Bilinguals' Emotion Expression and Perception in L2: Proficiency Matters for Some but Not All Emotions

Abstract

Verbal expression and perception of emotions have been topics of interest in various disciplines, and the domain of bilingualism is no exception. Research has firmly established the dominance of the first-learned language (L1) in emotion expression and perception. However, there is some evidence that bilinguals are able to experience emotionality in the language they learn later in life (L2). This study aims to contribute to the present debate in the literature by providing evidence from late bilinguals' expression and perception of L2 emotionality relative to their L1. The participants (N = 205) were native speakers of Turkish who learned English through formal instruction after age 9. They completed an online survey adapted from Toivo et al. (2023) emotionality scale. Consistent with prior research, the results showed that L1 is the language of emotions for non-proficient bilinguals while proficient bilinguals, reported that they can alternatively use L2 when expressing some emotions and perceive it as emotionally powerful as L1. Regardless of proficiency level, however, higher emotional resonance in L1 was found for words suggesting negative emotions, that is swear words, insults, and criticisms. These results confirm the role of L1 priority in emotions but also suggest that proficiency may reduce this effect, at least for some emotions.