"This book presents the results of a series of literacy experiments in ten Niger-Congo languages, representing four language families and spanning five countries. It tests the hypothesis, "To what extent does full tone marking contribute to oral reading fluency, comprehension and writing accuracy, and does that contribution vary from language to language?". One of the main findings is that the ethno-literacy profile of the language community and the social profile of the individual are stronger predictors of reading and writing performance than are the linguistic and orthographic profiles of the language. Our data also suggests that full tone marking may be more beneficial for less educated readers and those with less experience of L1 literacy. The book will bring practical help to linguists and literacy specialists in Africa and beyond who are helping to develop orthographies for tone languages. It will also be of interest to cognitive psychologists exploring the reading process, and researchers investigating writing systems"--.

• Tone Orthography and Literacy
• Editorial page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Table of contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• About the authors
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Introduction
  • 1. Background and aims
  • 2. Experimental orthography research in Africa
    • 2.1 Linguistic context
    • 2.2 Literacy context
    • 2.3 Social context
    • 2.4 Researcher’s objectives
  • 3. The ten focal languages
    • 3.1 Location and genealogical affiliation
    • 3.2 Language vitality
    • 3.3 Previous research
    • 3.4 Orthographies
  • 4. Pedagogical materials
    • 4.1 Literacy primers
    • 4.2 Transition guides
  • 5. Definitions
  • 6. Outline of the book
  • 7. Transcription conventions
  • References
• Part 1. Tone orthography in ten Niger-Congo languages
• Chapter 2. Tem
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
    • 1.6 Vowels
    • 1.7 Tone
      • 1.7.1 Generalities
      • 1.7.2 H tone spread
      • 1.7.3 Downstep
      • 1.7.4 Lexical tone
      • 1.7.5 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy programs
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 2.3.1 Literacy primer
      • 2.3.2 Transition guide
• Chapter 3. Nateni
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
    • 1.6 Vowels
    • 1.7 Tone
      • 1.7.1 Tone orthography
      • 1.7.2 Contour tones
      • 1.7.3 Lexical tone
      • 1.7.4 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy programs
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 2.3.1 Primer
      • 2.3.2 Transition guide
  • References
• Chapter 4. Mbelime
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
    • 1.6 Vowels
    • 1.7 Word boundaries
    • 1.8 Tone
      • 1.8.1 Generalities
      • 1.8.2 Downstep
      • 1.8.3 Upstep
      • 1.8.4 Contour tones
      • 1.8.5 M insertion
      • 1.8.6 L tone spread
      • 1.8.7 H tone spread
      • 1.8.8 Lexical tone
      • 1.8.9 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy programs
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 2.3.1 Primer
      • 2.3.2 Transition guide
  • References
• Chapter 5. Eastern Dan
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
    • 1.6 Vowels
    • 1.7 Tone
      • 1.7.1 Generalities
      • 1.7.2 Tone orthography
      • 1.7.3 Tonal processes
      • 7.1.4 Lexical tone
      • 7.1.5 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy program
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 3.3.1 Primer
      • 3.3.2 Transition guide
• Chapter 6. Yoruba
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
    • 1.6 Vowels
      • 1.6.1 Processes affecting segments
      • 1.6.2 Vowel harmony
      • 1.6.3 Vowel assimilation
      • 1.6.4 Vowel deletion
      • 1.6.5 Consonant deletion
    • 1.7 Tone
      • 1.7.1 Generalities
      • 1.7.2 Tone orthography
      • 1.7.3 Post-lexical tonal processes
      • 1.7.4 Lexical tonal processes
      • 1.7.5 Lexical tone
      • 1.7.6 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy programs
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 2.3.1 Primer
      • 2.3.2 Transition Guide
  • References
• Chapter 7. Idaasha
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
      • 1.5.1 Consonant inventory
      • 1.5.2 Palatal approximant
      • 1.5.3 Approximant elision
      • 1.5.4 Contrast between /m/ and /n/
      • 1.5.5 Contrast between /l/ and /n/
    • 1.6 Vowels
      • 1.6.1 Vowel inventory
      • 1.6.2 Nasal vowels
      • 1.6.3 Vowel harmony
      • 1.6.4 Vowel contraction
    • 1.7 Tone
      • 1.7.1 Generalities
      • 1.7.2 Vowel contraction and tone
      • 1.7.3 Tonal polarity
      • 1.7.4 M and L verb tone alternation
      • 1.7.5 Possessive pronouns
      • 1.7.6 Lexical tone
      • 1.7.7 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy programs
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 2.3.1 Primer
      • 2.3.2 Transition guide
  • References
• Chapter 8. Ife
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
    • 1.6 Vowels
      • 1.6.1 Vowel inventory
      • 1.6.2 Nasal vowels
      • 1.6.3 Vowel processes
    • 1.7 Tone
      • 1.7.1 Generalities
      • 1.7.2 Vowel processes and tone
      • 1.7.3 Tonal polarity
      • 1.7.4 Associative noun phrase
      • 1.7.5 Lexical tone
      • 1.7.6 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy programs
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 2.3.1 Primer
      • 2.3.2 Transition guide
• Chapter 9. Elip, Mmala and Yangben
  • 1. Linguistic and orthographic background
    • 1.1 Affiliation and location
    • 1.2 Orthography development
    • 1.3 Previous research
    • 1.4 Typology
    • 1.5 Consonants
    • 1.6 Vowels
    • 1.7 Tone
      • 1.7.1 Tone orthography
      • 1.7.2 Lexical tone patterns
      • 1.7.3 Non-automatic downstep
      • 1.7.4 Contour tones
      • 1.7.5 Desyllabification of close vowels
      • 1.7.6 Noun class proclitics
      • 1.7.7 Nominal tone, devoicing and elision
      • 1.7.8 H tone derivational verbs
      • 1.7.9 Lexical tone
      • 1.7.10 Grammatical tone
  • 2. Literacy background
    • 2.1 Literacy programs
    • 2.2 Literature production
    • 2.3 Pedagogical materials
      • 2.3.1 Primers
      • 2.3.2 Transition guides
  • References
• Part 2. Tone orthography and literacy outcomes
• Chapter 10. The tone orthography experiment design
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Text corpus
  • 3. Sample
  • 4. Tasks
    • 4.1 Introduction
    • 4.2 Oral reading
    • 4.3 Comprehension questions
    • 4.4 Tone writing
  • 5. Scoring
    • 5.1 Introduction
    • 5.2 Oral reading speed
    • 5.3 Oral reading accuracy
    • 5.4 Oral reading comprehension
    • 5.5 Writing accuracy
  • 6. Statistical analysis
    • 6.1 Previous research
    • 6.2 Basic statistical notions
    • 6.3 Multi-level modeling
    • 6.4 Accounting for Eastern Dan
  • 7. Independent variables
    • 7.1 Demographic variables (Level 1)
    • 7.2 Linguistic variables (Level 2)
    • 7.3 Ethno-literacy variables (Level 2)
  • 8. Group equivalence
• Chapter 11. Tone orthography and oral reading speed
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. L2 oral reading speed
  • 3. L1 oral reading speed
    • 3.1 Overall results
    • 3.2 Language specific results
    • 3.3 Impact of independent variables
  • 4. Interpretation and discussion
  • References
• Chapter 12. Tone orthography and general oral reading accuracy
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. L2 oral reading accuracy
  • 3. L1 oral reading accuracy
    • 3.1 Overall results
    • 3.2 Language specific results
    • 3.3 Impact of independent variables
  • 4. Interpretation and discussion
  • References
• Chapter 13. Tone orthography and tonal oral reading accuracy
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Literature overview
    • 2.1 Asian languages
      • 2.1.1 Chinese characters
      • 2.1.2 Pinyin
      • 2.1.3 Thai
    • 2.2 African languages
  • 3. Tonal oral reading accuracy
    • 3.1 Overall results
    • 3.2 Language specific results
    • 3.3 Impact of independent variables
  • 4. Interpretation and discussion
  • References
• Chapter 14. Tone orthography and oral reading comprehension
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. L2 oral reading comprehension results
  • 3. L1 oral reading comprehension
    • 3.1 Overall results
    • 3.2 Language specific results
    • 3.3 Impact of independent variables
  • 4. Interpretation and discussion
  • References
• Chapter 15. Tone orthography and tone writing accuracy
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Tone writing accuracy
    • 2.1 Overall results
    • 2.2 Language specific results
    • 2.3 Correlations between reading and writing
    • 2.4 Impact of independent variables
  • 3. Interpretation and discussion
  • References
• Chapter 16. Epilogue
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Evidence from the classroom
    • 2.1 Overview
    • 2.2 The ten focal languages
      • 2.2.1 Tem
      • 2.2.2 Nateni
      • 2.2.3 Mbelime
      • 2.2.4 Eastern Dan
      • 2.2.5 Yoruba
      • 2.2.6 Idaasha
      • 2.2.7 Ife
      • 2.2.8 Elip, Mmala and Yangben
    • 2.3 Impact of independent variables
    • 2.4 Interpretation and discussion
  • 3. Tone pedagogy
    • 3.1 Literacy primers
    • 3.2 Transition guides
  • 4. Design limitations and future prospects
    • 4.1 Experiment design
    • 4.2 Independent variables
    • 4.3 Scoring procedures
    • 4.4 Tonal processes
    • 4.5 Comprehension
    • 4.6 Orthographic inconsistency
    • 4.7 Dialect variants
  • 5. Final remarks
• Appendix 1. Independent variables
  • 1. Demographic variables (Level 1)
  • 2. Linguistic variables (Level 2)
  • 3. Ethno-literacy variables (Level 2)
    • 3.1 L1 Literacy history
    • 3.2 L1 Literacy program
    • 3.3 L1 Literacy activity
    • 3.4 L1 Language development
    • 3.5 L1 Language status
    • 3.6 L1 Orthography status
    • 3.7 Education status
• References
• Language index
• Topical index