AUTHOR=Sakurai Yasuhisa , Uchiyama Yumiko , Takeda Akitoshi , Terao Yasuo 

TITLE=On-Reading (Chinese-Style Pronunciation) Predominance Over Kun-Reading (Native Japanese Pronunciation) in Japanese Semantic Dementia

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.700181

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2021.700181

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=<p>Japanese kanji (morphograms) have two ways of reading: <italic>on</italic>-reading (Chinese-style pronunciation) and <italic>kun</italic>-reading (native Japanese pronunciation). It is known that some Japanese patients with semantic dementia read kanji with <italic>on</italic>-reading but not with <italic>kun</italic>-reading. To characterize further reading impairments of patients with semantic dementia, we analyzed data from a total of 9 patients who underwent reading and writing tests of kanji and kana (Japanese phonetic writing) and <italic>on</italic>-<italic>kun</italic> reading tests containing two-character kanji words with <italic>on</italic>-<italic>on</italic> reading, <italic>kun</italic>-<italic>kun</italic> reading, and specific (so-called Jukujikun or irregular <italic>kun</italic>) reading. The results showed that <italic>on</italic>-reading preceding (pronouncing first with <italic>on</italic>-reading) and <italic>kun</italic>-reading deletion (inability to recall <italic>kun</italic>-reading) were observed in nearly all patients. In the <italic>on</italic>-<italic>kun</italic> reading test, <italic>on</italic>-reading (57.6% correct), <italic>kun</italic>-reading (46.6% correct), and specific-reading (30.0% correct) were more preserved in this decreasing order (phonology-to-semantics gradient), although <italic>on</italic>-reading and <italic>kun</italic>-reading did not significantly differ in performance, according to a more rigorous analysis after adjusting for word frequency (and familiarity). Furthermore, <italic>on</italic>-substitution (changing to <italic>on</italic>-reading) errors in <italic>kun</italic>-reading words (27.0%) were more frequent than <italic>kun</italic>-substitution (changing to <italic>kun</italic>-reading) errors in <italic>on</italic>-reading words (4.0%). These results suggest that <italic>kun</italic>-reading is more predominantly disturbed than <italic>on</italic>-reading, probably because <italic>kun</italic>-reading and specific-reading are closely associated with the meaning of words.</p>