Two Cases of Deep Dyslexia in Unilingual Hispanophone Aphasics

Abstract

This paper addresses the interaction between a particular cognitive property inherent to the human brain, i.e., the capacity to learn how to process written information in a manner such that reading words aloud can become a standard aspect of overt behavior, and some of the culture-linked characteristics of the written codes invented by the species. First, the paper reiterates that the Spanish written code is transparent to the point of entailing full graphophonemic conversion, i.e., reading behavior is possible without access to one′s memory of written words (to one′s "logographic lexicon"). The Ardila claim (Ardila, 1991; Ardila, Rosselli, & Pinzon, 1989) that certain clinical forms of acquired reading disorders which have been reported to occur among various cultural subgroups do not occur among unilingual readers of Spanish is then summarized. This is followed by two brief case reports of acquired aphasia in native speakers and fluent readers of Spanish; prototypical "deep dyslexia" was documented to exist in both cases (Ruiz & Ansaldo, 1990). The Ardila claim is thereafter assessed by reference to the notions of surface, phonological, and deep dyslexia; parameters such as educational background are taken into account in this discussion.