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It's an artifact of how native learners acquire language, compared to adult learners. Our native tongues are acquired rather ad hoc, and most people 'think' in

It's an artifact of how native learners acquire language, compared to adult learners. Our native tongues are acquired rather ad hoc, and most people 'think' in speech. (As evidence, watch a slow reader. Often times they will sub-vocalize the text as they read. This is a side effect of their brain turning the text back into sound.) So, to somebody who learned English as a child -- and is therefore aurally dominant -- the words "they're", "there", and "their" will all basically occupy an overlapping space in their mind. Somebody who learned English later will use textbooks to support the process; Things like contractions will be give special emphasis, etc.

bambax 15y ago
You make an interesting point, and what makes it very interesting is that it's testable: are native speakers worse spellers than non-native speakers? And which words do each group have the most difficulty spelling? It doesn't seem likely that non-native speakers are better general spellers than native speakers; but it's possible that some words are especially difficult for native speakers and not for non-native ones. Are you aware of existing studies on that subject?
- 286c8cb04bda 15y ago
  Aye, there have been numerous investigations into it. Among linguists, it seems to be basically taken as a given that homophones, particularly when compared to less skilled native readers, are going to be easier for the non-native, because of acquisition methods. I should've prefaced that with the disclaimer that I am not a linguist, but I have worked in the past with linguists on language-related work, both in L1 (native) and L2 (non-native) contexts. Here are a couple of references I was given on this specific subject: 1. Van Orden, Guy C. (1987). A ROWS is a ROSE: Spelling, sound and reading. 2. Binder, K. & Borecki, C. (2007). The use of phonological, orthographic, and contextual information during reading. 3. Ota, M., Hartsuiker, R. J., & Haywood, S. L. (2010). Is a FAN always FUN? Full texts for all of those are available online.

bambax 15y ago

You make an interesting point, and what makes it very interesting is that it's testable: are native speakers worse spellers than non-native speakers? And which words do each group have the most difficulty spelling? It doesn't seem likely that non-native speakers are better general spellers than native speakers; but it's possible that some words are especially difficult for native speakers and not for non-native ones. Are you aware of existing studies on that subject?

286c8cb04bda 15y ago
Aye, there have been numerous investigations into it. Among linguists, it seems to be basically taken as a given that homophones, particularly when compared to less skilled native readers, are going to be easier for the non-native, because of acquisition methods. I should've prefaced that with the disclaimer that I am not a linguist, but I have worked in the past with linguists on language-related work, both in L1 (native) and L2 (non-native) contexts. Here are a couple of references I was given on this specific subject: 1. Van Orden, Guy C. (1987). A ROWS is a ROSE: Spelling, sound and reading. 2. Binder, K. & Borecki, C. (2007). The use of phonological, orthographic, and contextual information during reading. 3. Ota, M., Hartsuiker, R. J., & Haywood, S. L. (2010). Is a FAN always FUN? Full texts for all of those are available online.