"Now, I don't know what is happening to determine that, but perhaps I'm comparing it to some statistical probabilistic model I have in my head?"
I had a non-native Japanese teacher once who, when asked a question on proper Japanese usage, would often stop for a second, clearly playing the sentence or phrase over again in his head, and way "no, they don't really say that" or "yes, they do say it that way."
Clearly, he was using his extensive experience listening to Japanese over many years to determine grammaticality, so at least a statistical model, if not conclusively a probabilistic one.
I had a non-native Japanese teacher once who, when asked a question on proper Japanese usage, would often stop for a second, clearly playing the sentence or phrase over again in his head, and way "no, they don't really say that" or "yes, they do say it that way."
Clearly, he was using his extensive experience listening to Japanese over many years to determine grammaticality, so at least a statistical model, if not conclusively a probabilistic one.