語言使用與職業階層化的關係：比較台灣男性的族群差異

本文嘗試將語言使用與語言技巧帶進地位取得研究裡來，凸顯出語言在社會階層化的過程裡扮演著雙重的角色：1.國語能力是一種語言資本，有利於職業地位的取得；2.在本質上，語言使用是權力關係的展現，因此語言資本的獲得與分配，本身就是一個不平等的社會階層面向。文中使用1992年和1999年的社會調查資料來檢視語言的雙重角色，並比較閩南、客家、外省三個族群的男性經驗之異同及其變遷趨勢。分析結果發現：父子代間職業傳承、教育階層化、勞動市場區隔、以及語言流利程度等因素對於男性職業地位取得的直接影響力相當穩定，比較特殊的是族群差異的變化。此外，國語在台灣已經有非常穩固的市場價值了。就個人的語言供給來說，國語愈流利的人職業地位就愈高。就工作的語言需求而言，使用不同語言的工作在職業地位上有清楚的階序：閩南語的工作領域是一個「壞」的勞動市場，使用國語的工作領域則是一個「好」的勞動市場。

Using data derived from two social surveys carried out in Taiwan in the 1990s, this paper explores the ways in which language skill and usage are linked to ethnic disparities in occupational achievement. Combining insights from different perspectives of language, I argue that linguistic capital is a composite of human, cultural, and social capital, useful for getting ahead. Regression analyses are used to examine the role played by language in the process of occupational achievement among men aged 21-64. Results of empirical analysis indicate that Mandarin skills, which are unequally distributed among ethnic groups, represent linguistic capital in the labor market. Meanwhile, the effects of socioeconomic origins, educational attainment, segregation between state and private sectors, and Mandarin proficiency on ISEI scores are stable during the 1990s. Patterns of ethnic effects, however, have changed over time.