| Abstract | Previous research has shown that multilingual individuals can learn to speak a new language more easily than those who are monolingual. However, no previous research has explored the relationship between existing orthography fluency, fluency within a print system, and letter-sound learning in a new alphabet. The present work explored the relationship between letter-sound learning ability and fluency in either one (mono-scripturalism) or multiple orthographies (multi-scripturalism). The grain size accommodation hypothesis suggests that it is easier to acquire a novel orthography that shares a similar grain size (length and complexity of smallest graphemes within an orthography) to the one an individual is fluent in. Thus, leading us to inquire if a multi-scriptural advantage exists. Young adult participants completed a background survey and battery of baseline assessments to determine eligibility, a self-paced training session to learn Hebrew consonants and vowels, a post-learning knowledge check, and a retention session seven days later. The ultimate goal of our research was to evaluate whether existing skill in reading more than one orthography provides an advantage for acquiring additional print systems. Our results demonstrate that multi-scripturalism may not provide an advantage in orthography learning, suggesting that despite overlapping brain networks, the mechanisms for acquiring language and reading function separately. Further, the grain size similarity between known and novel orthographies may have a stronger influence in orthography acquisition than the amount of orthographies one is fluent in. We plan to continue data collection to increase our sample size and evaluate grain size similarity and fluency in addition to scripturalism. |
