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WE 7: Writing weak syllables

Writing a word based on its spoken form, e.g. when writing from dictation, would often not be successful if a sequence of phonemes were simply translated into a sequence of graphemes (phoneme-grapheme conversion). One difficulty arises, for example, with multi-syllabic words: the different syllables are stressed differently. For example, the vowel in the first (stressed) syllable of the German word <eher> sounds different than in the second (unstressed or weak) syllable, but is written using the same grapheme. Words in which the second vowel is typically not spoken at all, but in which an <e> must nevertheless be written, as in <Segel>, are particularly challenging. We assume that competent writing of polysyllabic words requires (implicit) grapho-prosodic knowledge, e.g. knowledge that the canonical trochaic foot with a sequence of a stressed syllable and a reduced syllable is particularly typical in German and that the reduced syllable, although it can be pronounced differently, is always written with an <e> (e.g. <Lade, Leder, Laden>).

What kind of grapho-prosodic knowledge do people with different levels of writing competence possess? The aim of this project is to investigate how weak graphemic syllables are represented during phoneme-grapheme conversion. To this end, we will analyze spelling errors, such as omissions and substitutions of the vowel grapheme in weak syllables, in people with different levels of competence (children in grades 2, 3 and 4 as well as adults). We assume that omissions of <e> are characteristic of early stages of grapho-prosodic knowledge, while substitutions of unstressed full vowels by an <e> show a more advanced stage of development in the understanding of prosodic structures of German, which is, however, also overcome in the course of further development, so that competent adults hardly ever make such errors.

In addition, kinematic graphetic analyses will be carried out to examine the graphetic effects of different prosodic structures on the execution of movements when writing by hand. Some of the central assumptions of the project are that graphetic reductions of weak writing syllables (e.g. smaller strokes, less writing pressure) increase with increasing writing competence and can also be used strategically to optimize the use of limited fine motor resources, e.g. under time pressure or in the case of motor disorders in the context of Parkinson's disease.

The results of the project shall extend the modelling of the processes involved in phoneme-grapheme conversion to include prosodic structures and work out the influence of these structures on written language acquisition and competent writing. In addition, relations in the use of grapho-prosodic knowledge in writing and reading and the influence of prosodic processing in spoken language on writing will be investigated.