Alphabet-based languages are more often researched in literacy acquisition and education than akshara languages. Languages that use alphasyllabaries including symbols, called aksharas, represent a large portion of the world's languages, including the languages of the second most populous country, India. This conceptual research paper addresses…

The question of script was paramount in the nineteenth-century debate over Hindi and Urdu, two closely related languages that are characterised by "extreme digraphia". Rather than rehearsing the well-known story of the culturally and politically charged process of differentiation in which the two sister languages became prime markers of…

Acquisition of orthographic knowledge and phonemic sensitivity are processes that are central to early reading development in several languages. The language-specific characteristics of the alphasyllabaries ( Bright, 1996), however, challenge the constructs of orthographic knowledge and phonemic sensitivity as discussed in the context of…

VOLUME TWO, UNITS 16 THROUGH 25, CONTINUE THIS INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN URDU. THE GENERAL FORMAT IN THE FIRST FIVE UNITS IS CONSISTENT WITH VOLUME ONE (IN WHICH THE SOUNDS, BASIC STRUCTURES, AND WRITING SYSTEM WERE INTRODUCED). THE LAST FIVE UNITS BEGIN WITH AN ESSAY WRITTEN IN URDU SCRIPT FOLLOWED BY A VOCABULARY SECTION, WHICH TOGETHER REPLACE THE…

THE TWENTY GRADED UNITS IN THIS TEXT CONSTITUTE AN INTRODUCTION TO BOTH INFORMAL AND FORMAL SPOKEN KANNADA. THE FIRST TWO UNITS PRESENT THE KANNADA MATERIAL IN PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION ONLY, WITH KANNADA SCRIPT GRADUALLY INTRODUCED FROM UNIT III ON. A TYPICAL LESSON-UNIT INCLUDES--(1) A DIALOG IN PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION, (2)…

THIS SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME OF "A COURSE IN URDU" CONSISTS OF FIVE APPENDICES--(1) ABBREVIATIONS, (2) URDU-ENGLISH VOCABULARY, (3) ENGLISH-URDU FINDER LIST, (4) SUPPLEMENTARY URDU-ENGLISH VOCABULARY, AND (5) ENGLISH-URDU FINDER LIST FOR THE SUPPLEMENTARY VOCABULARY. ALSO INCLUDED IS AN INDEX TO ALL VOLUMES AND A LANGUAGE MAP OF INDIA AND…

This article argues for widening the research base on reading from the specific constraints of reading in alphabetic scripts to a larger database covering a variety of scripts. Several recent studies on reading the alphasyllabaries of India are reviewed. Findings indicate that alphasyllabaries are not processed in the same manner as alphabets.…

THIS 15-UNIT INTRODUCTION TO URDU IS BASED ON A LITERATE VARIETY OF DIHLAVI (I.E. OF DELHI) URDU AS EMPLOYED TODAY IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN. BRIEF SKETCHES OF INDO-PAKISTANI LIFE ARE INCLUDED IN THE MATERIAL AND ALTHOUGH A LARGE PART OF THIS INFORMATION IS APPLICABLE TO NORTHERN INDIA AS WELL, MUCH IS STRICTLY PAKISTANI IN CONTENT. UNIT FORMAT…