How many languages do we need? : the economics of linguistic diversity
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
How many languages do we need? : the economics of linguistic diversity
Princeton University Press, c2011
- : hbk
Available at 27 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [205]-221) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In the global economy, linguistic diversity influences economic and political development as well as public policies in positive and negative ways. It leads to financial costs, communication barriers, divisions in national unity, and, in some extreme cases, conflicts and war--but it also produces benefits related to group and individual identity. What are the specific advantages and disadvantages of linguistic diversity and how does it influence social and economic progress? This book examines linguistic diversity as a global social phenomenon and considers what degree of linguistic variety might result in the greatest economic good. Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber look at linguistic proximity between groups and between languages. They describe and use simple economic, linguistic, and statistical tools to measure diversity's impact on growth, development, trade, the quality of institutions, translation issues, voting patterns in multinational competitions, and the likelihood and intensity of civil conflicts.
They address the choosing of core languages in a multilingual community, such as the European Union, and argue that although too many official languages might harm cohesiveness, efficiency, and communication, reducing their number brings about alienation and disenfranchisement of groups. Demonstrating that the value and drawbacks of linguistic diversity are universal, How Many Languages Do We Need? suggests ways for designing appropriate linguistic policies for today's multilingual world.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1: My Language IsMy Homeland 7 Chapter 2: Linguistic Policies, Disenfranchisement, and Standardization 16 1. Linguistic Diversity: A Brief Look at the Past 16 2. Linguistic Standardization: Roots, Benefits, and Some Examples 18 3. Some Painful Aspects of Standardization 21 4. HowMany Languages: IsMore theMerrier, or Is Small Beautiful? 26 5. Summary 28 Chapter 3: Linguistic, Genetic, and Cultural Distances: How Far Is Nostratic? 29 1. Languages and Dialects 30 2. Distances between Languages 33 3. Distances between Groups 48 4. Summary 55 Chapter 4: DistancesMatter 56 1. International Trade 57 2. Migrations 63 3. Literary Translations 65 4. The Eurovision Song Contest: Is Voting Political or Cultural? 74 5. Summary 82 Chapter 5: Individual Communicative Benefits 84 1. Modeling Language Learning 86 2. Demand Functions for Languages 93 3. Private Returns on Languages 98 4. Summary 107 Chapter 6: Diversity and Disenfranchisement Indices 108 1. Fractionalization and Polarization Indices 110 2. Disenfranchisement Indices 126 3. Links between Fractionalization, Disenfranchisement, and Communication Indices 137 4. Summary 139 5. Appendix: Numerical Calculation of the Various Disenfranchisement Indices 140 Chapter 7: Diversity and Disenfranchisement: Applications 142 1. Fractionalization and Polarization Indices 143 2. Disenfranchisement Indices: The Example of the EU 151 3. Summary 160 Chapter 8: Multilingualism in the European Union: A Case Study in Linguistic Policy 162 1. Twenty-three Languages, and More to Come 162 2. Possible Solutions 177 3. Summary 199 Conclusions 201 Bibliography 205 Index 223
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