judgmentswhich

Judgmentswhich is a term used in some linguistic and philosophy of language discussions to refer to a class of judgments that center on the question of which option, referent, or interpretation applies in a given context. The term is a neologism and is not widely established in standard reference works. It blends the idea of judgments with the determiner or pronoun which, highlighting a focus on alternatives and selection in evaluative judgments.

In linguistic usage, judgmentswhich may be invoked when analyzing judgments about the acceptability, grammaticality, or interpretation of sentences containing which- relative clauses, which- phrases, or which as a determiner. The concept helps distinguish judgments about form from judgments about preferred meaning or discourse reference, and can be used to compare how different languages or dialects handle ambiguity and scope in which-clauses.

In philosophy of language, the term has been used to discuss meta-judgments about which referent or which interpretation a sentence commits to in a given context. This can involve questions of reference, indeterminacy, and the role of context in shaping what is being judged as correct or acceptable.

Typical examples involve sentences like which book that Mary read did John say that he bought, or which of these options is most plausible. Research on judgmentswhich often notes that responses can vary with context, background knowledge, and elicitation method, raising concerns about reliability and cross-linguistic comparability.

Etymology: a coinage from judgments and which, intended to draw attention to the comparative, choice-driven aspect of certain evaluative judgments. See also: which-clause, relative clause, judgment, linguistic acceptability, semantic interpretation.