Neural strategies for reading Japanese and Chinese sentences: A cross-linguistic fMRI study of character-decoding and morphosyntax

► Modern Japanese and Chinese utilize identical character in different function. ► fMRI on Japanese Chinese bi-literate provides hitherto unobtainable data. ► Left ventral premotor area decodes complex syllabograms. ► Lateral parietal occipital lobes represent the “Chinese language area”. ► Anterior temporal lobe is essential for languages with analytic morphosyntax.