Linguistic capital
Linguistic capital is a sociolinguistic term coined by French sociologist and philosopher Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu describes linguistic capital as a form of cultural capital, and specifically as the accumulation of a single person's linguistic skills that predetermines their position in society as delegated by powerful institutions. Cultural capital, on the other hand, is a conglomeration of knowledge, skills, and other cultural acquisitions, which is enhanced by educational or technical qualifications.
As a form of communication, language mediates human interactions and is a form of an action itself. According to Joseph Sung-Yul Park, "language is understood as a form of capital that is mediated through social power relations." These power relations are reflected through language when one's language is decided to be legitimate, allowing access to economic and social opportunities such as jobs, services, and connections.
Linguistic capital has been used to describe the different language resources available to a single person and the values associated with each resource. Today, this term is used to look at the way in which these resources play a role in power dynamics at all levels, from individual, familial, institutional, governmental, and international roles. Bourdieu's theories on capital are effective in showcasing how various skills and resources gathered over an individual or group's lifetime will have different values and connotations depending on the situation and demographics. When and where those resources are recognized and valued, often for the benefit or enhancement of the lives of the dominant social group, they can be converted into capital.
Linguistic marketplace
The notion of the market value of a language refers to the ability of the language to bring social and economic benefits to its speaker. Languages have a market value and a non-market value. A language has market value if said language can be used for monetary gain, or if the language can be assigned a price. For example, if someone speaks language X, they have easier access to the economic and social well-being in the X-speaking communities, which in turn may lead to their financial gain. Jan Blommaert provides a clear example of how the high market value of the American English accent creates jobs for those who speak and know how to teach this accent while also allowing some to consume this skill in the form of learning. In other situations, an employee earns more money simply because they speak language X. In these circumstances language X has a high market value.The market value of a language is based on the symbolic power associated with the language as well as the language ideologies about the language and its speakers. The non-market value in this theoretical perspective relies more on the language ideologies. One of the ways of explaining the non-market value of the language is by considering the connection between the language and the culture. For example, a speaker of X has access to the culture associated with the language X and the whole speech community of X. Because this sort of value brings intangible benefits to the speaker, it cannot be measured in terms of market prices. The non-market value of languages is what is generally used to explain the need for the linguistic diversity: high linguistic variation and multilingualism is generally valued as a part of a healthy language ecology, which is why some countries strive to promote multilingualism. Both market and non-market values can affect whether an individual decides to learn a language.
According to Bourdieu, people's utterances can be seen as their linguistic products, and they can anticipate the value of their products in the marketplace through different contexts. Different speakers have different quantities of linguistic capital, that is, different speakers have different capacities to produce expressions that are valuable for a specific market. This explains why individuals vary their linguistic expressions, such as register, to be appropriate to their current market, such as in a workplace, with family, or in education. Like other forms of capital, the linguistic capital that an individual possesses is a metaphorical expression that may reflect the individual's position in social space.
Power Language Index
In a study conducted by the European Institute of Business Administration, Kai Chan created a Power Language Index that ranked languages based on five opportunities provided by language comprehension: the ability to travel widely, the ability to earn a livelihood, the ability to communicate with others, the ability to acquire knowledge and consume media, and the ability to engage in diplomacy. Within these five sections, Chan used 20 indicators such as the GDP associated with countries that speak a certain language, the amount of land area where a language is spoken, and amount of internet/media content associated with a language to rank them. From his research Chan concluded that English is not only the most powerful language overall, but also the most powerful language across the five categories. The second most powerful language, Mandarin, was deemed to be only half as powerful as English because, although it is the language spoken by the most people in the world, it is not spoken widely outside of Mandarin nations. Other languages in the top ten may be strong in one or two categories, but none have the equivalent across-the-board dominance of English.Regional research
Canada
Although Canada has two official languages, English and French, immigrants to Canada may not value learning each language the same. Huot et al. found that English held much more linguistic capital. The researchers interviewed ten immigrants from various backgrounds living in London, Ontario, to examine "the power of language in shaping immigrants' engagement in occupations during their integration into a host society." The researchers asked participants about their integration into the new community and their experiences in finding an occupation. From the interviews, the researchers discovered that for all ten participants, learning English was an essential aspect of their integration into Canadian society. Whether it is for finding work, making daily interactions easier, or for giving their children better opportunities, each of the participants found learning English to be far more important than learning French. As one of the participants described:"We have to make an incredible effort, like I did, to learn and to speak it perfectly, to search, to study, to volunteer, to look for work. And then after a few...it doesn't take a lot of time, 2 years, 3 years, and... why not? It's worth it. Otherwise, they will remain always reclusive, on the margins of society, and it will be difficult for society and difficult for them."Relating the study back to the concepts of Bourdieu, the researchers explain how Bourdieu believed that "those whose linguistic resources are devalued are also perceived to be less competent." By learning and speaking English, the immigrants in this study were able to acquire more linguistic capital, be perceived as being more competent, and establish themselves in Canadian society.
South Korea
In the case of South Korea, being able to speak English proficiently also elevates one's status within society. However, as explained by Joseph Sung-Yul Park, since Korean is the dominant language, the ability to speak English is valued by certain businesses and universities but is not a requirement to fit into South Korean society. Many South Koreans view the ability to speak English as a valuable commodity that better allows them to obtain university degrees and high-paying jobs. In this sense, South Koreans recognize that being able to speak Korean will only get them so far and that they will need to learn English because it holds more linguistic capital internationally. Park provides a report from Korean technology giant Samsung's Economic Research Institute that states: "Individual workers can increase their competitiveness in employment, promotion, and self-development through improving their English language skills."Parents in South Korea, according to Park, also go to great lengths to provide their children with the advantage of being able to speak English. Children are often enrolled in English-only kindergartens and in some cases placed in study abroad programs in English-speaking countries when they are young in order to better develop a native English-speaking accent. Enormous amounts of money are put forth by Korean parents to ensure that their children can learn English and have a greater chance of success in the future. This will likely continue in Korea because, as long as English maintains its position as the dominant language in international business, Korean businesses will continue to place a high value on employees who are able to speak the language.