Language Planning and Economics
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Language Planning and Economics François Grin 1 University of Geneva and Education Research Unit, Geneva, Switzerland Thispaper proposes a comprehensiveoverview of the‘ economicsof language’. This fieldof research,which isgrounded in thediscipline of economics,displays a strong interdisciplinaryorientation, which placesit on thefringes of mainstreameconomics. Itstudies the ways in which linguisticand economicprocesses influence one another.It isalso well placed to contributeto theevaluation of public policiesregarding language, becauseit offers analytical tools for the systematic identification and measurementof theadvantages and drawbacksof policy alternatives.I begin by discussingthe reasons why aneconomicperspective on languageis scientifically and politicallyrelevant; I thenreview some of theattendant epistemological and methodologicalissues, before moving on to anoverviewof themain lines of researchin languageeconomics. A full sectionof thispaper is devoted to theeconomic approach to languagepolicy, and anotherfocuses on anapplication to educationpolicy, detailing the economics of secondor foreignlanguage education. The paperaims at making thekey economic toolsaccessible to readersfrom varied academic backgrounds; italso emphasises the needto combine disciplinesto develop aninclusive methodology forthe selection, design, and implementation of language policies. Keywords: Language economics,language policy,policy analysis,diversity, rates of return on language skills, costs of language policy Introduction Becauselanguage issuesare present in every aspectof human experience, they areof interestnot only tolanguage specialists,but topractitioners of allsocial sciences.This wide relevance oflanguage issuesas objects of study is evidenced by the attentionthey havereceived, firstand foremost, on the partof sociologists. This hascontributed to the emergence of ‘sociolinguistics’as a full-fledged field of specialisationwhich researchers may access not only throughlinguistics, but also throughsociology. To a lesserdegree, the disciplines ofanthropologyand political science havealso been takingan increasing interest in language matters. Overthe past35 years,however, economics has also been used toinvestigatea varietyof language problems.The ‘economicsof language’, or‘ language economics’, asa field of researchplays a marginalrole in academia,but an increasingly importantone in practice.The goalof thisessay is to takestock of the contributionsof language economicsand to assesstheir relevance, withparticu- lar emphasis on applications to language planning. The paper isorganised as follows: The secondsection, ‘ The Need foran EconomicPerspective onLanguage Issues’, discussesthe reasonsfor developing aneconomicperspective onlanguage issues.The thirdsection, ‘ Language:Too Much Alive forthe DismalScience?’ , addressesepistemological and method- ologicalproblems raisedby the applicationof economicsto language. The fourth section,‘ The Economicsof Language:History and Main Strands of Research’ , 1466-4208/03/01 0001-66 $20.00/0 ©2003 F. Grin CURRENT ISSUES IN LANGUAGE PLANNING Vol. 4, No. 1, 2003 1 Language Planning and Economics 2 Current Issues in Language Planning containsa brief historicalaccount of the development oflanguage economics, followedby areview ofthe literaturearranged in five thematicareas. The fifth section,‘ The Economicsof Language Policy’, focuseson the economicsof language policy,examining in particularthe reasonsfor state intervention, the ‘value’of language, optimaldiversity, and principles ofpolicy evaluation.The sixthsection, ‘ AnApplication:Language EducationPolicy’ , examinesat closer range the applicationof economic analysis to language educationpolicies. The concluding section is devoted to a brief critical assessment. The Need for an Economic Perspective on Language Issues The rise in subjective diversity While the field oflanguage economicsis epistemologically anchored in the discipline ofeconomics,it remains relegated tothe outerfringes ofthe latter.If a field ofspecialisationmay be saidto have a centre ofgravity,it couldin thiscase be locatedsomewhere in avirtualterritory bordered notonly byeconomics,but alsoby policy analysis,the sociologyof language, sociolinguistics,and the educationsciences. This relative marginalisation, however, is mitigated by the factthat the need foran economicperspective onlanguage mattersappears to be onthe rise.Various global trends in the areasof language, ethnicity andculture aregiving increasingrelevance tothe examinationof specific problems where the economics of language can help. Four such trends should be mentioned: · First,the geopoliticalrecomposition of Eastern Europe andthe Common- wealthof Independent States(CIS) 2 following the fall ofthe Berlin Wallon 9 November 1989has made room for the reassertionof awide range oflocal andregional identities which hadbeen suppressed fordecades. To the extent thatthese identitiesare associated with certain languages, the latter aremoregenerally visible nowthan they were in the 1960s,when the first papers in language economics started to appear. · Second, the end ofthe 20thcentury andthe beginning ofthe 21stcentury arewitnessing migration flows of unprecedented magnitude anddiver- sity;the pairsof countriesdefined by amigrant’s countryof originand countryof destinationare more varied than ever before. Populationmove- ment,far from being strictlyassociated with economic hardship or political oppression,increasingly concernshighly trainedprofessionals as well. Taken together,these trendsresult in linguistically,ethnically andcultur- ally more diverse environments, particularly in urban settings. · Third,the development ofsupra-nationalinstitutions such as the European Union (EU) give riseto new language contexts.These maybe described as additional layers in our‘ linguistic environment’(a term discussed in more detailbelow), where these layersare characterised by the diversityof the languagesat hand and the potentialrivalry or even conflictbetween the different languages spoken by different groups of users. · Fourth,the complexweb ofprocessesoften subsumed under the general term‘ globalisation’manifests itself, among others, by anincrease in the shareof internationaltrade in worldproduction, as well asby adecline in the relativecost of traveland telecommunications. Both evolutions increase Language Planning and Economics 3 the likelihood ordecreasethe costof regular contactwith a wide range of people using a wide range of languages. Itis therefore useful tomakea distinctionbetween ‘objective’and ‘ subjective’ (or‘ perceived’) diversity,and to notethat this rise in subjective diversityis fully compatiblewith a decline in objective linguistic diversityaround the world,to which manycommentators have been alertingus (e.g. Crystal,2000; Grimes, 1998;Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000).Yet what matters here –particularlyfrom the standpointof economics – isthat the increasein subjective diversitywe are confronted with raises policy questions that need to be solved. Conflict and threat Againstthis backdrop, language economicsis gaining recognition,because linguistic diversityis both conflictual and threatened.Since bothdimensions are often addressedseparately, it is useful topause fora momentand consider why both need to be taken into account. The conflictualnature of linguistic diversitystems from the factthat groups using different languagesoften competefor access to material and symbolic resources,and someauthors (e.g. Nelde, 1997)point out that there isno language contactwithout language conflict– itbeing understoodthat conflict is not neces- sarilyarmed or even violent,and may be confined topolitical rivalry in the frameworkof democraticinstitutions. Language need noteven be the majorfault line separatingparties in aconflict– othermarkers of identity,such as religion, often prove much moredivisive. Rather, one mightsay that allother things being equal,language contacttends towards conflictuality. Rivalry or conflictdoes not, of course,occur between languagesbut ratherbetween users of different languages, and it has more than one economic dimension. Three maintypes ofconnectionbetween the spheres of language andeconom- ics may be identified, and each provides a context for rivalry or conflict: · First,economic factors (which maybe treatedas ‘ variables’or more complex ‘processes’– adistinctionI shallreturn toshortly) affect the fortunesof different languages,both at the microand at the macrolevel. Forexample, atthe microlevel, the relativeprices ofdifferent language-specific goods andservices (such asbooks in different languages) arelikely toaffect patternsof language use, whether directlythrough consumer decisions to purchasethem ornot,or indirectly throughthe greateror lesserprovision of public servicesin certainlanguages, to the extent thatsuch provision is sensitiveto costs. At the macrolevel, patternsof internationaltrade are likely toinfluence language dynamics,both informally, in interaction between economicactors and formally, through the choicesmade by large organisations(such asmultinational corporations) to favour certain languagesfor internal communication). · Second andreciprocally, language variables(and/ orprocesses) have an impacton economicvariables (and/ orprocesses)– again,at the microas well asmacrolevel. Forexample, atthe microlevel, aperson’s language skillsmay give riseto wage rate differentials thatreward those skills. Skills arebetter rewardedin somelanguages than others, illustrating a formof competitionbetween languages.At