TY - JOUR
T1 - Does phonological distance impact quality of phonological representations? Evidence from Arabic diglossia
AU - Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor
AU - Haj, Lina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2018/11/1
Y1 - 2018/11/1
N2 - The study tested the impact of the phonological distance between Spoken Arabic (SpA) and Standard Arabic (StA) on quality of phonological representations among kindergarten, first-, second-, and sixth-grade Arabic-speaking children (N = 120). A pronunciation accuracy judgment task targeted three types of StA words that varied in extent of phonological distance from their form in SpA: (a) identical words, with an identical lexical-phonological form in StA and SpA; (b) cognate words, with partially overlapping phonological forms; items in this category varied in degree of phonological distance too; and (c) unique words with entirely different lexical-phonological forms. Multilevel Regression analysis showed that phonological distance had a significant impact on quality of phonological representations across all grades. Growth in quality of phonological representations was mainly noted between the three younger groups and the sixth-graders. Implications for the impact of phonological distance on phonological representations and on language and literacy development are discussed.
AB - The study tested the impact of the phonological distance between Spoken Arabic (SpA) and Standard Arabic (StA) on quality of phonological representations among kindergarten, first-, second-, and sixth-grade Arabic-speaking children (N = 120). A pronunciation accuracy judgment task targeted three types of StA words that varied in extent of phonological distance from their form in SpA: (a) identical words, with an identical lexical-phonological form in StA and SpA; (b) cognate words, with partially overlapping phonological forms; items in this category varied in degree of phonological distance too; and (c) unique words with entirely different lexical-phonological forms. Multilevel Regression analysis showed that phonological distance had a significant impact on quality of phonological representations across all grades. Growth in quality of phonological representations was mainly noted between the three younger groups and the sixth-graders. Implications for the impact of phonological distance on phonological representations and on language and literacy development are discussed.
KW - Arabic
KW - diglossia
KW - literacy
KW - phonological distance
KW - phonological representations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052717357&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0305000918000302
DO - 10.1017/S0305000918000302
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C2 - 30099974
AN - SCOPUS:85052717357
SN - 0305-0009
VL - 45
SP - 1377
EP - 1399
JO - Journal of Child Language
JF - Journal of Child Language
IS - 6
ER -