Blackwell Reference Online

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[GK óρνóζ ‘straight, correct’ + γράφ∍ιv ‘to write’] Correct spelling and that part of grammar that deals with the rules of correct spelling. An orthography is a normative selection of the possibilities of a script for writing a particular language in a uniform and standardized way. All orthographies are language specific. As the most visible and most consciously learned linguistic subsystems, orthographies are often codified by official decree. In alphabetically written languages, the aspects of writing most commonly codified by means of orthographic rules are grapheme-phoneme correspondence, word division, hyphenation, capitalization, and the spelling of loan words. Punctuation is sometimes also subsumed under orthography. Sound-letter correspondence is also a central component in orthographies of other writing systems, as for instance the representation of C clusters by means of conjunct letters in I ndian writing systems , or the composition of complex han‘gǔl letters in Korean. Punctuation for V indication is a major concern of the orthographies of Semitic consonant scripts such as H ebrew writing and A rabic scripts . In Chinese, the graphic composition of characters is a matter of orthographic regulation. The term ‘orthography’ thus covers both graphotactic and grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules. Orthographies are based on historically evolved writing conventions and ... log in or subscribe to read full text