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Per research collected by Northern Illinois University, lifelong bilingualism can deter the effects of natural aging. (source)

I read this in a blog and was confused by the usage of "per" in this sentence. I looked it up in the dictionary and only found that "as per" means "in accordance with". I think the author here is trying to use "per" to mean "according to", but is that correct? I've never seen anything like this before.

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I agree with your analysis. This should be "As per..." Using "per" as in that article is not in accordance with established use. Using "per" or "as per" seems unnecessary in that context, but I think the author was trying to avoid repeating "According to" from the previous sentence.

However, it is quite clear what the author means. He means "According to".

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    I see "per ..." used as short for "as per" all the time. I myself also use it fairly frequently.
    – Eddie Kal
    Commented Jan 7, 2021 at 0:55
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    Yeah, I think "as per" would sound odd used instead of "per" - it's very rarely used to start a sentence. Of course you could use "according to", "following from", "looking at", etc, but "per" has a slightly different implication, that what is being said comes entirely and only from the named source, rather than using the source as support; it also doesn't necessarily indicate that the speaker believes the source. "By" is another, maybe more old-fashioned alternative.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Aug 22, 2023 at 13:35
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That usage of per means "according to", in its sense of attributing an assertion of fact to a source.

He is being investigated for taking bribes, per CNN.

But per is terse, almost like an abbreviation, and in this sense of attributing an assertion to a source it tends to be confined to attribution tags at the end of a sentence, parenthetical remarks, and footnotes. To introduce a sentence with it is unlikely for stylistic reasons.

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