Heterography
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, heterography is a property of a written language, such that it lacks a 1-to-1 correspondence
between the written symbols and the sounds of the spoken language. Its opposite is homography, which is the property of a language such that written symbols of its written form and the sounds of its spoken form have a 1-to-1 correspondence.
The orthography of the English language
is, according to Larry Trask
, a "spectacular example" of heterography. But most European languages exhibit it to some extent. Finnish
is "very close" to being a systematically homographic language. A phonemic transcription (such as a transcription of phoneme
s that uses the International Phonetic Alphabet
, for example) is, by its nature, homographic, also.
The degree of heterography of a language is a factor in how difficult it is for person to learn to read that language, with highly heterographic orthographies being more difficult to learn than more homographic ones. Many people have espoused the point of view that the extreme heterographic nature of English is a disadvantage in several respects. These include, for example, Dr. Kiyoshi Makita writing in the July 1968 issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, who attributes the rarity of dyslexia
amongst Japanese children to the fact that Japanese
is highly homographic language.
Certainly, confusion between heterographic homophonic
words (so-called homophonic heterographs, a.k.a. heterographic homophones), such as "piece" and "peace" is one of the symptoms of surface dyslexia, one of the forms of dyslexia.
Other homophonic heterographs in English include "right", "rite", and "wright", and "there", "their" and "they're". In French, examples include "sain" and "saint".
Heterophonic homographs (also known as homographic heterophones) are, in contrast, words whose spoken sounds differ but whose written forms are the same. English has a few hundred heterophonic homographs, examples of these latter include "read" ("will read" vs "has read").
The two aforementioned classes of words, along with a third class (homophonic homographs — words with different meanings whose written and spoken forms are both the same, such as "bank" in English and "杜鹃" in Chinese) are the three classes of lexical ambiguities in all languages. (They are marked in green in the key on the right.)
Chinese
has many words that are both homophonic and homotonic. Distinctions are made between such words using heterography. Homophonic heterographs are very frequent in Chinese, whereas heterophonic homographs are not. In contrast, homographic heterophony is one of the most salient characteristics of English orthography, with the "-ough" in "though", "tough", "through", and "thought" being homographic but greatly heterophonic.
French is more heterographic than English. Whilst it, too, has homographic heterophony, such as the "-ars" in "Mars", "jars", and "gars", its most prominent irregularity is heterographic, namely heterographic homophony. Witness, for example, the identical pronunciation (in some regional dialects) of "-eng", "-empt", "-amp", and "-ans" in "hareng", "champ", "exempt", and "dans".
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, heterography is a property of a written language, such that it lacks a 1-to-1 correspondence
Bijection
A bijection is a function giving an exact pairing of the elements of two sets. A bijection from the set X to the set Y has an inverse function from Y to X. If X and Y are finite sets, then the existence of a bijection means they have the same number of elements...
between the written symbols and the sounds of the spoken language. Its opposite is homography, which is the property of a language such that written symbols of its written form and the sounds of its spoken form have a 1-to-1 correspondence.
The orthography of the English language
English orthography
English orthography is the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language. English orthography, like other alphabetic orthographies, uses a set of habits to represent speech sounds in writing. In most other languages, these habits are regular enough so that they may be called rules...
is, according to Larry Trask
Larry Trask
Robert Lawrence "Larry" Trask was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sussex and an authority on the Basque language and historical linguistics....
, a "spectacular example" of heterography. But most European languages exhibit it to some extent. Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
is "very close" to being a systematically homographic language. A phonemic transcription (such as a transcription of phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s that uses the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
, for example) is, by its nature, homographic, also.
The degree of heterography of a language is a factor in how difficult it is for person to learn to read that language, with highly heterographic orthographies being more difficult to learn than more homographic ones. Many people have espoused the point of view that the extreme heterographic nature of English is a disadvantage in several respects. These include, for example, Dr. Kiyoshi Makita writing in the July 1968 issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, who attributes the rarity of dyslexia
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
amongst Japanese children to the fact that Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
is highly homographic language.
| Written forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| same | different | ||
| Sounds | same | Homophonic homographs | Homophonic heterographs |
| different | Heterophonic homographs | Heterophonic heterographs | |
Certainly, confusion between heterographic homophonic
Homophone
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms...
words (so-called homophonic heterographs, a.k.a. heterographic homophones), such as "piece" and "peace" is one of the symptoms of surface dyslexia, one of the forms of dyslexia.
Other homophonic heterographs in English include "right", "rite", and "wright", and "there", "their" and "they're". In French, examples include "sain" and "saint".
Heterophonic homographs (also known as homographic heterophones) are, in contrast, words whose spoken sounds differ but whose written forms are the same. English has a few hundred heterophonic homographs, examples of these latter include "read" ("will read" vs "has read").
The two aforementioned classes of words, along with a third class (homophonic homographs — words with different meanings whose written and spoken forms are both the same, such as "bank" in English and "杜鹃" in Chinese) are the three classes of lexical ambiguities in all languages. (They are marked in green in the key on the right.)
Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
has many words that are both homophonic and homotonic. Distinctions are made between such words using heterography. Homophonic heterographs are very frequent in Chinese, whereas heterophonic homographs are not. In contrast, homographic heterophony is one of the most salient characteristics of English orthography, with the "-ough" in "though", "tough", "through", and "thought" being homographic but greatly heterophonic.
French is more heterographic than English. Whilst it, too, has homographic heterophony, such as the "-ars" in "Mars", "jars", and "gars", its most prominent irregularity is heterographic, namely heterographic homophony. Witness, for example, the identical pronunciation (in some regional dialects) of "-eng", "-empt", "-amp", and "-ans" in "hareng", "champ", "exempt", and "dans".