My last post, Corpus linguistics: Empiricism and frequency, prompted a Twitter exchange between Carissa Hessick and me, a lightly edited version of which I present here.
Hessick:
One question based on my quick read: Do you think most people would understand “relying on linguistic intuition” to be an empirical undertaking? I appreciate the insight into how people’s linguistic intuitions are formed. But don’t most people think that, if something is an empirical question, that means there is a demonstrably correct answer?
And if we often have different intuitions about what a word means (as the split decisions on ordinary meaning illustrate), and if judges resolve the Q of ordinary meaning by consulting their own intuitions, then how can ordinary meaning be an empirical Q? If I have one intuition and you have another, then how to we demonstrate which is correct and which is incorrect?
Me: Continue reading