Affiliations: Department of Neurology, Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil | Speech Pathology School, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil | Laboratoire Théophile-Alajouanine, Centre de recherche, Centre hospitalier Côte-des-Neiges, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Note: [] Correspondence to: P. Caramelli, Rua Itapeva, 518—Suites 601/602, CEP 01332-000, São Paulo (SP), Brazil
Abstract: There is an increased interest in reading impairments in the Japanese language, due to its particular writing system which includes two different scripts, Kanji (logograms) and Kana (phonograms). Reading dissociations between Kanji and Kana have been described, showing that each system is processed differently by the cerebral hemispheres. We describe the case of a 68 year old Brazilian “nisei” (i.e. born from Japanese parents) who had knowledge of both Japanese and Portuguese. He presented an ischemic stroke affecting the right hemisphere and subsequently developed a Broca's aphasia and an unexpected reading dissociation, with an impairment in Kana reading comprehension and a good performance in Kanji and in Portuguese. These findings suggest that the patient's right and left hemispheres have assumed opposite roles not only for oral but also for written language decodification.
