Language Skill Acquisition, Labor Markets and Locational Choice: The Foreign-Born in the United States, 1900 And 1980

Abstract

A common language, like a common currency, facilitates exchange, whether economic, social or political, among interacting individuals in a community. In recent years, concern has been expressed about the possibility of language “bifurcation” in the United States. It is believed by some that as significant numbers of the foreign-born who have a non-English language in common come to the United States, there will be potential for a competing language “currency”. Of course, since a common language facilitates exchange, this possibility becomes more likely if the competing non-English language groups are more likely to enter into transactions with each other than with those individuals speaking English within the United States. The settlement patterns of the common-language groups, to the extent that proximity correlates with the number of “own”-language transactions, thus may be an important factor in determining the potential for the viability of a second language in the United States.