Evidence for a Language Learning Strategy: On the Relative Ease of Acquisition of Prefixes and Suffixes

KUCZAJ, STAN A., II. Evidence for a Language Learning Strategy: On the Relative Ease of Acquisition of Prefixes and Suffixes. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 1-13. 4 experiments tested Slobin's hypothesis that children are predisposed to learn suffixes rather than prefixes. In general, the results support the hypothesis and demonstrate that this learning bias for suffixes may affect the initial processing of information about affixes and/or the postinitial processing of such information. However, the results of experiment 1 demonstrate that previous experience may alter learning biases to some extent. The findings obtained from the 4 experiments are discussed in terms both of the importance of language learning strategies in the language acquisition process and of the influence of experience on the child's utilization of such strategies.