I have a very industry-deep question for anyone who is a formal/professional lexicographer, who analyzes writings samples in order to create corpus citations for dictionaries.
As part of a discussion in trying to explain the lack of political nature to the craft of dictionaries to my super-political younger brother, I tried to explain that lexicographers draw from all kinds of source material samplings to gauge usage trends, regardless of political lean, and are studying usage in a way that isn’t itself political nor even could potentially be political.
However, he proposes that all matters of science can be found to be political-leaning, even if accidentally.
He asks: How can those who decide which samples of writing to analyze, ensure they are not drawing more heavily from one political lean vs another? Is there an algorithm or rule/pattern to isolate which particular variety of samples to analyze? Or, is there a committee which decides or assigns which samples and from which places samples may be drawn? Is the individual analyst tasked with evaluating political lean/slant, in order to draw from them equally?
To me, observing pronunciation, inflection, intent, etc are all apolitical observations, kinda like how the periodic table of elements are not political. It’s not a political leaning for water to have more hydrogen than oxygen, for example.
He suggests that if you’re not observing political lean, then you could have drawn from politically-leaning samples inadvertently, or could have accidentally assigned your analysts to draw from one leanings’ writings, which skew results just by happenstance rather than by motive. He is curious how that (even if) accidental skew could be ensured doesn’t exist in order to credibly state that ‘most people used words in this way’?
Imagine if you were to make a corpus of elements used in sculpture. If you sampled sculpture atoms to discover the sculpture’s chemical makeup, but most of the artists who made them were say, against the use of yellow, then far fewer of your samples would contain elements which presented in yellow forms. In order to ensure your samples are more neutral, then you would need to ensure you sampled from artists with differing motives, would you not?
the ablestmage press 