Deep dyslexia for kanji and phonological dyslexia for kana: Different manifestations from a common source

A Japanese-speaking stroke patient with disrupted phonology but relatively good semantics was severely impaired in nonword reading, with better preserved and imageability word-reading in both kanji and kana. This basic similarity in the two Japanese scripts was accompanied by the following differences: (i) distinct error patterns (prominent semantic errors for kanji vs phonological errors for kana) (ii) a more pronounced imageability effect for kanji; and (iii) a remarkable pseudohomophone advantage for kana. The combination of deep dyslexia for kanji and phonological dyslexia for kana in a single patient suggests that these are not two distinct reading disorders.