| This dissertation is on the elementary theories about the relationship between language and economy as well as economics, which is vey important to the development and the effective application of Language and Economics (Economics of Language), a new branch of economics. In the main part of this dissertation, we try to answer the following questions: (1) What is Language and Economics? In another word, for solving what kind of questions does Language and Economics as a discipline come into being? What does Language and Economics study, and how? (2)Since the current studies of the relationship between language and economy are engaged on from the problem-oriented perspective, how can they gather with each other under the title of Language and Economics? (3)What kind of relations on earth do they have between language and economy? When answering these questions, the author has also built an elementary framework of Language and Economics, and this study itself has developed the theory about the relationship between language and economy.Human society can not develop without language, and language only exists among human beings. Ancient Greek defined human as "animals with speech". Then, what on earth is language, I am afraid there are different understandings about the concept of language from different perspectives. Generally speaking, the traditional cognition to language rests on the level of philosophy and linguistics. In philosophy, people try to probe into the relationship of language and the world; in linguistics, people discuss the symbolic character and the communicative and cognitive function of language. When human society develops into the era of global economy, however, the communicative function becomes more and more prominent along with the rapid growth of communication among different cultures. The promotion and protection of national language also are paid more attention due to the rise of nationalism and the diversity of cultures. Hence, under the context of communications among different cultures, language is linked to economy more and more closely, and individual language behaviors are also linked to their language value closely. Some problems such as the cost and benefit of the communications among different languages or cultures, different choices of different language community members in labor market, all kinds of economic problems (esp. earning differentials) resulted from different languages or language inequality, all kinds of functions of language in social economic development, the advantages of economics in the design or access of language policy and language planning, are given more and more concerns by scholars. Language and Economics (or so called Economics of Language), as an interdisciplinary subject springs up in the past thirty to forty years.Yet, so far, Language and Economics is not a relatively independent branch of economics, and its theoretical system is not mature and complete. Though in the past ten years, it developed very fast, along with the partly active, there exists chaos to some degree. The communications of researchers are far more enough. They studied the relevant topics according to their own interests, and many researches need to be deepened and broadened.This paper is an attempt to summarize, communicate and deepen the current studies of the relationship between language and economy as well as its relevant problems mainly from the economic perspective, meanwhile pay attention to the theories and methods of linguistics. Here is the study clue: first, through the complete survey of the origin, the developing skeleton and the current basic theories of Language and Economics, summarizes its theoretical system, and makes clear the nature of the discipline; second, make a deep assessment of the study fields and contents of Language and Economics surrounding its theoretical framework; third, make an attempt to study some new questions, and tries to extend the relevant fields, in order to rich the theories of Language and Economics and promote its development; at last, on the basis of the above studies, make an conclusion and find the direction of further study.The main conclusions of this dissertation are: (1) Language and Economics is a sub-discipline of economics which studies language and human speech behavior as common social and economic phenomena using economic theories, principle and methods. Generally speaking, it studies language itself from economic perspective or the relation of economy (or economic relations) to language as well as human speech behaviors, that is, to study the origin, development and change of language as well as human speech behaviors from the economic perspective, or the effect and influence of language as well as human speech behaviors to economic theory, method and performance. (2) From the economics perspective, language is a kind of human capital, a kind of public good and a kind of institution. As a kind of human capital, language is one of the important factors which influence the labor market employment and labor earnings heavily, and it is closely related with social economic activities and personal status; as a kind of public good, language itself can directly influence the choice and determination of language policy and language planning; as a kind of institution, language is an institution of institutions, and it not only influences the transaction costs, but also influences the efficiency of other institutions, furthermore, influences the economic performance. (3) So far as the current studies are concerned, the studies surrounding the proposition of "language is a kind of human capital" are very mature in Language and Economics, and though the studies surrounding the propositions of "language is a kind of public good" and "language is a kind of institution" just start, they are worthy of studying urgently and deeply with a promising prospect. Through analysis, the author believes the future researches of Language and Economics can either be based on them, or develop around them. In this sense, they will constitute a basic analytical framework of Language and Economics.The innovation points of this dissertation are: (1) the innovation in study fields: Language and Economics is a new field worthy of deep study, though it just has a short history of thirty to forty years, and in China, people rarely are involved. This paper is the first PhD dissertation in China which gives a systematic and deep study on Language and Economics; (2) theoretical innovations, including: through thoroughly reviewing the current theories of Language and Economics, revealing the nature of Language and Economics as a discipline; coming up with and analyzing three basic propositions as a basic analytical framework of Language and Economics, i.e., language is a kind of human capital, a kind of public good and a kind of institution, which enriches the study of Language and Economics; for the first time, analyzing the relationship between language as institution and transaction cost, and studying the origin and the change of language as well as the direction of language change from the perspective of institution; for the first time, analyzing and arguing the point of view that the use of the language of economics should accord with the principle of economics.The main contents are listed as followed:Chapterâ… : Introduction. This chapter introduces briefly the aim, significance, research methods and clue as well as the general arrangement of this study.Chapterâ…¡: What is Language and Economics? Through the survey of those relevant literatures, I introduce and make a review on the origin and developing skeleton of Language and Economics. Based on the survey, I discuss the boundary of Language and Economics, differentiate and analyze several naming of Language and Economics, and distinguish the subject in broad sense and narrow sense as well as in theory and application. I also analyze the relationship of Language and Economics with philosophy, social linguistics and institutional economics, and discuss the research methods of Language and Economics. To more important, I come up with three propositions of Language and Economics from the standpoints of human capital, public good and institution respectively, that is, language is a kind of human capital; language is a kind of public good; language is a kind of institution. So far as the current researches are concerned, I think the future researches of Language and Economics can either be based on them, or develop around them. In this sense, they will constitute a basic analytical framework of Language and Economics.Chapterâ…¢: Language, Human Capital Investments and Labor Earnings. Following the proposition of "language is a kind of human capital", this chapter analyzes the competition strength of bilingualism and the process of human capital investment, furthermore, the relationship between language and labor earnings is revealed. The reasons why there exists earning difference among different language community are that, on the one hand, there exists language discrimination in labor market; on the other hand, language is a kind of human capital, and this is more important. As a kind of human capital, language is one of the important determinants of labor market employment and earnings, and it is closely related with social economic activities and personal status.Chapterâ…£: Language, Public Good and Language Planning. In this chapter, I survey the current studies of language policy and language planning, and discuss the significance and feasibility of economic analysis of this field. Then, surrounding the proposition of "language is a kind of public good", I analyze its application in language planning, especially, the choice of official languages and language promotion. As a kind of public good, language itself can influence the choice and constitute of language policy directly. At last, there is a comparison between the traditional analysis of language planning by social linguistics and the economic analysis by Language and Economics.Chapterâ…¤: Language, institution and Transaction Cost. In this chapter, I argue "language is a kind of institution" further, go deep into the institutional nature of language, and discuss the influence mechanism of language on other institutions as well as transaction cost. As a kind of institution, language not only influence transaction cost, but also influence the efficiency of other institutions.Chapterâ…¥: The Origin and the Change of Language: An Institutional Perspective. Focusing on some basic questions such as the institutional creation of language, the invariability and changeability of lansign, the subject, forces and ways of language change, and the collective inertia and path-dependence in language change, this chapter mainly deals with the origin and the change of language.Chapterâ…¦: The Diversification and Assimilation of Language: On the direction of Language Change. This Chapter gives an economic interpretation of the diversification and assimilation of language, and analyzes the possibility of equilibrium of these two directions of language change. Moreover, I discuss the similarity of the diversification and convergence of general institutions with those of language.Finally, after a short conclusion in chapterâ…§, the rest part of the paper discusses the language of economics and the principle of economics, i.e., economy. Through the assessment of the essentials behind the debate of the use of mathematics in economics and the review of the criteria for the abuse of mathematics as well as its solutions, I give my thought about the language used in economics. So far as the long-time debate about the use of mathematics in economics, in fact, it is closely related to those discussions on the nature, significance, scope and method of economics; meanwhile, it is related to the choice of economics to its language. Economic research needs mathematics, especially in the research of the economic quantities and their relationships. However, mathematics is a helpful tool in economic research, not the exclusive method. The opinion that believes only using mathematics can economics be a science or a "hard" science is under the lead of logical fallacy of "appealing to authority". As to the judgment of the abuse of mathematics, it can not be simply based on the quantities of the mathematical formalism in the economic literatures, but also on the cost-benefit analysis of the use of mathematics according to the different levels of economic research. Mathematics is either a method, or a language. Economists should keep an eye on the selection of the language of economics, and the use of the language of economics should accord with the economic principle.The deficiency of this paper lies in: as a new rising interdisciplinary subject, Language and Economics is not mature yet, and its theories used to be isolated, as a result, the logic structure of this paper may not be precise due to its basing on a framework which the author summarizes himself, and the arrangement of this paper also needs to be perfected further. Besides, this paper lacks quantitative analysis to some degree.The further study involves: deepening the relevant theoretical studies, especially, the studies which surround "language as public good and institution"; strengthening the applied study of Language and Economics.
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