Emotions in Multiple Languages

This is the first large-scale investigation on how multilinguals feel about their languages and use them to communicate emotion. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches,Jean-Marc Dewaele looks at the factors that affect multilinguals' self-perceived competence, attitudes, communicative anxiety, language choice and code-switching when expressing feelings, anger and when swearing. Nearly 1,600 multilinguals from all over the world participated in the research. The results suggest that how and when a language was learned determines future use and communicative anxiety. Aspects such as present use of the language, the total number of languages known, and the level of emotional intelligence also play an important role.Interviews with participantsreveal the importance of cultural factors and show how the slow process of acculturation in a new community is accompanied by gradual changes in language preferences to communicate emotions.

JEAN-MARC DEWAELE isProfessor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. He has published widely on individual differences in psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, psychological and emotional aspects of Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism. He is president of the European Second Language Association (2007-2011) and Convenor of the AILA Research Network Multilingualism: Acquisition and Use.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Perspectives on Emotion
2. Epistemological and Methodological Perspectives
3. Method, Research Question and Hypotheses
4. The Independent Variables
5. Results: Self-perceived Competence in Oral and Written Language
6. Results: Communicating Feelings (in general)
7. Results: Communicating Anger and Swearing
8. Results: Attitudes towards Languages and Perception of Emotionality of Swearwords
9. Results: Foreign Language Anxiety
10. Results: Code-switching and Emotion
Concluding Remarks
References
Appendix
Index