bouma shape
n.— «Nor have the palaeographers and codicologists ever noted one of the most important lexical consequences of the adoption of minuscule, as opposed to majuscule, as a book script is that it contributed, in conjunction with word separation, to giving each word a distinct image, which modern psychologists call the “Bouma shape,” peculiar to Western writing and a significant aid to silent visual processing.» —“Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading” by M. Michele Mulchahey Canadian Journ. of History Aug. 1, 2001. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able...