Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The influence of visual word form in reading: single case study of an Arabic patient with deep dyslexia

  • Published:
Reading and Writing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Deep dyslexia is a written language disorder characterized by poor reading of non-words, and advantage for concrete over abstract words with production of semantic, visual and morphological errors. In this single case study of an Arabic patient with input deep dyslexia, we investigated the impact of graphic features of Arabic on manifestations of reading impairments through experimental tasks. Semitic languages like Arabic have particular graphic features allowing the assessment of the influence of global word form on manifestations of deep dyslexia. Our results suggest that reading Arabic relies on the global visual word form when the phonological route no longer functions, as in deep dyslexia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ardila, A. (1991). Errors resembling semantic paralexias in Spanish-speaking aphasics. Brain and Language, 41, 437–445. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(91)90165-W.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azzam, R. (1989). Orthography and reading of the Arabic language. In Reading and writing disorders in different orthographic systems (pp. 203–218). Springer, Netherlands. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-1041-6_12.

  • Azzam, R. (1993). The nature of Arabic reading and spelling errors of young children. Reading and Writing, 5(4), 355–385. doi:10.1007/BF01043112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaton, A. A., & Davies, N. W. (2007). Semantic errors in deep dyslexia: Does orthographic depth matter? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 24(3), 312–323. doi:10.1080/02643290701251957.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Béland, R., & Mimouni, Z. (2001). Deep dyslexia in the two languages of an Arabic/French bilingual patient. Cognition, 82(2), 77–126. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(01)00148-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentin, S., & Ibrahim, R. (1996). New evidence of phonological processing during visual word recognition: The case of Arabic. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(2), 309–323. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.22.2.309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boudelaa, S., & Marslen-Wilson, R. W. (2005). Discontinuous morphology in time: Incremental masked priming in Arabic. Language and Cognitive Processes, 20(1–2), 207–260. doi:10.1080/01690960444000106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boumaraf, A. (2010). Les troubles du langage observés au niveau de l`écrit chez les aphasiques arabophones. Revue Al-lisa:niyya:t, 14–15, 97–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boumaraf, A., Badaoui, F., Droua-Hamdani, G., & Djatit, F.-Z. (2013). Le rôle du schème et de la forme globale dans la reconnaissance des mots écrits en Arabe. Colloque international sur le lexique mental. 18–19 December 2013. Algiers, Algeria.

  • Buchanan, L., & Besner, D. (1993). Reading aloud: Evidence for the use of a whole word non semantic pathway. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47(2), 133–152. doi:10.1037/h0078816.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coltheart, M., Rastle, K., Perry, C., Langdon, R., & Ziegler, J. (2001). DRC: A Dual Route Cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Psychological Review, 108, 204–256. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.108.1.204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Partz, M. P. (1986). Re-education of a deep dyslexic patient: Rationale of the method and results. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 3(2), 149–177. doi:10.1080/02643298608252674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado, A. P. (1998). Implications de l’étude d’un cas de dyslexie profonde chez un sujet lusophone. M.A. dissertation thesis, Montreal University, Montreal.

  • Deloche, G., & Hannequin, D. (1997). Test de dénomination orale d’images: DO 80. Paris: Éditions du Centre de psychologie appliquée.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickerson, J., & Johnson, H. (2004). Sub-types of deep dyslexia: A case study of central deep dyslexia. Neurocase, 10(1), 39–47. doi:10.1080/13554790490960477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Alaoui-Faris, M., Benbelaid, F., Alaoui, C. H., Tahiri, L., Jiddane, M., Amarti, A., & Chkili, T. (1994). Alexie sans agraphie en langue arabe: étude neurolinguistique et IRM. Revue Neurologique, 150(11), 771–775.

    Google Scholar 

  • Essahli, N., Taiebine, M., Alamouri, F., Ettahiri, L., & El Alaoui-Faris, M. (2012). Alexie phonologique en langue arabe. Revue neurologique, 168, A23. doi:10.1016/j.neurol.2012.01.054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferreres, A. R., & Miravalles, G. (1995). The production of semantic paralexias in a Spanish-speaking aphasic. Brain and Language, 49(2), 153–172. doi:10.1006/brln.1995.1026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster, K. I., & Chambers, S. M. (1973). Lexical access and naming time. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12(6), 627–635. doi:10.1016/S0022-5371(73)80042-8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, R. B. (2002). Clinical diagnosis and treatment of reading disorders. In A. E. Hillis (Ed.), The Handbook of Adult Language Disorders (pp. 27–43). New York: Psychology Press.

  • Frost, R., Forster, K., & Deutsch, A. (1997). What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew ? A masked priming investigation of morphological representation, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 23(4), 829–856. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.23.4.829.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J., Dichy, J., El-Halfaoui, M., & Bamhamed, M. (2003). Approche expérimentale de la reconnaissance du mot écrit en arabe. Faits de Langues, 22, 77–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grainger, J., & Ferrand, L. (1994). Phonology and orthography in visual word recognition: Effects of masked homophone primes. Journal of Memory and Language, 33(2), 218–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanna, S. A., & Greis, N. (1972). Written Arabic. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillis, A. E., & Caramazza, A. (1991). Mechanisms for accessing lexical representations for output: Evidence from a category-specific semantic deficit. Brain and Language, 40, 106–144. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(91)90119-L.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard, D. (1987). Reading without letters? In M. Coltheart, S. Sartori & R. Job (Eds.), The cognitive neuropsychology of language (pp. 27–58). London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

  • Khamis-Dakwar, R., & Froud, K. (2012). Aphasia, language, and culture: Arabs in the US. Aspects of Multilingual Aphasia, 8, 275–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, J. C., & Newcombe, F. (1973). Patterns of paralexia: A psycholinguistic approach. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 2(3), 175–199. doi:10.1007/BF01067101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miceli, G., Capasso, R., & Caramazza, A. (1994). The interaction of lexical and sublexical processes in reading, writing and repetition. Neuropsychologia, 32(3), 317–333. doi:10.1016/0028-3932(94)90134-1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newton, P. K., & Barry, C. (1997). Concreteness effects in word production but not word comprehension in deep dyslexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 14(4), 481–509. doi:10.1080/026432997381457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, K. E. (1979). What is right with “deep” dyslexic patients? Brain and Language, 8, 111–129. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(79)90044-0.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, K. E., & Marcel, A. J. (1977). Aphasia, dyslexia and the phonological coding of written words. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 29(2), 307–318. doi:10.1080/14640747708400606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plaut, D. C., & Shallice, T. (1993). Deep dyslexia: A case study of connectionist neuropsychology. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 10(5), 377–500. doi:10.1080/02643299308253469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ripamonti, E., Aggujaro, S., Molteni, F., Zonca, G., Frustaci, M., & Luzzatti, C. (2014). The anatomical foundations of acquired reading disorders: A neuropsychological verification of the dual-route model of reading. Brain and Language, 134, 44–67. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2014.04.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, A., Ansaldo, A. I., & Lecours, A. R. (1994). Two cases of deep dyslexia in unilingual hispanophone aphasics. Brain and Language, 46(2), 245–256. doi:10.1006/brln.1994.1015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russak, S., & Fragman, A. (2014). The development of grapho-phonemic representations among native Hebrew speakers learning Arabic as a foreign language. In E. Saiegh-Haddad & R. M. Joshi (Eds.), Handbook of Arabic literacy (pp. 381–393). Springer: Netherlands.‏

  • Saffran, E. M., & Marin, O. S. (1977). Reading without phonology: Evidence from aphasia. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 29(3), 515–525. doi:10.1080/14640747708400627.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M. F., Saffran, E. M., & Marin, O. S. (1980). The word order problem in agrammatism: I. Comprehension. Brain and Language, 10(2), 249–262. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(80)90055-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shallice, T., & Cooper, R. P. (2013). Is there a semantic system for abstract words? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 245–256. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shallice, T., & Coughlan, A. K. (1980). Modality specific word comprehension deficits in deep dyslexia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 43, 866–872. doi:10.1136/jnnp.43.10.866.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shallice, T., & Warrington, E. (1980). Single and multiple component central dyslexic syndromes. In M. Coltheart, K. E. Patterson, & J. C. Marshall (Eds.), Deep dyslexia (pp. 119–145). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tainturier, M. J., Roberts, J., & Leek, E. C. (2011). Do reading processes differ in transparent versus opaque orthographies? A study of acquired dyslexia in Welsh/English bilinguals. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 28(8), 546–563. doi:10.1080/02643294.2012.6989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank HY and her family for participating in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherche Scientifique et Technique pour le Développement de la Langue Arabe, Algiers, Algeria

    Assia Boumaraf

  2. Centre de recherche, Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec, Quebec, QC, Canada

    Assia Boumaraf & Joël Macoir

  3. Département de réadaptation, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Pavillon Ferdinand-Vandry, Quebec, QC, G1K 7P4, Canada

    Joël Macoir

Authors
  1. Assia Boumaraf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joël Macoir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joël Macoir.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Boumaraf, A., Macoir, J. The influence of visual word form in reading: single case study of an Arabic patient with deep dyslexia. Read Writ 29, 137–158 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-015-9583-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-015-9583-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation