Introduction

Consider three scenarios. First, a distinguished psycholinguist discussing “language mavens” invites his readers to imagine themselves watching a nature documentary:

Viewers would be incredulous at such reports, the psycholinguist predicts: “What on earth could it mean for the song of the humpback whale to contain an ‘error’? Isn't the song of the humpback whale whatever the humpback whale decides to sing?” The psycholinguist contrasts the predicted rejection of judgments about animal behavior with the ready acceptance of similar judgments about human language: “For human language, most people think that the same pronouncements not only are meaningful but are cause for alarm.” He says, “To a linguist or psycholinguist … language is like the song of the humpback whale. The way to determine whether a construction is ‘grammatical’ is to find people who speak the language and ask them.”