Phonological mediation and the graphemic buffer disorder in spelling: cross-language differences?

Abstract

Caramazza and Miceli's (1990) theory of the organization of the graphemic buffer in writing is assessed by comparing the performance of an English language graphemic buffer patient, AS, with their Italian language patient, LB. In many qualitative and quantitative aspects the writing of the two patients is remarkably similar. However, there is no trace in the writing of AS of the relative preservation in writing words with simple-CV structures over ones with complex-CV structures found in LB, which was the basis for Caramazza and Miceli's hypothesis of an orthographic syllable tier in the organization of the graphemic buffer. Possible differences in the relative salience of syllables between Italian and English and of differences in regularity of the sound-to-spelling transformations in the two languages are considered. It is argued, however, that the fundamental difference may arise through a greater reliance on phonological mediation by LB, with the relatively preserved syllabic level organization in his writing being phonologically rather than orthographically based.