ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

Contextual explanation · NAV-G05-011

Linguistic intuition

This explanation addresses the term in its originating context. It is not an additional canonical Atlas profile.

Explanation

Linguistic intuition concerns immediate judgements about linguistic forms and their appropriateness. Such judgements may draw on extensive experience without the speaker being able to explain all the relevant regularities. In the context of tacit knowledge, familiarity, grammatical judgement and social evaluation must nevertheless be distinguished. An unusual sentence can be intelligible and grammatical; a familiar expression can be inappropriate outside its register. Intuition is therefore a possible source of evidence, not an infallible standard for every variety. Presenting comparison sentences jointly or separately, and the design of the response scale, can affect the results of a judgement task.

Movement of thought

1. Record the judgement setting. 2. Separate familiarity from structure. 3. Consider register. 4. Compare several judgements. 5. Look for explicable patterns.

Example

A speaker notices that a phrase sounds stiff in a letter but initially cannot state a rule explaining why.

Counter-test

“That sounds unfamiliar to me” does not disprove the systematic nature of another variety.

Scientific use case

Acceptability studies can elicit intuitive judgements under controlled conditions.

Effect

Linguistic intuition provides access to experiential knowledge and its limits.

Resonance

Sometimes a rule can be heard before it can be stated.

Distinction

Distinguish intuition from normative authority, familiarity alone and explicit grammatical explanation.

Sources