语言经济学承前启后的跨学科之作——《语言政策经济学》述评

An Interdisciplinary Effort Linking the Past and the Future of Language Economics:Review of The Economics of Language Policy

该书首先对语言经济学的已有研究进行系统梳理,在重新思考语言经济学定义、对已有文献进行综合分类的基础上绘制了该领域的思想地图,并通过聚焦语言政策的选择、设计与评估,来突出语言政策与社会经济现象及要素之间的紧密关联。书中所选文献围绕这些关联展开,聚焦语言多样性对经济因素的影响,语言政策对社会分配的影响,双语制及其他语言制度对个体及社会福利的影响,个体语言选择对语言动态变化的影响,语言能力与国家或民族身份认同之间的关联,语言技能及使用对劳动力收入的影响,语言对全球化背景下贸易模式与人口流动的影响等议题,展开深入的跨学科探讨。所选文献表明,运用经济学及其他社会科学的理论和研究方法来研究社会中的语言、语言政策与制度,能够带来不同的见解。随着语言深度融入社会互动之中,同时掌握社会经济现象方面与语言方面的知识、并促进二者之间的交流,能够帮助我们进一步理解语言现象、语言行为及语言变化。语言政策与规划领域应当更加重视语言经济学中的核心议题,运用跨学科的理论与方法来推动本学科的普适性规律探索与基础理论体系构建。

This book first systematically reviews existing literature in language economics, and presents the mental map of the field by rethinking the definition of "language economics" and classifying the extensive literature. Focusing on the design and evaluation of language policies, the map and the review highlight the close relationships between language policies and social sciences like economics. In the selected papers, some aspects of such relationships are analyzed with cross-disciplinary theories and approaches, including the influence of language diversity on economic elements, the effects of language policies on social distribution, the impact of bilingualism and other language institutions on individual and social welfare, the influence of individual linguistics choices on aggregate language dynamics, the linkage between language competence and national or ethic identification,the influence of language skills and language use on income, and the impact of linguistic elements on trade patterns and population mobility in the globalized context. Those papers show that the application of theories and methods from economics and other social sciences into the study of language, language policy and related institutions can bring about stimulating insights. With the increasing embeddedness of linguistic elements into social interactions, an adequate knowledge of both linguistic and socioeconomic phenomena and an effective communication between the two sides are able to enrich our understandings about linguistic phenomena, behaviors and related changes. The field of language planning and language policy is expected to pay more attention to the focal topics in language economics in order to interdisciplinarily explore generalized findings and theoretical systems.