Languages in socio-economic development by Amie
Where there is no language there is no development, and this is a fact. However, the mere presence of a language does not entail facilitation of the primary purpose of language which is communication. The primary purpose of language is communication. In turn, effective communication facilitates development. Communication is an important prerequisite of development and this is manifested through language. Language must be seen to be communicating the intended meaning as a vehicle to achieving set goals, and not an end in itself. These set goals in this case, would be education, national unity and/or identity, and socio-economic development.
The recognition of language as an economic variable is based on few simple ideas . Firstly , reflecting the communication values of language, the economic well-being of a society is enhanced when members can communicate with each other in the same language. For example, most production activities involve teamwork and require understanding the same written and verbal instructions. Consumption activities are also facilitated by a common language, which enables buyers and sellers to understand each other.
Secondly , there is a connection between language and cultural identity, which also influences people decisions about the language used for communication. Pushing to the limit the argument of the communication value of languages would imply that all of humankind would be better off speaking a single language. This is obviously not what has happened, partly because the world is not yet totally globalized, but also because there is a preference in many societies for using a native language that people value because it was received from their ancestors and defines their identity. In particular, some consumption goods, such as books, songs, and television programs, have an important linguistic component. Language and culture are closely connected.
To add more, language contributes to human capital and can be developed in the same way as other productive skills. People can acquire or improve their language skills by studying languages in school, conversing with others, and so forth. Many people, especially those who belong to a linguistic minority, learn new languages because they want to expand their abilities to communicate and, by doing so, be more productive and earn higher wages . When deciding what languages to learn, people tend to choose a language that has the highest financial returns. Language learning, like other investments in human capital, has opportunity costs. Becoming familiar with a new language takes time and resources that could have been devoted to other activities. In a given labor market, the interaction between supply and demand will determine the amount of language learning that takes place. Supply depends on the composition of workers’ native tongues and second language skills. Demand is determined by the various production processes, the technology, and the languages of customers and producers.
The view of language as the indispensable ingredient of unity and purpose of direction goes back to time immemorial. The Bible story of the Tower of Babel is quite explicit about this. Genesis 11:5-7 says: The Lord said if as one people, speaking the same language have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible. Come and let us go down and confuse their language, so they will not understand each other. The moment there were many languages, there was no comprehension among them. They stopped building the tower and scattered around the world. They abandoned the project. The inevitable, unfortunate consequence of having numerous languages was that the project was abandoned. This implies that they no longer had the same vision. This unfortunate situation existed despite the existence of other (minority) languages. It is evident also that none of the smaller groups with their minority languages continued to build the tower, despite effective communication among themselves. This confirms the adage: United we stand; divided we fall. A common language unified people, gave them the purpose and enabled them to perceive the same vision.