A role of phonology in orthographic production? A historical perspective and some recent new evidence

Is the orthographic production of a word influenced by its phonological properties? And if the answer is positive, is handwriting, typing, etc., based on inner speech (“phonological mediation”), or do orthographic codes perhaps receive input both from a direct pathway originating from semantics, and an indirect pathway via phonology? In this chapter, I provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature on this issue, ranging from early neuropsychological claims (e.g., Wernicke, 1886) via more recent patient-based work (e.g., Rapp, Benzing & Caramazza, 1997), to experimental studies based on healthy individuals (e.g., Bonin, Peereman, & Fayol, 2001). I will particularly highlight potential commonalities and differences in handwriting between languages with alphabetic script (in which substantial sublexical correspondences between print and sound exist) and those with non-alphabetic scripts (in which such spelling-to-sound correspondences are limited).