counter-intuitive (adj.)

A term used to characterize an implausible analysis, according to the INTUITION of the NATIVE-SPEAKER or the LINGUIST. For example, an analysis which derives STATEMENTS from QUESTIONS is felt to be less natural than one which derives questions from statements, and these feelings can be to some degree supported experimentally (e.g. by showing differences in reaction times). Obtaining intuitive reactions from native-speakers in a systematic, verifiable way is not easy, however, and is not often done; and the dangers of circularity are evident, especially when native-speaker and linguist are the same person (as is usually the case in much of the work done in theoretical linguistics): it is very easy to allow one’s intuitions as a native-speaker to be swayed by the purpose of one’s analysis as a linguist. The problems inherent in the counter-intuitiveness criterion have been satirically summarized in one definition (by the British linguist Angus MacIntosh (1914–2005)): ‘going against everything that suits my theory or purpose, and don’t ask me to explain why!’