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[taylor j]

For those of you who elicit grammaticality judgements
from speakers of non-standard varieties, what measures
do you take to encourage valid answers? In my so far
limited experience, linguistic insecurity and
preconceptions about what the researcher is 'looking
for' interfere with intuitions to the point of
contradiction.

For example, when presented with the following two
sentences (mixed in with others, of course, and
introduced with "Tell me if each sentence sonds okay
or not"), one person judged them both ungrammatical:

Lucy handed Mary the comb
Lucy handed the comb to Mary

Is this problem common, and how do you deal with it?
What do you do when they insist they 'don't know', or
start recalling high school English lessons to help
them decide?

Thanks in advance,
Joanna Taylor


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