The goal of the research is learn more about how the sounds of English words are related to their spellings, and to use this information as a basis for studying the processes involved in spelling and reading. The results will shed light on the cognitive and linguistic foundations of reading and writing ability, as well as on the nature of the English spelling system itself. In the first part of the project modern computer methods will be used to study the links from sounds to spellings in several thousand words of English. It is hypothesized that, even when it is not possible to predict exactly how a given sound will be spelled, there are certain factors that can help narrow the range of alternatives. For example, the spellings of vowels may be influenced by the following consonants in such a way that spelling becomes more predictable when vowel + final consonant units are taken into account. For example, the short `e` sound has a higher chance of being spelled as `ea` when it comes before `d` (as in `head`) than when it comes before `m` (as in `hem`). Such results would suggest that the English writing system is not as chaotic and illogical as commonly believed. It is further hypothesized that users of English develop a sensitivity to the patterns in the writing system. As a result, words with more predictable relationships between sounds and spellings should be spelled and read more easily than words with less predictable relationships. The development of this sensitivity will be mapped out in a series of studies with adults and children of various ages. These studies will include not only traditional small-scale experiments but also large-scale studies in which each participant pronounces or spells thousands of words over the course of several sessions. The findings will have implications not only for basic understanding of reading and spelling, but also for the teaching of reading and spelling skills to normal children and to children with learning difficulties.
