Word-building patterns in human languages follow a mathematical trade-off between the speaker's effort and the listener's understanding.

Language evolution settles on rational efficiency models that can be predicted with math. People often assume that the way words are formed is an arbitrary result of culture or history. This research proves that compounds and affixes are structured to minimize the cost of speaking while maximizing clarity. These patterns emerge naturally as a way to solve the communication problem between two brains. It implies that if we discovered an alien language, it would likely follow the same efficiency logic as our own.