A Computational Theory of Writing Systems

Richard William Sproat

Cambridge University Press, Jul 3, 2000 - 236 pages

This book develops a formal computational theory of writing systems. It offers specific proposals about the linguistic objects that are represented by orthographic elements; what levels of linguistic representation are involved and how they may differ across writing systems; and what formal constraints hold of the mapping relation between linguistic and orthographic elements. Based on the insights gained, Sproat then proposes a taxonomy of writing systems. The treatment of theoretical linguistic issues and their computational implementation is complemented with discussion of empirical psycholinguistic work on reading and its relevance for the computational model developed here. Throughout, the model is illustrated with a number of detailed case studies of writing systems around the world. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in a variety of fields, including theoretical and computational linguistics, the psycholinguistics of reading and writing, and speech technology.

Contents

• Reading Devices: 1
• A Brief Introduction: 2
• A Model: 6
• 122 Formal Definitions: 11
• 1222 Definitions: 13
• 1223 Axioms: 14
• 1231 Regularity: 16
• 1232 Consistency: 19
• 124 Further Issues: 20
• 1241 Why a Constrained Theory of Writing Systems?: 21
• 1242 Orthography and the Segmental Assumption: 23
• 13 Terminology and Conventions: 25
• An Overview of FiniteState Automata and Transducers: 29
• 1A2 Regular Relations and FiniteState Transducers: 30
• Regularity: 34
• 21 Planar Regular Languages and Planar Regular Relations: 35
• 22 The Locality Hypothesis: 41
• Examples: 42
• 231 Korean Hankul: 43
• 232 Devanagari: 45
• 233 Pahawh Hmong: 47
• 234 Chinese: 48
• 235 A Counterexample from Ancient Egyptian: 54
• 24 CrossWritingSystem Variation in the SLU: 55
• Text Direction: 59
• 2A Sample Chinese Characters and Their Analyses: 62
• ORL Depth and Consistency: 67
• 311 Vowel Reduction: 68
• 312 Regressive Palatalization: 73
• 313 Lexical Marking in Russian and Other Issues: 76
• 314 Summary of Russian and Belarusian: 79
• 33 The Orthographic Representation of SerboCroatian Consonant Devoicing: 89
• 331 Methods and Materials: 91
• 332 Results: 92
• 34 Cyclicity in Orthography: 95
• 35 Surface Orthographic Constraints: 96
• 3A English Deep and Shallow ORLs: 99
• 3A2 Rules for the Deep ORL: 127
• 3A3 Rules for the Shallow ORL: 129
• Linguistic Elements: 131
• A Brief Overview: 132
• 412 Sampson: 133
• 413 DeFrancis: 134
• 4132 All Full Writing Is Phonographic: 135
• 414 A New Proposal: 139
• 415 Summary: 143
• 42 Chinese Writing: 144
• 43 Japanese Writing: 154
• 44 Some Further Examples: 160
• 442 Reduplication Markers: 161
• 443 Cancellation Signs: 162
• Psycholinguistic Evidence: 163
• 51 Multiple Routes and the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis: 165
• 511 Evidence for the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis: 168
• 512 Evidence against the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis: 170
• 52 Shallow Processing in Deep Orthographies: 171
• 522 Phonological Access in Japanese: 173
• 523 Evidence for the Function of Phonetic Components in Chinese: 175
• 524 Summary: 176
• The SeidenbergMcClelland Model: 178
• 531 Outline of the Model: 179
• 532 What Is Wrong with the Model?: 181
• 54 Summary: 184
• Further Issues: 185
• The Case of Dutch: 192
• 621 The 1954 Spelling Rules: 193
• 622 The 1995 Spelling Rules: 195
• Numerical Notation and Its Relation to Number Names: 197
• 64 Abbreviatory Devices: 204
• I: 207
• II: 210
• III: 215
• IV: 225
• V: 232

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Computational Theory of Writing Systems; Studies in Natural Language Processing
• Author: Richard William Sproat
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2000
• ISBN: 0521663407, 9780521663403
• Length: 236 pages
• Subjects: Computers / Desktop Applications / Word Processing; Computers / Natural Language Processing; Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies; Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / General; Language Arts & Disciplines / Speech; Written communication; Written communication - Data processing; Written communication/ Data processing