A Human Capital Language

Speakers - Oyama Vanto and Zandile Ndhlovu

A person’s language ability refers to one’s level of skill in speaking, hearing, reading, and writing a language. The study of Economics of Language looks at the determinants and consequences of language ability using the methodology and tools of economics. Adam Smith defines economics as the study of the allocation of scarce resources and implications among competing ends. By scarcity, one simply means that the resources are not free, rather something must be given up to acquire them (economists normally refer to this as the opportunity cost). In a recent study conducted by the South African Cultural Observatory on the Economics of Languages, the Observatory provides an introduction to the field of economics of language and its relevance to language policy and planning. It goes further by, providing an important empirical study on the value-added of differing official languages in regard to South Africa’s Gross Value Added (GVA), and more specifically the economic effects of creating and empowering language practitioners in South Africa, most specifically in the promotion of the indigenous languages.

Language skills are a form of human capital. The phrase human capital refers to the economic value of a worker’s experience and skills. In order for a person’s language skills to translate to human capital, three necessities need to be met. Firstly, those who speak/read the local language will find it easier to get a job and will generally be more productive on the job. Secondly, gaining language ability is not without costs, thus immigrants spend a considerable amount of their own money and time to become prolific in their new country language. Finally, unlike owing physical skills, language skills are embodied in a person.

Although the question of language and language diversity was central to the negotiations that ended apartheid and ushered in the internationally acclaimed democratic settlement, the Observatory states that given the nature and significance of language policy, ethnicity, and politics in South Africa (SA), it is somewhat surprising that there is still a relatively modest body of work in this regard. In a study conducted by Theo Van Der Merwe, she stated that there is a lack of interest in economics of language vis-à-vis in SA.

It is clear that language has both intrinsic and instrumental value, although this distinction is often blurred in practice. Despite SA having 12 official languages, there is still sufficient short to medium term support and robustness to underpin a multilingualism in South Africa. This is due to the fact that the pejorative connotations from the apartheid period, and the attenuation of Afrikaans-oriented educational structures, there is an argument from some quarters, popular and academic, that the language itself is under duress.

In closing, when South Africa's majority took power in 1994, the Constitution included a language policy, and the country transitioned from having two official languages, Afrikaans and English, to having eleven official languages.  Although the South African regime promotes democracy by establishing eleven official languages and endorsing language-as-a-right (LR) and linguistic citizenship (LC) paradigms, only a small number of indigenous people use their indigenous African language in everyday transactions.