6533b859fe1ef96bd12b81a3
RESEARCH PRODUCT
From abugida to alphabet in Konso, Ethiopia
Aija Katriina AhlbergLea NieminenKenneth M. EklundSuzanne Otienosubject
abugidaLinguistics and Languagemedia_common.quotation_subjectTeaching methodkirjoitusjärjestelmätphonemic awarenessalphabetic writing system050105 experimental psychologyLanguage and LinguisticsLiteracyfonologinen tietoisuusPhonological awarenessReading (process)0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesKonsomedia_commonorthographyphonological awarenessPhonemic awareness05 social sciences050301 educationAfrican languagesoikeinkirjoitustransfer literacyLinguisticsafroaasialaiset kieletWriting systemlukutaitoCushitic languagesPsychology0503 educationCushitic languagesfonologiaOrthographydescription
Abstract This study examines the interplay between phonological awareness and orthography in Konso, a Cushitic language in Southwest Ethiopia. Thirty-two adults reading the Konso abugida but with minimal exposure to alphabetic literacy completed an orally administered phoneme deletion task. The responses were then examined using the minimal edit distance hypothesis (Wali, Sproat, Padakannaya & Bhuvaneshwari, 2009) as a framework for the analysis. The results suggest that the difficulty of a deletion was related to the way the phoneme was represented in the Konso abugida. Content-based error analysis of the incorrect responses gave indications of how Konso abugida readers’ processing of sounds is linked to Konso abugida sound-symbol relationships. The Konso language community is undergoing a change in their writing system from abugida to alphabetic writing. As abugida symbols primarily denote consonant-vowel sequences, the change requires learning new sound-symbol mappings. By examining Konso abugida readers’ phonemic awareness the study contributes to developing transfer literacy teaching methods from abugida to alphabetic writing in Konso and elsewhere.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-11-20 | Written Language and Literacy |