ABSTRACT
This paper examines writing systems in English with a view to identifying ways in which internal word structure can be usefully encoded. In addition to English orthography, we consider abbreviatory conventions and shorthand systems. This survey suggests special status for the first syllable of a word and for inflection. In the second half of the paper we examine psychological models that have been proposed to account for readers’ abilities to exploit internal word structure, via syllabic or morphemic parsing. One of the main conclusions is that most experimental work in this area is suspect, because of inadequately selected stimulus materials.
