This paper discusses the criteria used by third and fifth graders who attend a public school, in Pelotas, RS, Brazil, regarding the function of diacritical marks in the writing system. Considering the close relationship between prosodic stress and the rules of use of diacritical marks, the study reported in this paper aimed at investigating children's hypotheses concerningthese orthographic devices. Data were collected by a controlled writing instrument, which was especially designed for this research, and by clinical interviews guided by the Piagetian method (Carraher, 1989). After completing awriting task, children were induced to explain the reasons that led them to usediacritics in their spelling. The analysis of data on their written production showed that children got the diacritical mark right, mainly in contexts in which alternation of vowel timbre could occur, that is, in medium and low medium vowels. Results of the interviews highlighted the emergence of criteria based on acoustic and graphic aspects. The analysis allowed us to define a hierarchy of acoustic criteria, i. e., vocalic timbre, vowel duration and prominence.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.