Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages
This paper develops a scalar or quantitative measure of the ‘distance’ between English and a myriad of other (non-native American) languages. This measure is based on the difficulty Americans have learning other languages. The linguistic distance measure is then used in an analysis of the determi...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Routledge
2005
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44965 |
| _version_ | 1848757151072256000 |
|---|---|
| author | Chiswick, B. Miller, Paul |
| author_facet | Chiswick, B. Miller, Paul |
| author_sort | Chiswick, B. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper develops a scalar or quantitative measure of the ‘distance’ between English and a myriad of other (non-native American) languages. This measure is based on the difficulty Americans have learning other languages. The linguistic distance measure is then used in an analysis of the determinants of English language proficiency among adult immigrants in the USA and Canada. It is shown that, when other determinants of English language proficiency are the same, the greater the measure of linguistic distance, the poorer is the respondent’s English language proficiency. This measure can be used in research, evaluation and practitioner analyses, and for diagnostic purposes regarding linguistic minorities in Englishspeaking countries. The methodology can also be applied to develop linguistic distance measures for other languages. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:23:32Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-44965 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:23:32Z |
| publishDate | 2005 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-449652018-03-29T09:07:33Z Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages Chiswick, B. Miller, Paul immigrants linguistic distance language proficiency This paper develops a scalar or quantitative measure of the ‘distance’ between English and a myriad of other (non-native American) languages. This measure is based on the difficulty Americans have learning other languages. The linguistic distance measure is then used in an analysis of the determinants of English language proficiency among adult immigrants in the USA and Canada. It is shown that, when other determinants of English language proficiency are the same, the greater the measure of linguistic distance, the poorer is the respondent’s English language proficiency. This measure can be used in research, evaluation and practitioner analyses, and for diagnostic purposes regarding linguistic minorities in Englishspeaking countries. The methodology can also be applied to develop linguistic distance measures for other languages. 2005 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44965 10.1080/14790710508668395 Routledge restricted |
| spellingShingle | immigrants linguistic distance language proficiency Chiswick, B. Miller, Paul Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages |
| title | Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages |
| title_full | Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages |
| title_fullStr | Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages |
| title_full_unstemmed | Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages |
| title_short | Linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages |
| title_sort | linguistic distance: a quantitative measure of the distance between english and other languages |
| topic | immigrants linguistic distance language proficiency |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44965 |