Dialect and authography: Some differences between American and British spellers

Two experiments examined whether American and British university students m ake different kinds of spelling errors as a function of the differences bet ween their dialects. The American students spoke a rhotic dialect, pronounc ing an /r/ in such words as leper, hermit, horde, and gnarl. The British st udents, with their nonrhotic dialect, did not include an /r/ in such words. The dialect differences led to different spelling errors in the 2 groups. For example, the British students sometimes misspelled horde as "haud" beca use its vowel has the alternative spelling au in their dialect. They someti mes spelled polka as "polker" because its final vowel is often spelled as e r in other words. The U.S. students were much less likely to make such erro rs, although they did make other errors that reflected aspects of their dia lect. Phonology, far from being superseded by other strategies in the devel opment of spelling, continues to be important for adults.