Abstract
Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice and manipulate language sounds in their base form (phonemes). It is associated with emerging literacy skills and predictive of skilled reading. The aim of the present study was to investigate phonemic awareness in German and its association with speaking a German-origin, but predominantly unwritten language. We investigated speakers of Hunsrückisch, a Brazilian minority language predominantly used in its spoken form. Participants were literate Brazilian Portuguese speakers who spoke Hunsrückisch and German or Hunsrückisch only. The results show faster, more accurate performance in the phonemic awareness task among participants who spoke Hunsrückisch and German, relative to those who spoke Hunsrückisch only. Participants who spoke Hunsrückisch only were able to perform the phonemic awareness tasks but having learned to read and write in German allowed for faster, more accurate performance, especially in relation to pseudowords.
Highlights
Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice and manipulate language sounds in their base form
The present study investigated phonemic awareness among speakers of Hunsrückisch, a German-origin, unwritten language spoken in Brazil
The results of response times in phoneme synthesis task show that the three groups differed [F(2,82) = 3.48, p = 0.003]
Summary
Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice and manipulate language sounds in their base form (phonemes). It is associated with emerging literacy skills and predictive of skilled reading. Participants who spoke Hunsrückisch only were able to perform the phonemic awareness tasks, but having learned to read and write in German allowed for faster, more accurate performance, especially in relation to pseudowords. The present study investigated phonemic awareness among speakers of Hunsrückisch, a German-origin, (mostly) unwritten language spoken in Brazil. According to Ziegler & Goswmi (2005), phonemic awareness covers the ability to recognize, identify and manipulate any phonological unit within a word, such as a phoneme (G-R-A-S-P), a syllabic onset (G-RASP), a rhyme (GRASP) or one syllable (GRASP). Onset or rhyme are often perceived as cohesive items, making it difficult to perceive
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Ilha do Desterro A Journal of English Language, Literatures in English and Cultural Studies
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
