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Writing systems: Not optimal, but good enough

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2012

Mark S. Seidenberg
Mark S. Seidenberg*
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706. seidenberg@wisc.edu http://lcnl.wisc.edu
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Abstract

Languages and writing systems result from satisfying multiple constraints related to learning, comprehension, production, and their biological bases. Orthographies are not optimal because these constraints often conflict, with further deviations due to accidents of history and geography. Things tend to even out because writing systems and the languages they represent exhibit systematic trade-offs between orthographic depth and morphological complexity.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 35 , Issue 5 , October 2012 , pp. 305 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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