These fundamental differences between a root-based language like Arabic and a language with complex syntax like German lead to different connections between different parts of the brain. So, a native speaker of Arabic has to infer the specific word meaning and pronunciation from the context.Ī native German speaker, on the other hand, has to focus on sentence structure, as the language has a flexible word order and some verbs can be split, with elements of the verb being positioned separately within the sentence, which involves other parts of the brain.
In Arabic, it's very common to have words based on triliteral roots with only slight differences leading to different meanings, e.g. A new study involving native speakers of Arabic and native speakers of German shows that the areas of the brain where a language is processed, as well as the connections between these areas, vary according to the respective native language.