Abstracts
Abstract
It is assumed that language policy can influence the language in which parents choose to raise their children. A basic model of language transmission in the family is outlined and the effect of different policies on the vitality of a minority language is analyzed. It is argued that the habitation patterns and numerical strength of the minority have a strong influence on the cost effectiveness of various policy measures. It is shown that by classifying language policies into four distinct categories we can assign different policies to different minorities in a cost-effective manner, based on the size of the jurisdiction where the minority lives and its numerical strength within it. We provide a general intuitive discussion and a specific example to support the general analysis.
Keywords:
- vitality of minority language,
- language policy,
- cost-effectiveness analysis,
- structure of costs
Résumé
Il est supposé que la politique linguistique puisse influencer le choix de la langue dans laquelle les parents élèvent leurs enfants. Cet article trace les grandes lignes d’un modèle simple de transmission linguistique dans la famille et analyse l’effet de différentes politiques sur la vitalité d’une langue minoritaire. Il est avancé que la taille de la population minoritaire et sa concentration sur le territoire ont une forte influence sur le rapport coût-efficacité des différentes mesures politiques. Il est démontré qu’en classant les politiques linguistiques en quatre catégories différentes, nous pouvons attribuer différentes politiques à différentes minorités de manière rentable en fonction de la taille du territoire où la minorité vit et l’importance numérique de la minorité dans le territoire considéré. Nous fournissons une discussion intuitive générale et un exemple spécifique à l’appui de l’analyse générale.
Mots-clés :
- vitalité de la langue d’une minorité,
- politique linguistique,
- analyse coût-efficacité,
- structure de coûts
Appendices
Bibliography
- Abrams, Daniel M., & Steven H. Strogatz (2003). “Modelling the dynamics of language death”, Nature, vol. 424, p. 900. https://doi.org/10.1038/424900a
- Cenoz, Jasone (2008). “Achievements and challenges in bilingual and multilingual education in the Basque Country”, AILA Review, vol. 21, no 1, p. 13-30. https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.21.03cen
- Coche, Olivier, François Vaillancourt, Marc Antoine Cadieux, & Jamie Lee Ronson (2012).Official language policies of the Canadian provinces: Costs and benefits in 2006, Vancouver: Fraser Institute.
- Crystal, David (2000). Language death, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- de Scitovszky, Tibor (1941). “A note on welfare propositions in economics”, Review of Economic Studies, vol. 9, no 1, p. 77-88. https://doi.org/10.2307/2967640
- Dorian, Nancy C. (1981). Language death: The life cycle of a Scottish Gaelic dialect, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Drinkwater, Stephen J., & Nigel C. O’Leary (1997). “Unemployment in Wales: Does language matter?”, Regional Studies, vol. 31, no 6, p. 583-591. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343409750131712
- Fernando, Chrisantha, Riitta‐Liisa Valijärvi, & Richard A. Goldstein (2010). “A model of the mechanisms of language extinction and revitalization strategies to save endangered languages”, Human Biology, vol. 82, no 1, p. 47-75. https://doi.org/10.3378/027.082.0104
- Fishman, Joshua A. (1991). Reversing language shift: Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
- Fishman, Joshua A. (Ed.) (2001). Can threatened languages be saved? Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
- Gazzola, Michele, François Grin, & Bengt-Arne Wickström (2016). “A concise bibliography of language economics”, in Michele Gazzola & Bengt‐Arne Wickström (Eds.), The economics of language policy (p. 53-92), Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Ginsburgh, Victor A. (2017). “Contingent valuation, willingness to pay, and willingness to accept”, in Bruno S. Frey & David Iselin(Eds.),Economic ideas you should forget (p. 65-66), Cham: Springer International Publishing.
- Grin, François (1992). “Towards a threshold theory of minority language survival”, Kyklos, vol. 45, no 1, p. 69-97, [reprint in: Donald M. Lamberton (Ed.), The economics of language, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2002.] https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.1992.tb02108.x
- Grin, François, & François Vaillancourt (1999). The cost-effectiveness evaluation of minority language policies: Case studies on Wales, Ireland and the Basque Country, Monograph 2, Flensburg: European Centre for Minority Issues.
- Haugen, Einar (1990). “Language fragmentation in Scandinavia: Revolt of the minorities”, in Einar Haugen, J. Derrik McClure, & Derik S. Thomson (Eds.), Minority languages today: A selection from the papers read at the First International Conference on Minority Languages held at Glasgow University from 8 to 13 September 1980 (2nd ed., p. 100-119), Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- Leblanc Desgagné, Maxime, & François Vaillancourt (2016). “The distribution of the benefits and costs of Canada’s federal official languages policy: Results for 2001”, in Michele Gazzola & Bengt‐Arne Wickström (Eds.), The economics of language policy (p. 141-164), Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Nettle, Daniel, & Suzanne Romaine (2000). Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Rendon, Sílvio (2007). “The Catalan premium: Language and employment in Catalonia”, Journal of Population Economics, vol. 20, p. 669-686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-005-0048-5
- Romaine, Suzanne (2006). “Planning for the survival of linguistic diversity”, Language Policy, vol. 5, no 4, p. 441-473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-006-9034-3
- Templin, Torsten, Andrea Seidl, Bengt‐Arne Wickström, & Gustav Feichtinger (2016). “Optimal language policy for the preservation of a minority language”, Mathematical Social Sciences, vol. 81, p. 8-21. doi.org/10.1016/j.mathsocsci.2016.03.006
- Templin, Torsten, & Bengt‐Arne Wickström (in press). “Language-competition models”, in Michele Gazzola, François Grin, Linda Cardinal, & Kathleen Heugh (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language policy and planning, New York: Routledge.
- Vaillancourt, François (1997). Economic costs and benefits of the official languages: Some observations”, in Official languages and the economy: Papers presented at a colloquium hosted by the Official Languages Support Program Branch, Department of Canadian Heritage, held on May 5, 1995 (p. 103-118), New Canadian Perspectives, Ottawa: Canadian Heritage.
- Vaillancourt, François (2018). “Linguistic justice in a federal setting: The case of Canadian provinces”, in Michele Gazzola, Torsten Templin, & Bengt‐Arne Wickström (Eds.), Language policy and linguistic justice: Economic, philosophical and sociolinguistic approaches (p. 233-258), Heidelberg: Springer.
- Vaillancourt, François, & Olivier Coche (2009). Les politiques fédérales en matière de langues officielles au Canada : coûts et avantages en 2006, Vancouver: Fraser Institute.
- Wickström, Bengt‐Arne (2005). “Can bilingualism be dynamically stable? A simple model of language choice”, Rationality and Society, vol. 17, no 1, p. 81-115. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1043463105051776
- Wickström, Bengt‐Arne (2014). “Nachhaltiges Überleben von Minderheitensprachen: eine Übersicht einiger Modelle” [Sustainable survival of minority languages: A review of some models], in Jörg Dötsch (Ed.), Dogma und Evolution: Beiträge zum 60. Geburtstag von Dietmar Meyer (p. 101-126), Marburg: Metropolis-Verlag.
- Wickström, Bengt‐Arne (2016). “Language rights: A welfare-economics approach”, in Victor A. Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of economics and language (p. 659-688), Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Wickström, Bengt‐Arne (2020). “On the political economy of minority rights. Three ways to manipulate a minority: Goals, rules, and border poles”, European Journal of Political Economy, vol. 64, 101894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2020.101894
- Wickström, Bengt‐Arne, Torsten Templin, & Michele Gazzola (2018). “An economics approach to language policy and linguistic justice”, in Michele Gazzola Torsten Templin, & Bengt‐Arne Wickström (Eds.), Language policy and linguistic justice: Economic, philosophical and sociolinguistic approaches (p. 3-64), Heidelberg: Springer.