Abstract
Research using traditional experimental paradigms (e.g., Priming, Stroop and Simon tasks), narratives and interview type data have revealed that bilingual speakers process and express emotion differently in their two languages. In the current study, both a qualitative and quantitative approach were taken to investigate how individuals who know and regularly use several languages process emotion in each of their languages. In Experiment 1, emotional stimuli in the L2 and L3 was quantitatively investigated using an Affective Simon Task. Participants consisted of Sub-Saharan African multilinguals who had acquired Kiswahili (L2) after their mother tongue (L1), followed by English (L3). The results revealed no difference in the way emotion and emotion-laden words were processed in the two languages (Kiswahili and English). However, significant Affective Simon Effects emerged for positive emotion and emotion-laden words, suggesting that these multilinguals largely process positive emotions in their L2 and L3. In Experiment 2, narrative data generated by multilinguals was used to determine how language selection was influenced by context and type of emotional situation. Themes that emerged within the qualitative analysis revealed that one’s L1 was the more emotional language when expressing negative emotions, while the L2 and L3 were reported to be used more frequently when expressing positive emotions, or when discussing more sensitive or embarrassing topics.
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics
Reference35 articles.
1. Does cariño equal “liking”? A theoretical approach to conceptual nonequivalence between languages;Altarriba;International Journal of Bilingualism,2003
2. Expressions of emotion as mediated by context;Altarriba;Bilingualism: Language and Cognition,2008
3. The representation of emotion vs. emotion-laden words in English and Spanish in the Affective Simon Task;Altarriba;International Journal of Bilingualism,2010
4. Cooper, Saths, and Ratele, Kopano Number of translation differences in Spanish and Chinese bilinguals: The difficulty in finding a direct translation for emotion words. Psychology Serving Humanity: Vol. II, 2014.
5. Multiple translations in bilingual memory: Processing differences across con-crete, abstract, and emotion words;Basnight-Brown;Journal of Psycholinguistic Research,2016