The acquisition of spoken and written language: the role of linguistic awareness

Abstract

This paper discusses issues related to phonological awareness and as such addresses the relationship between the spoken and written language. It also considers the role played by lexical items in the development of linguistic knowledge. The debate focuses on the units

related to the segmentation of language (word, syllable, phoneme) and also on the productivity of such units. We evaluated the relationship between speech and writing in language acquisition and demonstrated that speech not only influences writing, but also vice versa. Within a Multirepresentational Model perspective we argue that speech and writing constantly interact in the construction of mental representations thus contributing to the emergence and consolidation of linguistic awareness.