ABSTRACT
The research presented in this chapter examines phonological development during the transition to early reading in a range of European languages. Although no reading data are presented, the work directly addresses two issues that are central to the understanding of reading development: (1) the question of the availability of phonology at the outset of learning to read (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005); and (2) the influence of orthography and instruction in shaping phonological development during and after the transition to literacy (Gombert, 1992; Morais, Cary, Alegria, & Bertelson, 1979; Read, Zhang, Nie, & Ding, 1986). While it has been suggested that European languages show a universal sequence of phonological development (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005, p. 9), I argue instead that phonological development can take different paths according to the characteristics of a child’s native language and the context of learning to read.
