Togo: political and socio-economic development (2013 to 2016)
Roberts, David (2011). Testing the optimal depth for a diacritic tone orthography: a quantitative...
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Transcript of Roberts, David (2011). Testing the optimal depth for a diacritic tone orthography: a quantitative...
Lexical Phonology Linguistics of Writing
Input of the lexical phonology Deep orthography
Output of the lexical phonology Transparent orthography
Output of the post-‐lexical phonology Surface orthography
Kabiye: Gur, Togo 1 million speakers « National » language Standard orthography does not mark tone Functional load of tone does not warrant exhaustive representation
2 tones: H, L Automatic and non-‐automatic downstep Grammatical and lexical function Lexical and post-‐lexical processes
Lama-‐Kolidè secondary school 96 pupils Written Kabiye as exam subject, grades 9 and 10 Teacher-‐pupil ratio 1 : 48 40 hours of lessons Supplementary lessons (10 hours) Teacher-‐pupil ratio 1 : 11
Sociolinguistic questionnaire Dictation test in standard orthography Random assignment to four parallel groups Deep, transparent, surface, control 12 hour transition course over 3 weeks Dictation test in experimental orthographies
The tone bearing unit (TBU) is the mora H tone written with an acute accent L tone written with absence of an accent
In the surface orthography –
Post-‐lexical non-‐automatic downstep written with an apostrophe
In all three experimental orthographies:
Problem: When pupil writes a TBU with no accent, is it a deliberate choice to mark L tone, or is it attrition (because of tiredness or confusion)?
Blue cells = sentences written with no accents White cells = sentences written with at least one accent
0
5
10
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20
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35
yé kɩ ya ta ja zi yʋ
Erro
r rate
Affected TBUs
Deep
Transparent
Surface
Higher error rate in SURFACE than on same TBUs in DEEP and TRANSPARENT Higher error rate on these TBUs than on other TBUs in SURFACE
Entrance-‐level literacy skills are mediocre Transition course is too short Dictating lists of unrelated sentences is an unnatural literacy activity No test of reading skills
The TRANSPARENT group –
1. scores fewer errors writing an accent on a TBU that should have one than the DEEP and SURFACE groups.
2. scores fewer errors writing post-‐lexical non-‐automatic downstep than the SURFACE group.
3. has a lower attrition rate than the DEEP and SURFACE groups. 4. BUT more frequently omits segmental TBUs than the DEEP and
SURFACE groups.
« The output of the lexical phonology is the optimal depth for a diacritic tone orthography »