title: Frost and fogs, or sunny skies? Orthography, reading, and misplaced optimalism.
abstract: I argue that the study of variability rather than invariance should head the reading research agenda, and that strong claims of orthographic "optimality" are unwarranted. I also expand briefly on Frost's assertion that an efficient orthography must represent sound and meaning, by considering writing systems as dual-purpose devices that must provide decipherability for novice readers and automatizability for the expert.
authors.affiliation: Department of Learning Disabilities and Edmond J Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel. dshare@edu.haifa.ac.il
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Share
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics