1、1On Objects of Language Economics Study in ChinaAbstract. As a new cross-disciplinary field, the theoretical study of language economics is still in its early stage. Especially in China, the research is messier and lack of systematic comb. Based on existing domestic research results, this paper uses
2、 descriptive methods to make a systematic summary of language economics study so as to summarize existing researches and promote the related research in the future. Key words: Object; Language Economics; Study in China 1. Introduction Language Economics means that we analyze linguistic variables and
3、 research the association between economic variables and language through economic theory and methods. It was first proposed in 1965 by information economics professor Jacob Marschak of the University of California, Los Angeles. Based on human capital and education economics, it studies language sur
4、vival, development, costs, benefit, value, utility and other issues concerned. Emergence and development of Language Economics are in 2recent three or four years. So its establishment and theoretical research of related propositions are still in the early stages, and Language Economics has not const
5、ructed a complete theoretical framework, especially in China. Over the past decade, scholars have different opinions on the achievements of this field, despite a large number of research results. There are some doubts and confusions about Language Economics and its basic problems, such as its resear
6、ch objects, range and methods. Based on the existing research results of Language Economics, this paper intends to sort out all the results, and summarizes objects of study of Language Economics, hoping to clarify the related doubts and to promote further development of Language Economics in China.
7、2. Content of the Language Economics study The Language Economics research should be conducted from two aspects: the first is at theoretical level and second at application level. At the theoretical level, Language Economics researches the integration of linguistics and economics with an integrative
8、 method, and also researches the origin and its development through economic theories. Also it analyzes the impact of language and speech acts of economic activities. At the application level, Language Economics studies the guidance 3of language economic principles to social and economic activities,
9、 as well as various economic and social problems caused by language problems, such as language planning, policy, reform and promotion issues. In summary, the existing researches of Language Economics in China include the following topics: 2.1 Language and labor income This topic, based on human capi
10、tal theory, regards language as both an asset and a form of human capital. The relationship between language and labor income is important and it mainly explores how mother tongue and other language skills affect labor income (Yao 2007:205). This study focuses on two aspects: First, it is a study of
11、 the income levels of a population in certain social class speaking a specific language, such as how the level of income is influenced by education levels. Second, it is about the impact of a second language on income, for example, the differences of incomes between an employee who masters one forei
12、gn language and the one who masters two, under the similar working condition. 2.2 Language and economic development This topic is mainly concerned about language and economic development, which mainly researches the role of language in 4commodity production, exchange and consumption, such as mother
13、tongue acquisition, language investment, language selection, local integration of immigrants language and the impact of distance on language. Other related topics also include: impacts of foreign language skills on job hiring and job matching, how language barriers affect Douglas production function
14、 yields, production gap of a dominant language between the absence of language barriers and presence of language barriers and the relationship between language skills of workers and foreign trade of an economy, active impact of a common language on trade volume the trading country, quantitative infl
15、uence of a specific language on the specific region, how a language plays an important role in the relationship of advertising and customer, and how language affects the production and exchange as a part of cultural differences. 2.3 Language policy and language planning This topic focuses on the dyn
16、amic development of the language, such as language promotion and protection and the study of language policy. Language policy and language planning are closely related. As there are many deficiencies in traditional language planning, for example, it is mainly based 5on linguistics, emphasizing abstr
17、act concepts, basic category and it also lacks evaluation methods in language policy. We should adapt methods of rational choice of economics, cost benefit and the others to language planning, and pay attention to the association between economic variables and linguistic variables so as to avoid dis
18、advantages and deficiencies of the traditional study of language policy and planning. The research topics of this field focus on language promotion by cost-benefit analysis. Formulating language policies asks us to take into consideration language value and cost. Language value includes market value
19、 and non-market value, the sum of which are the total social value of language. The optimized language policy should make social value of the language maximized and planning cost minimized. Language Economics comprehensively measures individual costs and social costs of language policy, by measuring
20、 monetary value and cost of language, and also values personal, social and cultural benefits of language policy implementation. In addition, based on the total cost and total revenue of language, we can conduct a study of the effectiveness of a countrys economy and guide the development of national
21、language policy. 2.4 Language industry research 6Language education, language training, language information processing, language translation services, business language design, language consulting, language book compiling, as well as international promotion of Chinese language, all of them belong t
22、o the study scope of language industry. Its research topics are numerous, such as the law of language industry development, the history of language industry development, the supply and demand relationship between language education, language industry accounting, and language industrys contribution t
23、o the economy rate. 2.5 Network effects and dynamic language development Network effects of language mean that the more a language is used by people, the more useful it is. Language network effects play an important role in the dynamic development of language, influencing the educational environment
24、 of language policy. Network effects of language can be used to explain the dynamic development of language problems, and its research topics mainly include the following two aspects: First, survival and development of all languages, especially the survival of unpopular languages; second, usage of c
25、ommon languages in the world, especially that i of common language under the condition of Network Economy. 72.6 Foreign language teaching and its education reform One of the main applications of Language Economics to foreign language teaching is to study the problem of “time-consuming and inefficien
26、t” language learning in China, based on the theories of rational choice and human capital of economics. Research viewpoint focused on foreign language education, teaching and education reform. Its specific studies include the following three parts: foreign language education policies at national and
27、 local levels; economic guidance value of foreign language education reform; a must of foreign language education following the economic laws of market. Specifically, it studies language learning motivation and educational resources, main contents, methods and techniques of foreign language educatio
28、n research, public investment in education and the personal costs of foreign investment benefit analysis, foreign language teaching adaptability of the market economy, language settings, educational reform programs, foreign language education, regional economic development and other topics. 2.7 Lang
29、uage resources and language value Language has resource properties and economic value. With the continuous development of information technology and globalization, cultural and economic attributes of language and 8its resource properties are more highlighted. Language can create social and economic
30、benefits, and it has become a sunrise industry. Language, as a special social resource, should be actively protected, rationally developed and used effectively. Its main points of view are to advocate for fostering right awareness of language resources, and enhance the ability of citizens and level
31、of national language. Language is related to enhancement of statehood and national security, and is also significant to cultural diversity and cultural heritage. The development and usage of language resources require language market, and it needs a special survey and assessment for language economy
32、 and also provides a reference for language economics planning and policy formulation. 2.8 Hot issues of language study The study applies the theories of language economics to the analysis of hot issues of language in reality, serving the economic development. For example, we analyze the emergence,
33、development and change of new words, new language, network language, buzzwords, and public signs, applying analysis principles, such as the labor-saving principle. In addition, Language Economics can be employed to analyze the simplified 9Chinese characters, which is also a hot topic in recent years
34、 language study. 2.9 Research on Language Economics Language Economics can be narrowly defined as a research on the process of language itself. This study takes language itself as the focus of Economics, and it is a penetration from economics to linguistics. Specifically, it also refers to the appli
35、cation of common methods and concepts of economics to research on linguistic variables. Main ideas and research topics are as follow: Language is a communication mechanism. As a social system, language is just a conventional optimization process that is derived from some functions. Some specific iss
36、ues of language can be analyzed from the perspective of economics through cost-benefit. From the perspective of evolutionary economics, we can analyze optimal static information, including its nature, affinity, creativity and so on. In addition, Language Economics research also involves the represen
37、tation of economics itself. Language is an important part of economic model, so we can use game theory models and evolutionary game theory to research the impact of language choice and richness of language on language preference so as to 10explore such linguistic topics as semantics, pragmatics and
38、deconstruction, etc. 2.10 Other branches of Language Economics Beside Language Economics, more economic theories can be effectively used to analyze economic behaviors. However from the above research, only a small part of economic theories has been applied by Language Economics. To analyze the econo
39、mic properties of language, more branches of economic theory need to be explored. In this process, industrial economics can be used to analyze the structure, regulatory, association, layout, organization, development and regulation of industrial economics and language industry. Besides, technical ec
40、onomics can be used to study the effect of various technical measures and economic technical solutions adopted by language industry. In addition, researches on industrial consumption, marketing, history of language can be studied by the application of relative Language Economics. 3. Conclusions Language is an open system interleaved by cognitive, psychological, emotional, ethnic, spiritual, cultural, economic, political and social factors. Therefore, Language Economics is a cross discipline, bringing economics, philosophy, linguistics,
