Linguistic analysis of discourses in economics: Survey, issues and insights

Language plays a profound role in the processes of production, distribution, consumption and exchange of knowledge by humans. Language and its epistemic roles differ in their types and internal constructions across both space and time. Economists too employ a certain kind of language that helps them to communicate their ideas, notions, theories and beliefs about the world clearly and efficiently regarding the domain of knowledge and application of the subject. Given the wide differences between the linguistic strategies and frameworks that Economists of different persuasions use, it might not be an exaggeration to suggest that an analysis of the nature, characteristics, structure and forms of languages that Economists employ can throw good amount of insights into the underlying beliefs and value judgements that are being promoted implicitly or explicitly through some philosophical thought and advancement that they have made via empirical research and writings. Accordingly, this study attempts to survey major works that apply linguistic analysis to economics discourse and tries to locate some key linguistic and economic dimensions of these academic undertakings. The aim of this paper is to provide a brief and multi-dimensional overview of this field of study with a strong emphasis on the international context, while also taking a note of the major insights and issues as unearthed through these studies and, finally it attempts to briefly comment on the lacuna of application of linguistics to Economics discourse in the Indian context