LANGUAGE CHOICE FOR EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN BILINGUAL SPEAKERS: THE CASE OF HUNGARIAN AND SERBIAN LANGUAGES
Keywords:
bilingualism, mother tongue, second language, expressing emotions
Abstract
The aim of this paper was to explore the relationship between the two languages and emotional expression of Hungarian-Serbian bilingual speakers. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches was used in the data analysis, setting out to cover as many aspects of the phenomenon as possible. The present study employed the adaptation of the Bilingualism and Emotions Questionnaire (BEQ) alongside statistical analysis and personal interviews to gain insights into the bilingual speakers’ thought process. The results suggest that individuals show a preference for a given language when discussing or displaying emotions, owing to a plethora of subjective factors such as the age of acquisition, context of acquisition, language dominance and language socialization. Even though the results lend support to the established hypotheses, these findings are not universally applicable and solely offer a framework for further investigation in the given field.
References
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Altarriba, Jeanette (2003). Does cariño equal “liking”?. International Journal of Bilingualism. 7/3: 305–322.
Aragno, Anna, and Peter J. Schlachet. (1996). Accessibility of early experience through the language of origin: A theoretical integration. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 13/1: 23–34.
Bialystok, Ellen (2013). Cognitive Effects. In: Grosjean, F. and Li, P. (ed.) The psycholinguistics of bilingualism. Wiley-Blackwell. 192-214.
Birdsong, David, O. S. Bohn, and M. J. Munro. (2007). Nativelike pronunciation among late learners of French as a second language. Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning, 99–116.
Block, Jennifer. A. (2002). Acceptance or change of private experiences: A comparative analysis in college students with public speaking anxiety. Doctoral dissertation. University at Albany, State University of New York.
Bond, Michael H., and Tat-ming Lai. (1986). Embarrassment and code switching into a second language. The Journal of Social Psychology. 126/2: 179–186.
Bowers, Jeffrey S., and Christopher W. Pleydell-Pearce. (2011). Swearing, euphemisms, and linguistic relativity. PLoS ONE. 6/7, Article e2234.
Buxbaum, Edith (1949). The role of a second language in the formation of ego and superego. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly. 18: 279–289.
Chomsky, Noam (2006). Language and mind. Cambridge University Press.
Clarke, Mark (1976). Second language acquisition as a clash of consciousness. Language Learning. 26/2: 377 – 90.
Dewaele, Jean-Marc (2006) Expressing anger in multiple languages. In: Pavlenko, A. (ed.) Bilingual minds: Emotional experience, expression, and representation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
Dewaele, Jean-Marc (2008). The emotional weight of I love you in multilinguals’ languages. Journal of Pragmatics. 40/10: 1753–1780.
Dewaele, Jean-Marc (2010). Emotions in multiple languages. Palgrave Macmillan.
Dewaele, Jean-Marc and Aneta Pavlenko (2001–2003). Web questionnaire Bilingualism and Emotions. University of London.
Freud, Sigmund (1893). The Psychical Mechanisms of Hysterical Phenomena. London: Hogarth Press.
Gibbs Jr, Raymond W. (2002). A new look at literal meaning in understanding what is said and implicated. Journal of pragmatics. 34/4: 457–486.
Greenson, Ralph R. (1950). The mother tongue and the mother. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 31: 18–23.
Grosjean, François (2008). Studying bilinguals. Oxford University Press.
Grosjean, Francois, and Ping Li. (2013). The psycholinguistics of bilingualism. Wiley-Blackwell.
Harris, Catherine L. (2004). Bilingual Speakers in the Lab: Psychophysiological Measures of Emotional Reactivity. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 25/2–3: 223–247.
Javier, Rafael A., and Luis R. Marcos. (1989). The role of stress on the language-independence and code-switching phenomena. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 18/5): 449–472.
Journal of Pragmatics, 34 (4), 457-486.
Kinginger, Celeste (2008) Language Learning in Study Abroad: Case Studies of Americans in France. The Modern Language Journal. 92: i–131.
Kinginger, Celeste (2009). Language learning and study abroad: A critical reading of research. Palgrave Macmillan.
Krapf, Eduardo E. (1955). The choice of language in polyglot psychoanalysis. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 24, 343–357.
Pavlenko, Aneta (2002). Bilingualism and emotions. Multilingua - Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication. 21/1: 45–78.
Pavlenko, Aneta (2005). Emotions and multilingualism. Cambridge University Press.
Pavlenko, Aneta (2006). Emotional experience, expression, and representation. Multilingual Matters.
Pavlenko, Aneta (2009). The Bilingual Mental Lexicon: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Multilingual Matters.
Pavlenko, Aneta (2014). The Bilingual Mind: And What it Tells Us about Language and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmid, Monika S. (2009). On L1 attrition and the linguistic system. EUROSLA Yearbook. 9: 212–244.
Schwanberg, Jennifer Suzanne (2010). Does language of retrieval affect the remembering of trauma?. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 11/1: 44–56.
Simcox, Travis et al. (2011). Does the language in which aversive stimuli are presented affect their processing?. International Journal of Bilingualism. 16: 419–427.
Stubbs, Michael (1997). Language and the mediation of experience: Linguistic representation and cognitive orientation. In: The Handbook of Sociolinguistics (F. Coulmas, ed.). 358–373.
Talmi, Deborah, and Morris Moscovitch (2004). Can semantic relatedness explain the enhancement of memory for emotional words?. Memory & Cognition. 32/5: 742–751.
Wierzbicka, Anna (1999). Emotions across Languages and Cultures: Diversity and Universals (Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction). Cambridge University Press.
