ABSTRACT
Romance languages are the group of modern languages that evolved from spoken Latin. While all the Romance languages are written with the Latin alphabet, the transparency of the orthographic systems vary considerably. In this chapter we will focus specifically on Spanish and French, two languages which can be placed at two extremes on a continuum of orthographic systems ranging from shallow (Spanish) to deep (French). These two languages provide a natural window into understanding how orthographic systems facilitate or impede early literacy.
