>  reform(s) in Irish. This
>>  stems from two observations:
>>
>>  1) The commonly heard lament from older Irish
>>  immigrants that "they changed
>>  the language" and that they (i.e., the speakers)
>>  have difficulty reading the
>>  new spelling, particularly the "h"annaÌ.
>>
>>  2) The difficulty L1 English speakers have in
>>  acquiring Irish pronunciation.
>>
>>  Modern Irish orthography is often described as
>>  simplified. However,
>>  considering the one-to-one grapheme/phoneme
>>  principle in the Orthographic
>>  Depth Hypothesis, it strikes me that the method of
>>  representing lenition in
>>  modern Irish orthography (i.e., a posterior H) might
>>  not be as "simple" as
>>  the traditional method of the "buailte" or dot.
>>  Furthermore, certain lenited
>>  consonants (e.g., ch, sh, th) might be more liable
>>  to transfer of (English)
>>  L1 grapheme/phoneme correspondences than their
>>  traditional correspondents.
>>
>>  Therefore, my proposal involves an experiment with
>>  two subject groups of L2
>>  Irish learners with no previous background in Irish.
>>  The control group would
>>  be instructed with materials using modern Irish
>>  orthography. The experiment
>>  group with materials using modern (i.e., simplified)
>>  spelling but with
>>  lenition represented by the dot. At the end of the
>>  instruction period (as
>>  yet undetermined), a proficiency test designed to
>>  measure low-level,
>>  intraword processing would be administered and a
>>  quantitative analysis
>>  performed.
>>
>>  I'd be curious to hear feedback on these ideas, as
>>  well as recommended
>>  literature, from those who are so inclined. Although
>>  this is only a term
>>  project, my hope would be to develop this into a
>>  proposal for a master's
>>  thesis.
>>
>>  Le meas,
>>
>>  Brian Doyle
>>  Northeastern Illinois University
>>  Chicago, IL
>>
>>  --
>
>
>=====
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>+ Alberto Fedrigotti           fedrigotti at rocketmail.com +
>+ (Al-beart Feidraich-goth-is) fax 02-700-537-314        +                 +
>+ Via Monte Hermada 46/6                                 +
>+ 33100 UDINE - ITALY                                    +
>+ tel.0039-0432-46355                                    +
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>
--
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

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