A preliminary investigation of akshara knowledge in the Malayalam alphasyllabary: extension of Nag’s (2007) study

Abstract

The reading acquisition literature is mainly based on alphabetic orthographies and is largely silent on reading acquisition in alphasyllabic orthographies. In this context, as a preliminary attempt, the present study investigated akshara (orthographic character of alphasyllabary) knowledge in a group of Grade III children learning to read an unexplored alphasyllabary, Malayalam (a Dravidian language spoken in Kerala, India) by extending Nag’s study [Nag, S. (2007). Early reading in Kannada: The pace of acquisition of orthographic knowledge and phonemic awareness. Journal of Research in Reading, 30(1): 7–22]. Specifically, the study investigated participants’ knowledge of the following akshara types: (a) consonants with inherent vowels (e.g. ക /ka/); (b) consonants with vowel diacritics (ലി /li/); (c) consonant clusters (e.g. തര /thra/); and (d) vowel in primary form (ഇ /i/). The results showed that children master consonants with inherent vowels and vowels in primary form by Grade III. However, they did ...