Approaching Gradience in Acceptability with the Tools of Signal Detection Theory

This chapter outlines a framework for using signal detection theory (SDT) to guide the design and analysis of acceptability judgment studies in experimental linguistics. It presents a worked example experiment on the syntactic phenomenon of D-linking (discourse linking) and wh-movement. It shows how to derive common SDT measures (like d_sub_a and s), how to do inferential statistics over those measures, and how to find additional theoretical and practical resources.