Orthographic neighbourhood in Czech language and its use in research of reading impairment

Abstract

Reading is a complex function that affects our daily living. It requires the cooperation of many structures and functions and is influenced by many different factors. One of the factors influencing the word reading process may be the characteristics of the word, such as its frequency of use in the language, its length, orthographic neighbourhood, and others. These characteristics can affect the speed and accuracy of reading in readers with and without learning disability. The following paper presents some aspects of our current research focused on the influence of the properties of the word on their reading in the Czech language environment. The concept of orthographic neighbourhood will be explained in more detail including some specifics in its calculation and use in the Czech language.