ABSTRACT
Much of what we know about unimpaired reading development and developmental dyslexia derives from studies of English speakers, and attempts have been made to generalize from models based on these studies’ findings to other alphabetic languages. This has led some to make potentially unfounded assumptions about the development and nature of reading in languages that differ from English in terms of their structure and complexity. This chapter explores the structure and complexity of different languages, primarily distinguishing between shallow (transparent) and deep (opaque) languages, and the impact that orthographic complexity has on reading development in these languages. It then considers the occurrence and presentation of developmental dyslexia in speakers of different alphabetic and non-alphabetic languages. Theoretical models of unimpaired reading and dyslexia are discussed, and the universality (or otherwise) of skilled and impaired reading processes is considered.
