Psycholinguistic Universals in the Reading Process

Abstract

Literate speakers in any language have two alternative surface language forms which are realizations of the same deep structure and which represent alternate encodings of the same meaning. For the proficient reader, written language becomes parallel to speech and not a secondary representation of it. Listening and reading are processes in which the language user may sample, select and predict from the available signal. Readers are users of language who process graphic, syntactic and semantic information simultaneously. Readers develop strategies for the efficient sampling of the graphic signal in relation to the syntax of their language and the concept and experiences with which the passage is concerned. The essential characteristics of the reading process are universal.