代表属性: 发音人的选择和语料有效性 [Parameters of representativeness: Subject selection and data integrity

Abstract

As an empirical study, linguistic investigations rely heavily on the selection of suitable subject speakers as representatives of a language community, which in turn underline the necessity of determining representativeness. Through explicit description of the parameters that define a target population, this paper argues that (i) representativeness can be most straightforwardly captured using the same parametric description; and (ii) the degree of representativeness of the subject increases with the degree of satisfaction of the parameters. On this footing, this paper exemplifies the fundamental quality of the parameters of representativeness across different linguistic research topics, purposes and even methodologies. Evidently, the clarification on what counts as representative through the use of parametric description is a founding stone to ensuring reliability of language data in the establishment of any linguistic theorizing.