idealization (n.)

A term used in LINGUISTICS to refer to the degree to which linguists ignore certain aspects of the variability in their raw DATA, in order to arrive at an analysis that is as GENERALLY applicable as possible. Idealization is a major assumption of GENERATIVE linguistics, as it underlies the notion of COMPETENCE. A main aim of linguistics, in this view, is to account for the LANGUAGE of an ideal (or idealized) speaker-hearer in an ideal (i.e. homogeneous) SPEECH community, who knows the language perfectly, and is unaffected by memory limitations, distractions, errors, etc., in actually using the language.

While some degree of idealization is inevitable, if general statements are to be made, the decision as to what can be discounted in carrying out an analysis is often controversial.