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Spelling of stop consonants after /s/ by children and adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Rebecca Treiman
Rebecca Treiman*
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
*
Rebecca Treiman, Psychology Department, Wayne State University, 71 West Warren Avenue, Detroit MI 48202
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Abstract

Two experiments examined the way in which kindergarteners, first graders, and adults spell syllables like /spa/, /sta/, and /ska/. The second consonants of these syllables are standardly spelled as the voiceless stops P, T, and C/K. From a phonetic standpoint, however, the consonants could be spelled as the voiced stops B, D, and G. The proportion of voiced spellings was found to decrease with reading level: The nonstandard spellings were fairly prevalent among children, but almost nonexistent among adults. Nonetheless, most adults could choose the phonetically plausible voiced spellings over phonetically incorrect spellings.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 1985 , pp. 261 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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