John:
> > To respond to your point, you would be quite correct if I were
> > probing a population who don't know the word "ox". But I was
> > probing a population who do know the word "ox", but it is
> > sufficiently rare in their experience that they haven't learnt
> > the irregular plural.
>
> I was merely wondering how you know that for sure. Elicitation will
> produce the same result in either case.
Fair point. I don't remember ever checking to make sure. I guess I
went by the absence of bemused looks in the class, though after
all the essays I've marked in recent weeks I feel I set too much
store by the absence of bemused looks.
--And.