10. When is a First Language More Emotional? Psychophysiological Evidence from Bilingual Speakers

Self-reported use and perception of the L1 and L2 among maximally proficient bi- and multilinguals: a quantitative and qualitative investigation

“…Most reported that the L1 has a stronger emotional resonance than the L2, which could be linked to the "emotional context of learning" (Harris et al 2006). But those who had spent a considerable amount of time in the United Kingdom or abroad reported fewer differences in the use and perception of their L1 and L2.…”

“…Altarriba (2003), Harris et al (2006), and Pavlenko (2002Pavlenko ( , 2005 suggest that this effect stems from the way the L1 was learned. Emotional words and scripts learned in childhood acquire rich emotional connotations and may be encoded more deeply, with strong links to the limbic system and storage in implicit memory.…”

Emotionality in a second language: It's a matter of time

“…The difference in mental representations of emotional words in L1 and L2 is best explained through differences in the timing and/or context of language acquisition, assuming that the later and more formal acquisition of a second language (e.g., in school settings) does not allow for the establishment of emotionally relevant autobiographical and other diverse sets of associations in relation to emotional interpersonal interactions (e.g., Altarriba, 2003;Harris et al, 2006) as the natural and early acquisition of L1. This so-called 'emotional contexts of learning' theory holds that a word's distinctive emotional feel is learned across multiple exposures of a word in distinctive emotional contexts (Harris et al, 2006).…”

“…This so-called 'emotional contexts of learning' theory holds that a word's distinctive emotional feel is learned across multiple exposures of a word in distinctive emotional contexts (Harris et al, 2006). Consequently, the reduced emotionality of L2 as compared to L1 could 4 then be attributed to weaker associations between a word and its emotional context.…”

Emotional activation measured using the emotional Stroop task in early Hungarian-Serbian bilinguals from Serbia

“…The relations and interplay between language and emotions have been assessed employing various methods: rating procedures (Altarriba 2006), experimental designs (Sutton et al 2007;Eilola et al 2007;Eilola & Havelka 2010b;Winskel 2013), and physiological measures (Harris et al 2006;Eilola & Havelka 2010b).…”