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Cross-Linguistic Suffix Preference: Typological or Cognitive Bias?
Mikhail Ordin1,2, Dina Abdel Salam El-Dakhs3, Leona Polyanskaya3,4
1Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|May 29, 2026
Summary
Researchers investigated a suffixing bias in language, finding no evidence of a domain-general cognitive bias in Arabic speakers. Native language properties, not universal cognition, may explain why languages favor suffixes over prefixes.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- The origin of suffixing bias, where languages prefer suffixes over prefixes for grammatical meaning, remains unknown.
- A leading hypothesis proposes a cognitive bias favoring suffix-like structures (variable ending after a fixed part).
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the hypothesis of a domain-general cognitive bias for suffixing.
- To determine if such a bias is universal or language-specific.
Main Methods:
- An artificial language learning experiment was conducted with native Arabic speakers.
- Arabic's vowel-template system minimizes native language typological influence on suffix/prefix processing.
Main Results:
- No evidence of a cognitive bias favoring suffix-like structures was found in Arabic speakers.
- Earlier observed cognitive biases may be influenced by participants' native language typology.
Conclusions:
- A domain-general cognitive bias is unlikely to be the primary driver of suffixing bias in world languages.
- The typological properties of a speaker's native language likely play a significant role in observed cognitive biases.
- Further empirical research is needed to explore alternative origins of typological bias.
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