How Many Languages Do We Need?
eBook - ePub

How Many Languages Do We Need?

The Economics of Linguistic Diversity

  1. 256 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

How Many Languages Do We Need?

The Economics of Linguistic Diversity

About this book

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.

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Yes, you can access How Many Languages Do We Need? by Victor Ginsburgh,Shiomo Weber,Shlomo Weber in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Economics & Economic Theory. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
  7. 1 My Language Is My Homeland
  8. 2 Linguistic Policies, Disenfranchisement, and Standardization
  9. 3 Linguistic, Genetic, and Cultural Distances: How Far Is Nostratic?
  10. 4 Distances Matter
  11. 5 Individual Communicative Benefits
  12. 6 Diversity and Disenfranchisement Indices
  13. 7 Diversity and Disenfranchisement: Applications
  14. 8 Multilingualism in the European Union: A Case Study in Linguistic Policy
  15. Conclusions
  16. Bibliography
  17. Index