Linguistic capital

Abstract

Facility with a country’s dominant language can be viewed as a key form of “linguistic capital” and has a role to play in processes of social stratification and mobility. Focusing on rural young adults in minority areas, a historically disadvantaged group of young adults, this chapter considers the distribution of linguistic capital and the implications of possessing linguistic capital for economic opportunity. After a discussion of the ways that linguistic capital might shape economic opportunity, we investigate the associations of language facility with information access and economic outcomes among rural young adults in minority areas in China. Specifically, we address three questions: 1) What is the reported degree of facility in standard Mandarin and minority languages for young adults in minority areas? 2) Is information access, as reflected by Internet use, associated with reported language facility in standard Mandarin and minority languages? and, 3) Are young adult economic outcomes associated with language facility in standard Mandarin and minority languages? We find, first, that there is substantial variability in linguistic capital across provinces and ethnic groups. Second, we find that standard Mandarin facility is tied to Internet use, and, by extension, information access. Finally, Mandarin facility, but not minority language facility, is linked to economic opportunity in young adulthood.