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The primary goal of this research was to examine the processing of emotionally valenced and neutral words in the context of bilingualism. The objective was to find out, using an experimental measure of automatic emotional activation, if there were differences in response time in the first and the second language, Hungarian and Serbian respectively....
Citations
... Similarly, it normally takes longer to name the color of negative emotion words than it takes to name the color of neutral words in an (L1) emotional Stroop task. For early bilinguals (i.e., those who acquired both languages during early childhood) that are equally proficient in both their languages (e.g., Grabovac & Pléh, 2014;Sutton et al., 2007) and/or for immersed bilinguals (e.g., Eilola & Havelka, 2011;Grabovac & Pléh, 2014), the emotional Stroop effect still occurs when the task is completed in their L2. However, the effect disappears in participants who have lower L2-proficiency (i.e., they can name the color of negative L2 emotion words just as quickly as the color of L2 neutral words). ...
... Similarly, it normally takes longer to name the color of negative emotion words than it takes to name the color of neutral words in an (L1) emotional Stroop task. For early bilinguals (i.e., those who acquired both languages during early childhood) that are equally proficient in both their languages (e.g., Grabovac & Pléh, 2014;Sutton et al., 2007) and/or for immersed bilinguals (e.g., Eilola & Havelka, 2011;Grabovac & Pléh, 2014), the emotional Stroop effect still occurs when the task is completed in their L2. However, the effect disappears in participants who have lower L2-proficiency (i.e., they can name the color of negative L2 emotion words just as quickly as the color of L2 neutral words). ...
... Because studies suggest that L2-proficiency moderates the extent to which emotional resonance is dampened in a L2 (Caldwell-Harris et al., 2011;Harris, 2004), where high proficient bilinguals experience similar emotional resonance in their L1 and L2 (Degner et al., 2012;Grabovac & Pléh, 2014;Sutton et al., 2007), we included an objective measurement of proficiency in addition to self-reported proficiency. This allowed us to include both measurements as covariates in our analyses to control for the eventual effect of L2-proficiency. ...
Emotional experiences are often dulled in one's second language. We tested whether emotion concepts are more strongly associated with first language (L1) than second language (L2) emotion words. Participants (140 L1-Swedish-L2-English bilinguals) saw a facial expression of an emotion (cue) followed by a target, which could either be another facial expression, an L1 emotion word, or an L2 emotion word. Participants indicated whether the cue and target represented the same or different emotions as fast as possible. Participants were faster and more accurate in both the L1 and L2 word conditions compared to the face condition. However, no significant differences emerged between the L1 and L2 word conditions, suggesting that emotion concepts are not more strongly associated with L1 than L2 emotion words. These results replicate prior research showing that L1 emotion words speed facial emotion perception and provide initial evidence that words (not only first language words) shape emotion perception.
... In addition, this study did not find any effect of dominance and the context or the age of language acquisition. Other authors have shown equivalent results in different tasks, such as similar reaction times to negative words (Grabovac and Pléh, 2014) or the Affective Simon Task (Altarriba and Basnight-Brown, 2011). These divergences highlight the need to test the effect of using a foreign language using distinct psychological processes. ...
The use of a foreign language has been introduced in the clinical setting as a form of emotional distance to help deal with negative experiences. However, the evidence of foreign language reducing emotionality during processing negative events is still scarce. This study aims to test whether the description and processing of a traumatic or highly emotional event in a foreign language could modulate the strength of the connection between traumatic symptomatology and emotional reaction. For this purpose, a sample of 128 healthy participants completed a series of questionnaires via an online platform. Firstly, their levels of distress, arousal and valence were assessed in their native language. Secondly, they were assigned to either the native language or the foreign language group and described a negative childhood event in the assigned language (English or Spanish), followed by five questions for processing the event. Next, their emotionality was assessed again in their native language. Finally, a questionnaire of traumatic stress symptoms and an avoidance scale were completed. Results showed that the relationship between traumatic symptomatology and emotionality was moderated by the language of processing the negative event. Specifically, traumatic symptomatology was more strongly associated with distress and arousal change when the processing task was performed in the native language. These findings suggest the influence of a foreign language on emotional reactivity when a negative experience is processed, which could be an essential tool in the treatment of disorders related to stress and trauma.
... Similarly, it normally takes longer to name the color of negative emotion words than it takes to name the color of neutral words in an (L1) emotional Stroop task. For early bilinguals (i.e., who acquired both languages during early childhood) that are equally proficient in both their languages (e.g., Grabovac & Pléh, 2014;Sutton et al., 2007) and/or for immersed bilinguals (e.g., Eilola & Havelka, 2010;Grabovac & Pléh, 2014), the emotional Stroop effect still occurs when the task is completed in their L2. On the other hand, these studies find that the color of negative L2 emotion words do not take longer to name than the color of L2 neutral words for participants who have lower L2 proficiency. ...
... Similarly, it normally takes longer to name the color of negative emotion words than it takes to name the color of neutral words in an (L1) emotional Stroop task. For early bilinguals (i.e., who acquired both languages during early childhood) that are equally proficient in both their languages (e.g., Grabovac & Pléh, 2014;Sutton et al., 2007) and/or for immersed bilinguals (e.g., Eilola & Havelka, 2010;Grabovac & Pléh, 2014), the emotional Stroop effect still occurs when the task is completed in their L2. On the other hand, these studies find that the color of negative L2 emotion words do not take longer to name than the color of L2 neutral words for participants who have lower L2 proficiency. ...
A growing literature suggests that emotional intensity is reduced when reading or speaking in a second language. One potential theoretical explanation for this effect is that emotion concepts (which are thought to play a key role in constructing emotional experiences) are less strongly associated with second-language (L2) than first-language (L1) emotion words. We tested this possibility in 140 Swedish-English bilinguals aged 18-44 years (32.14% male, 66.43% female, 1.43% other). All participants spoke Swedish as L1 and English as L2. We adapted an existing paradigm to test how L1 and L2 emotion words influence emotion perception. Participants first saw a facial expression of an emotion (cue) followed by a target, which could either be another facial expression, an L1 emotion word, or an L2 emotion word. Participants indicated whether the cue and the target represented the same or different emotions as fast as possible. Results showed that participants were faster and more accurate in both the L1 and L2 word conditions compared to the face condition. However, no significant differences between the L1 and L2 word conditions emerged, suggesting that emotion concepts are more strongly connected to both L1 and a L2 emotion words than facial expressions of emotions. This result replicates prior research showing that L1 emotion words speed facial emotion perception and provide initial evidence against the notion that this effect is reduced for L2 words. However, studies in other cultural contexts, with less proficient bilinguals, and different language pairs are necessary to determine the generalizability of these results.
... The emotional difference that bilinguals describe between their languages has been well documented through the use of self-reports (Dewaele and Nakano 2013;Vélez-Uribe and Rosselli 2019;Dewaele 2004), behavioral measures (e.g., skin conductance: Caldwell- Harris et al. 2011;Jankowiak and Korpal 2018;Eilola and Havelka 2010), autobiographies (Marian and Kaushanskaya 2008;Larsen et al. 2002;Kinginger 2004) and in other experimental tasks (e.g., the Stroop task: Eilola and Havelka 2010;Sutton et al. 2007; Grabovac and Pléh 2014;Okada et al. 2019). The most frequent claim is that the native or first language (L1) is a stronghold for emotions due to early childhood development. ...
... Other studies have reported similar levels of emotionality across early bilinguals' two languages (Sutton et al. 2007;Grabovac and Pléh 2014). Sutton et al. (2007) examined the emotional Stroop effect in Spanish-English bilinguals residing in the U.S. On average, their participants reported beginning to speak English at 4.9 years and Spanish at 1.9 years. ...
Variation in the language experience of bilinguals has consequences for cognitive and affective processes. In the current study, we examined how bilingual experience influences the relationship between language and emotion in English among a group of Spanish–English heritage bilinguals on an emotion–memory task. Participants rated the emotionality of English taboo, negative and neutral words and then completed an unexpected recognition test. To account for language experience, data were gathered on the participants’ language dominance and proficiency. Results showed emotion–memory effects in the Spanish–English heritage bilinguals’ English (the societal language): taboo words were recognized significantly better than neutral words, while the emotionality of negative words carried over and significantly affected the recognition of preceding neutral words. Furthermore, such effects were modulated by language dominance scores with more pronounced emotion–memory effects in more English-dominant bilinguals. The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence showing that emotions are not necessarily restricted to the first acquired home language. Critically, for heritage speakers, there is often a shift in language dominance from the home language to the societal language. The present study demonstrates that the effects of emotion on memory are seen in the acquired societal language.
... However, if the second language learner seeks out opportunity to use their FL outside the classroom, it is possible that different emotional states may start to be associated with the second language (e.g., Caldwell- Harris, Tong, Lung, & Poo, 2011;Grabovac & Pleh, 2014;Vanek & Tovalovich, 2021). For example, balanced, immersed bilinguals who have migrated to the FL country show similar emotional reactivity in their NL and FL in emotional Stroop tasks (e.g., Grabovac & Pleh, 2014) and similar skin conductance responses to emotional phrases across both languages, even showing greater emotional responses to endearment phrases in the FL (e.g., Caldwell-Harris et al., 2011). ...
... However, if the second language learner seeks out opportunity to use their FL outside the classroom, it is possible that different emotional states may start to be associated with the second language (e.g., Caldwell- Harris, Tong, Lung, & Poo, 2011;Grabovac & Pleh, 2014;Vanek & Tovalovich, 2021). For example, balanced, immersed bilinguals who have migrated to the FL country show similar emotional reactivity in their NL and FL in emotional Stroop tasks (e.g., Grabovac & Pleh, 2014) and similar skin conductance responses to emotional phrases across both languages, even showing greater emotional responses to endearment phrases in the FL (e.g., Caldwell-Harris et al., 2011). ...
Emerging evidence shows bilinguals employ different decision-making strategies in their foreign language compared to their native language (known as the Foreign Language Effect). When completing moral dilemmas, accumulating research findings indicate that bilinguals are more likely to endorse the utilitarian option. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate whether linguistic variables (proficiency, immersion, and language similarity) moderate utilitarian responding to moral dilemmas in a foreign language. A systematic literature search extracted experiments comparing binary responses to moral dilemmas among bilingual participants. Analyses confirmed a moral Foreign Language Effect within personal dilemmas, though this effect was moderated by self-reported reading proficiency, whereby bilinguals with higher self-reported reading proficiency were less likely to make a utilitarian choice. Our findings suggest that not all bilinguals may experience a Foreign Language Effect, with low self-reported reading proficiency being the most likely indicator of whether their response tendencies to a moral dilemma change in the foreign language.
... A growing body of survey (e.g., Dewaele, 2010), physiological (e.g., Jankowiak & Korpal, 2018), electrophysiological (e.g., Jończyk et al., 2016), and hemodynamic (e.g., Hsu et al., 2015) research has pointed to emotional detachment in unbalanced bilinguals operating in their L2. Such dampened emotional sensitivity in L2 relative to L1 has also been found in relation to decontextualised emotional words (e.g., Degner et al., 2012;Fan et al., 2017;Wu & Thierry, 2012; but see Eilola et al., 2007;Grabovac & Pléh, 2014;Ponari et al., 2015). For instance, in an event-related potential (ERP) study employing an implicit translation-priming paradigm, Wu and Thierry (2012) observed that while reading L2 negative words did not automatically activate L1 translation equivalents in unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals, reading positive and neutral words resulted in language-coactivation. ...
... Such a gender-independent effect is consistent with previous research pointing to facilitatory mechanisms involved in emotional compared to neutral word processing in both L1 (e.g., Goh et al., 2016;Kissler & Herbert, 2013;Kousta et al., 2009;Vinson et al., 2014) and L2 (e.g., Conrad et al., 2011;Ferré et al., 2013;Grabovac & Pléh, 2014;Opitz & Degner, 2012;Ponari et al., 2015). For instance, in the study by Ponari et al. (2015), early and late bilingual speakers of 14 typologically different languages and native speakers of English showed slower lexical responses to neutral compared to emotional (positive and negative) words in their respective languages. ...
Aims and objectives:
We aimed to explore the relationship between mood and emotional word processing in the bilingual context, as modulated by participants’ gender.
Methodology:
We presented mood-inducing film clips to 28 female and 28 male unbalanced Polish–English bilinguals to put them in positive and negative moods. Participants were asked to decide if native language (L1) and non-native language (L2) single words were positive, negative, or neutral (an emotive decision task).
Data and analysis:
We analysed participants’ subjective mood ratings pre- and post-experimentally together with speed (a linear mixed-effects model) and accuracy (a generalised mixed-effects model) of their responses to single L1 and L2 words.
Findings:
The results revealed an interaction between mood and language as dependent on word valence, whereby faster reaction times (RTs) were observed to L1 than L2 neutral words only in a positive mood and to L2 positive words in a positive than negative mood. We also observed a response facilitation in a positive compared to negative mood, yet only in females. Finally, we observed faster and more accurate responses to positive and negative compared to neutral words, irrespective of gender and language of operation. Altogether, the results suggest that mood influences how unbalanced bilinguals respond to emotional words and shed a novel light on the role of participants’ gender in emotional word processing.
Originality:
This study extends monolingual research on emotional word processing to the bilingual context and shows how word valence modulates the way unbalanced bilinguals, being put in positive and negative moods, respond to L1 and L2 words. Our results also offer novel insights into research on mood and language, demonstrating that females can be more susceptible to mood changes than males.
Significance:
Our results highlight the importance of controlling participants’ mood and gender in research on emotional language processing in both monolingual and bilingual contexts.
... Omenjene raziskave so bile izvedene na vzorcih poznih zaporednih dvojezičnih govorcev in so dejansko beležile razliko med stopnjo emocionalnosti med prvim in drugim jezikom. Druge laboratorijske raziskave, ki so bile izvedene na vzorcih simultanih in zgodnjih dvojezičnih govorečih, ki so drugi jezik usvojili v zgodnjem otroštvu, pa ne beležijo razlik v stopnji čustvene obarvanosti (Ferré et al. 2010;2014;Grabovac & Pléh 2014). Danes ena najbolj uveljavljenih teorij, ki lahko razloži nedoslednost rezultatov, je povezana s teorijo o utelešenem jeziku (ang. ...
Članek obravnava vprašanje izbire jezikovnega koda pri slovenskih literarnih ustvarjalcih v Italiji. Tudi pri tej manjšinski skupnosti, podobno kot pri Slovencih na avstrijskem Koroškem, lahko opazimo premik pri izbiri jezika, saj se nekateri odločajo za pisanje v svojem drugem jeziku oz. jeziku okolja ali za dvojezično oz. translingvalno pisanje. V članku avtorica ta pojav poveže s psiholingvističnimi teorijami o čustvenih vidikih izbire jezikovnega koda, ki dokazujejo, da obstajajo različne stopnje čustvenega doživljanja jezika, na katerega seveda vplivajo zelo različni (tako notranji kot zunanji) dejavniki. Ker je odzivov na literarni večjezični pojav precej in ker sami avtorji v različnih oblikah utemeljujejo svojo izbiro, jo želi prispevek na podlagi ugotovitev psihologije večjezičnega govorca uokviriti in razložiti na primeru slovenskih avtorjev v Italiji.
Ključne besede: dvojezični pisci, izbira jezikovnega koda, čustveni vidiki, Slovenci v Italiji.
Emotional Aspects in the Choice of the Language Code among Slovene Writers in Italy
The article explores the choice of language code among Slovene writers in Italy. During the last decade, there has been a shift in the choice of language, just like among Slovenes in Austrian Carinthia, as some writers choose to write either in their second language or language of the environment or opt for bilingual or translingual writing. In the article, the author connects this phenomenon with psycholinguistic theories on the emotional aspects of language code choice, proving that there are different levels of emotional experience of language, which of course is influenced by very different (both internal and external) factors. Since there are many responses to the literary multilingual phenomenon and because the authors themselves justify their choice in various forms, the article attempts to frame and explain it based on the findings of the psychology of multilingual speakers on the example of Slovene writers in Italy.
... While a lot of research points in this direction (e.g. Pavlenko 2008; Grosjean 2010), a noteworthy exception are early bilinguals who acquired their second language in naturalistic and emotionally salient contexts (Grabovac and Pléh 2014;Pavlenko 2012;Caldwell-Harris 2014). The question of whether a non-native language can match or exceed the intensity of the mother tongue in populations other than early bilinguals is resonant because of discrepancies in findings often attributable to different data elicitation methods. ...
... The emotional Stroop paradigm, just like ratings, also generated mixed results, highlighting the need to consider nuances in participant characteristics. Grabovac and Pléh (2014) found that for early balanced Hungarian-Serbian bilinguals there were negligible differences between languages in the interference of emotionality, implying very similar emotional weight of taboo and negative words in L1 and L2. This is consistent with self-reports emphasising the impact of language proficiency and early onset of acquisition on emotional sensitivity to the L2. ...
To what extent does emotional reactivity differ when bilinguals process input in their native (L1) or non-native language (L2)? Does the L1 elicit a significantly stronger emotional arousal or can salient second language experience generate comparably strong associations between emotions and the L2? These questions were addressed through two measures of emotional arousal, (online) skin conductance responses (SCR) and (offline) emotionality ratings. Russian-English late bilinguals, UK university students, were presented different types of university-related expressions in English and Russian. The vocabulary types were university-related emotionally-laden expressions (‘Плагиат’/‘Plagiarism’) and neutral words (‘Круг’/‘Circle’). Two main results emerged. First, in L1, SCRs showed a significantly increased electro-dermal activity when participants reacted to university-related words. Emotionality ratings showed contrasts based on stimulus type in both languages. These results indicate that university-related words qualify as a category of emotionally charged expressions. Second, between-language tests showed that electrodermal reactivity was not more reduced in L2 than in L1, which was also mirrored in emotionality ratings. These findings are located within the existing empirical context, and alternative interpretations are provided to further our understanding of how an emotionally salient L2 context contributes to shifts from mother tongue dominance to an increased emotional power of the second language.
... Andrić , 2010(vö. Andrić , 2012Bene 2012;Čudić 2003;Gábrity Molnár 2007;Göncz 1985Göncz , 1991Göncz , 1995Göncz , 1999Göncz , 2004Grabovac 2005Grabovac , 2009Grabovac , 2010Grabovac , 2011Grabovac , 2012Grabovac , 2013Grabovac , 2014Láncz 1996;Mikes 1995;Mirnics 2003;Molnár Csikós 1974, 1998, 2000Papp 2004;Rajsli 1995Rajsli , 1996Takács 2011;Vukov Raffai 2009, részben pedig folytatása saját előzetes felmérésünknek (Kovács Rácz 2011a, 2011b, 2015. Mindemellett jelen kötetünk egyes részleteit számos előző tanulmányunkban is taglaltuk (Kovács Rácz-Halupka-Rešetar 2017a, 2017b; Halupka-Rešetar-Kovács Rácz 2019, 2020a, 2020b). ...
The book explores the languge attitudes of 1087 Hungarian L1 high school
pupils in Vojvodina, Serbia, towards (1) English as a foreign language and (2) Serbian as the majority language, based on their value judgements and taking into account numerous variables which might prove to interact with their attitudes (primarily the type of high school - grammar school or vocational school, as well as the environment the respondents live in - homogeneous Hungarian or heterogeneous but also some other variables such as school grade, self -assessed proficiency, etc). The results of the research are expected to add to the study of language attitudes in a multilingual context,
to help us understand better language situations in areas where bilingualism
is promoted and to aid the implementation of coherent language policies.
... On the other hand, Serbian is the state language and it is therefore expected that minority L1 speakers should generally be bilingual. However, a sharp distinction between people living in a diffuse and in a compact environment has already been established in the existing sociolinguistic literature on the Hungarian minority in Vojvodina (Andrić, 2002(Andrić, , 2004(Andrić, , 2006(Andrić, , 2007(Andrić, , 2009(Andrić, , 2012Bene, 2012;Čudić, 2003;Göncz, 1985Göncz, , 1991Göncz, , 1995Göncz, , 1999Göncz, , 2004Grabovac, 2005Grabovac, , 2009Grabovac, , 2010Grabovac, , 2011Grabovac, , 2012Grabovac, , 2013Grabovac and Pléh, 2014;Láncz, 1996;Mirnics, 2003;Molnár Csikós, 1974Papp, 2004;Rajsli, 1995Rajsli, , 1996Vukov Raffai, 2009; as well as our own research, Kovács Rácz, 2011a, 2011b, 2012a, 2012b. Namely, a large proportion of young Hungarians living in a compact environment (spatially polarized) in Vojvodina are completely or functionally illiterate in Serbian (cf. ...
Although there is abundant literature on attitudes toward English, much less has so far been said about the attitudes of minority language speakers toward a foreign language, especially in contexts in which the minority language speakers receive formal education in their L1 and are not immersed in an English environment. The paper presents the results of a survey conducted among grammar schools pupils in Vojvodina (Serbia) whose L1 is Hungarian and who have been studying English for over 10 years. There were two groups of research participants, based on the area where they live (compact vs. diffuse language community). The research instrument was a questionnaire, which contained two parts: the first part investigated the participants' profile and the second part explored the participants' value judgements regarding English. The results of the study confirm the initial hypothesis that students living in a diffuse environment will be open to exposure to English and that their attitudes to EFL will be more positive than the attitudes of students living in a compact environment. Only some of the more general independent variables included in the study show an interaction with positive attitudes towards English. The results of the study lead to pinpointing some determinants of the attitudes Hungarian L1 students in Serbia hold toward English, thereby adding to the scarce literature on minority speakers' attitudes to a foreign language in a multilingual and multicultural area like Vojvodina.
