The Latin Alphabet and Orthography

Wallace, Rex

doi:10.1002/9781444343397.ch2

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the natural world, most objects are usually perceived as the same irrespective of the observer's viewpoint (Corballis & Beale, 1976). Letters, as human-made artefacts, are different though.Although most ancient alphabets had flexible reading directions, the lower case letters of the Latin alphabet were designed to be read from left-to-right and from the top to the bottom of a page (Wallace, 2012). As a consequence, some letters, most notably "b," "d," "p," and "q," receive radical different interpretations although they have the same shape and differ mainly in their orientation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although most ancient alphabets had flexible reading directions, the lower case letters of the Latin alphabet were designed to be read from left-to-right and from the top to the bottom of a page (Wallace, 2012). As a consequence, some letters, most notably "b," "d," "p," and "q," receive radical different interpretations although they have the same shape and differ mainly in their orientation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reading vertically and horizontally mirrored text: An eye movement investigation

Pittrich

Schroeder

2022

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined the cognitive processes involved in reading vertically and horizontally mirrored text. We tracked participants’ eye movements while they were reading the Potsdam Sentence Corpus which consists of 144 sentences with target words that are manipulated for length and frequency. Sentences were presented in three different conditions: In the normal condition, text was presented with upright letters, in the vertical condition, each letter was flipped around its vertical (left-right) axis while in the horizontal condition, letters were flipped around their horizontal (up-down) axis. Results show that reading was slowed down in both mirror conditions and that horizontal mirroring was particularly disruptive. In both conditions, we found larger effects of word length than in the normal condition indicating that participants read the sentences more serially and effortfully. Similarly, frequency effects were larger in both mirror conditions in later reading measures (gaze duration, go-past time, total reading time) and particularly pronounced in the horizontal condition. This indicates that reading mirrored script involves a late checking mechanism that is particularly important for reading horizontally mirrored script. Together, our findings demonstrate that mirroring affects both early visual identification and later linguistic processes.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reading vertically and horizontally mirrored text: An eye movement investigation

Pittrich

Schroeder

2022

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Sihler (: 228) simply affirms that the sibilant, which was weak in Early Latin, ‘had regained its value by the time of Cicero’. Finally, Wallace (: 19) underlines that the habit of spelling word‐final /s/ in public inscriptions during the Classical period reflected the restoration of the sound ‘in most educated varieties of Latin’.…”

Section: The Omission Of Final ‐S: Iam Subrusticum Videturmentioning

confidence: 99%

Omission of Final ‐S In Latin Inscriptions: Time and Space

Marotta

Tamponi

2018

Trans of the Philol Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The paper focuses on the omission of final -s in Latin inscriptions found in the corpus CLaSSES (Corpus for Latin Sociolinguistic Studies on Epigraphic textS, http://classeslatin-linguistics.fileli.unipi.it) from 350 BC till 50 AD.The distribution of final -s has been examined in the endings of the second declension with respect to several variables, such as the dating and the place of provenance of the inscription.The results show that the restoration of the grapheme spread from Rome starting from the mid-third century BC, when the city was the political and economic centre of the conquered territories. Therefore, the Latin of Rome was perceived as prestigious by Roman citizens. The process of -s restoration was completed by the mid-first century BC and appears to be strictly related with the raising o > u in final syllable.Therefore, the omissions of final -s found in inscriptions outside Rome in the second and first century BC can be considered to be residuals of the ancient pronunciation in areas not yet completely reached by the innovation, whereas in Rome they can be considered as forms of a low sociolinguistic level. THE OMISSION OF FINAL -S: IAM SUBRUSTICUM VIDETURThe problem associated with the omission of final -s in Early Latin and its later restoration is still highly debated within the scientific community. The analysis of the literary and nonliterary sources concerning this topic has led scholars to propose different hypotheses.The most problematic piece of evidence is the well-known comment by Cicero (Orat. 161), which defines the omission of final -s before a consonant as subrusticum: Quin etiam, quod iam subrusticum videtur, olim autem politius, eorum verborum, quorum eaedem erant postremae duae litterae quae sunt in optimus, postremam litteram detrahebant, nisi vocalis insequebatur. Ita non erat ea offensio in versibus quam nunc fugiunt poetae novi. Sic enim loquebamur: qui est / o mnı b u' pr ı nc e ps/, non omnibus princeps et: vita illa /d ı gn u' lŏc oqu e /, non dignus. Quodsi indocta consuetudo tam est artifex suavitatis, quid ab ipsa tandem arte et doctrina postulari putamus?Furthermore, though it now seems somewhat countryfied, it was once considered refined to drop the last letter, if the word ended in the same two letters as optimus, unless a vowel followed. Consequently this was not thought objectionable in verse; now it is avoided by the 'new' poets. So we used to say: qui est omnibu' princeps, not omnibus princeps, and: vita illa dignu' locoque, not dignus. If custom, untaught, is such an artificer of sweet sounds, what have we a right to expect from art and study? (Translated by Hendrickson and Hubbell Loeb Classical Library 342).

show abstract

“…They originate in the Carolingian minuscule which is the writing system that survives as the basis of the modern Latin alphabet (Haarmann, 1990). By contrast to the upper-case letters, the lower-case letters were meant to be read from left to right (Wallace, 2011). This seems to be particularly challenging for children who are not yet proficient readers (i.e.…”

Section: Reading and Mirror-confusions 1the Origins Of Mirror-confusi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Letters, as human-made artifacts, are different though. Although most ancient alphabets had flexible reading directions, the lower case letters of the Latin alphabet were designed to be read from left-to-right and from the top to the bottom of a page (Wallace, 2011). As a consequence, some letters, most notably "b", "d", "p", and "q", receive radical different interpretations although they have the same shape and differ mainly in their orientation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flip - Reading processes when reading mirrored script

Pittrich¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined the cognitive processes involved in reading vertically and horizontally mirrored text. We tracked participants' eye movements while they were reading the Potsdam Sentence Corpus which consists of 144 sentences with target words that are manipulated for length and frequency. Sentences were presented in three different conditions: In the normal condition, text was presented with upright letters, in the vertical condition, each letter was flipped around its vertical (left-right) axis while in the horizontal condition, letters were flipped around their horizontal (up-down) axis. Results show that reading was slowed down in both mirror conditions and that horizontal mirroring was particularly disruptive.In both conditions, we found larger effects of word length than in the normal condition indicating that participants read the sentences more serially and effortfully. Similarly, frequency effects were larger in both mirror conditions in later reading measures (gaze duration, gopast time, total reading time) and particularly pronounced in the horizontal condition. This indicates that reading mirrored script involves a late checking mechanism that is particularly important for reading horizontally mirrored script. Together, our findings demonstrate that mirroring affects both early visual identification and later linguistic processes.

show abstract

The Latin Alphabet and Orthography

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Reading vertically and horizontally mirrored text: An eye movement investigation

Reading vertically and horizontally mirrored text: An eye movement investigation

Omission of Final ‐S In Latin Inscriptions: Time and Space

Flip - Reading processes when reading mirrored script

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About