Requirements for the representativeness of a corpus and their implementation in the National Corpus of the Kazakh Language

Abstract

The article examines a key issue in corpus linguistics — the representativeness of a linguistic corpus — from theoretical and practical perspectives. The study clarifies the scientific meaning of representativeness, systematizes its main requirements, and analyzes their implementation in the National Corpus of the Kazakh Language. A linguistic corpus is defined as a collection of electronic texts organized for specific purposes, enriched with metadata and linguistic annotations, and serving as a source reflecting the dynamic, actual use of the language. Representativeness is considered a core qualitative parameter ensuring the scientific value of
the corpus, the accurate depiction of the linguistic system, and the reliability of research outcomes. The research applied analytical, descriptive, and comparative methods. Based on a review of corpus linguistics scholarship, eight primary requirements for corpus representativeness were identified: diversity of styles and genres, stylistic and register balance, regional coverage, diachrony, social stratification, sufficient text volume, metadata and documentation, and textual accuracy. The study shows that the National Corpus of the Kazakh Language is structured to cover the language’s functional layers. Through the main corpus and specialized subcorpora, literary, journalistic, scientific, official-business, oral, historical, poetic, and terminological texts are systematized. However, some issues were identified, including incomplete register balance, inconsistent social metadata, and underdeveloped diachronic and regional layers. Representativeness is thus not merely a formal feature but a principal criterion defining a corpus’s scientific validity, practical relevance, and capacity to reflect real language use. A representative corpus provides a reliable empirical basis for linguistic research, lexicography, education, and evidence-based language policy. The article notes that while
the National Corpus is a relatively well-organized digital resource in terms of genre and style, it requires more contemporary communication texts, including social media, chat language, youth language, and materials from emerging scientific fields. Expanding corpus size alongside qualitative balance, deepening metadata, and extending stratification parameters will allow the creation of a high-level scientific corpus offering a comprehensive empirical representation of Kazakh. These conclusions strengthen the theoretical foundations of corpus linguistics and refine the methodological principles for national corpus development.