« Brain and Language Question 3 | Main | Kana vs. Kanji »
September 25, 2005
Sounds v. Pictures
Number Three:
In Japanese, there are several writing systems. Kana is phonetic (like English – the spelling corresponds to sounds, more or less) and Kanji is symbolic (like Chinese – words are represented as pictures) Reading which language would be more affected by left brain damage (and back it up with reasons) and reading which language would be more affected by right brain damage?
Reading Kana would be more affected by left hemisphere damage because it is based on sounds and syllables (like English). The left hemisphere is where language is laterilized. Those with damage to loss of the left side cannot speak (according to Broca). On the other hand, reading Kanji would be effected by right hemisphere because generally the right side of the brain deals with "mathematics, logic, facial recognition, and drawing." If the right side of the brain is damaged, a patient might not be able to use logic and peice the words together to form coherent sentences.
Posted by lcisyeich at September 25, 2005 08:09 PM