Early Linguistic Abilities and Reading Development: A Review and a Hypothesis

Discusses aspects of phonological processing and linguistic awareness that may set the stage for initial reading development. Hypothesizes about the distinctness of phonological representations. Distinguishes phonological representations of high distinctness from other representations by many features. Compares the distinctness hypothesis to the lexical restructuring which suggests that lexical representations gradually become increasingly segmental from 1-8 years of age. (PA)