Russian orthography and learning to read

Abstract

The unique structure of Russian orthography may influence the organization and acquisition of reading skills in Russian. The present review examines phonemic-graphemic correspondences in Russian orthography and discusses its grain-size units and possible difficulties for beginning readers and writers. Russian orthography is governed by a hierarchical, relatively regular 3-tier system of rules, complicated by numerous exceptions. Many theorists find that the key to this regularised complexity lies in Russian morphology. This review presents the perspectives of prominent Russian linguists on what linguistic units Russian orthography represents, and it evaluates and analyses their relevance for contemporary reading research.