Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of writing acquisition in the constitution of the “word” as a conceptual entity. Our hypothesis is that the pre-literate notion of “word” is dramatically changed through the acquisition of a writing system that uses empty spaces between strings of letters, giving by this procedure a new definition of “word” that, afterwards, the literate speaker will consider as “natural”.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blanche-Benveniste, C. (1993). Les unités: Langue écrite, langue orale. In C. Pontecorvo and C. Blanche-Benveniste (Eds.), Orality versus literacy: Concepts, methods and data (pp. 139–194). Strasbourg: European Science Foundation.
Ferreiro, E. (1978). What is written in a written sentence? A developmental answer. Journal of Education, 160(4), 25–39.
Ferreiro, E., Pontecorvo, C., Ribeiro Moreira, N. and García Hidalgo, I. (1996). Caperucita Roja aprende a escribir. Estudios psicolingüísticos comparativos en tres lenguas. Barcelona: Gedisa. (Italian edition, Firenze: Nova Italia, 1996; Portuguese edition, Sâo Paulo: Atica, 1996).
Fruyt, M. and Reichler-Beguelin, M.J. (1990). La notion de “mot” en latin et dans d’autres langues indo-européennes anciennes. Modèles Linguistiques, XII(1), 21–46. Gombert, E. (1990). Le développement métalinguistique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Malkiel, Y. (1970). Genetic analysis of word formation. Current Trends in Linguistics, III, pp. 305–364.
Olson, D. (1994). The world on paper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pergnier, M. (1986). Le mot. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Piaget, J. and Szeminska, A. (1941). La genèse du nombre chez l’enfant. Neuchâtel: Delachaux & Niestlé.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ferreiro, E. (1999). Oral and Written Words. Are they the Same Units?. In: Nunes, T. (eds) Learning to Read: An Integrated View from Research and Practice. Neuropsychology and Cognition, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4826-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4826-9_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-5992-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4826-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive