Experiments in syntax and philosophy: the method of choice?

TY - CHAP

T1 - Experiments in syntax and philosophy

T2 - the method of choice?

AU - Schindler, Samuel

AU - Brøcker, Karen Kiil

PY - 2020/1/1

Y1 - 2020/1/1

N2 - Within Chomskyan syntax, linguistic intuitions have traditionally been gathered informally from small samples of linguists. Since the mid-1990s, however, several linguists have called for more “scientific” methods, including the use of larger sample sizes of ordinary speakers and the use of statistics. The first part of this chapter discusses whether such an “experimental approach” to obtaining syntactical intuitions is really methodologically superior to the informal approach, as is sometimes claimed. The answer is thought to be: not always. In the second part our attention turns to another academic field in which intuitions arguably play an evidential role, namely philosophy. Here, too, critics have demanded that intuitions be harvested more systematically; they have even appealed to experimental syntax in order to support their cause. However, given our assessment, experimental methods in syntax can be a model for the promotion of experimental methods in philosophy only under certain conditions.

AB - Within Chomskyan syntax, linguistic intuitions have traditionally been gathered informally from small samples of linguists. Since the mid-1990s, however, several linguists have called for more “scientific” methods, including the use of larger sample sizes of ordinary speakers and the use of statistics. The first part of this chapter discusses whether such an “experimental approach” to obtaining syntactical intuitions is really methodologically superior to the informal approach, as is sometimes claimed. The answer is thought to be: not always. In the second part our attention turns to another academic field in which intuitions arguably play an evidential role, namely philosophy. Here, too, critics have demanded that intuitions be harvested more systematically; they have even appealed to experimental syntax in order to support their cause. However, given our assessment, experimental methods in syntax can be a model for the promotion of experimental methods in philosophy only under certain conditions.

KW - aceptability judgment

KW - experimental philosophy

KW - experimental syntax

KW - grammaticality judgment

KW - intuition

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136881905&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9780198840558

SP - 255

EP - 273

BT - Linguistic intuitions

A2 - Schindler, Samuel

A2 - Drożdżowicz, Anna

A2 - Brøcker, Karen

PB - Oxford University Press

CY - Oxford

ER -