Experimental Syntax
Applying Objective Methods to Sentence Judgments
- Wayne Cowart - University of Southern Maine, USA
March 1997 | 200 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
This book provides a concise yet thorough introduction to methods that linguists can use to study patterns of sentence acceptability in speech.
Experimental Syntax shows how to design, execute and analyze an appropriate survey experiment for a well-formed question about a matter of fact relative to sentence acceptability. The book also examines variability and demonstrates a method by which an investigator can make principled decisions as to whether two or more informants who use atypical dialects are using the same atypical dialect.
Introduction
Error Variance in Sentence Judgements
Designing Experiments on Acceptability
The Sentence Judgement Task
Presenting Sentence Materials to Informants
Response Methods and Scaling Issues
Sampling
Settings for Experiments
The Organization and Construction of Questionnaires
Coding and Decoding the Data
Summarizing the Data
Statistical Issues