Abstract
Multilingualism has become an integral part of our present lifestyle. India has twenty two registered official languages with English and Hindi being most widely used for all official activities across the nation. As both these languages are introduced later in life, it was hypothesised that comprehensive reading will be better and faster if the native medium was used. Therefore present study aimed to evaluate the differences in performance while using one of the four Indian Dravidian vernaculars (Tamil, Telugu Kannada and Malayalam) and two non-vernacular (English and Hindi) languages for onscreen reading task. A multi-dimensional approach including physiological (Eye movement recording), subjective (Language Experience And Proficiency Questionnaire, LEAP-Q, Legibility rating) and Objective (Reading time and Word processing rate) measurements were used to quantify the effects. Forty-four Indian infantry soldiers from each of the Dravidian language groups participated in the study. Volunteers read aloud two simple story passages onscreen in their respective vernacular and non-vernacular languages using both time bound and self-paced reading mode. Reading time was lower and word processing rate was higher respectively in case of vernacular than non-vernacular. Consideration of fixation count in both the modes of reading indicated better performance with vernaculars. Legibility score was better in Dravidian languages than others. Results indicated that reading text was faster in vernacular media followed by English and Hindi. Use of vernaculars in onscreen text display of high density workstation may therefore be recommended for easier and faster comprehension
Highlights
In today’s world of rapid globalization, exposure to multilingual reading is very common
Fixational eye movements seem to enhance the visibility of the ‘word’ as the input of information takes place during fixation only and timely comprehension is an essential factor for military operations
The results of our study suggests that participants acquired the vernacular language much early, they could process vernacular languages much and with a smoother lexical processing than non-vernacular
Summary
In today’s world of rapid globalization, exposure to multilingual reading is very common. Among them Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada are the registered official languages under the constitution of India. These languages have been used in administration and literature since their first attested beginning in their respective states. Each of these four languages possess a great wealth of written texts and are characterized by a dichotomy between the standardized, formal language and colloquial speech. They seem to be very adaptive and experienced little difficulty in accommodating
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