IMPAIRMENT OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE IN JAPANESE APHASICS: KANA VERSUS KANJI PROCESSING

Sumiko Sasanuma

《Journal of Chinese Linguistics》 2卷2期 (1974/05) Pp. 141-158

摘要

Japanese orthography stands alone in the world in that two types of non-alphabetic symbols, kana (phonetic symbols for syllables) and kanji (essentially nonphonetic logographic symbols), are used in combination. Evidence is presented indicating that the ability of Japanese aphasic patients to use these two types of scripts can be selectively impaired. Impairment of kana processing emerges typically in the context of an overall syndrome known as Broca's aphasia while impairment of kanji processing is characteristic of Gogi (word meaning) aphasia. Analyses, in terms of the nature of kana and kanji errors exhibited by patients of each syndrome as well as of the strategies used in coping with the impairment, provide further evidence indicating that kana and kanji processings represent distinctively different modes of operations of linguistic behavior.