Abstract

ANTONELA, Bakić  and  SANJA, Škifić. The Relationship between Bilingualism and Identity in Expressing Emotions and Thoughts. Íkala [online]. 2017, vol.22, n.1, pp.33-54. ISSN 0123-3432.  https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.v22n01a03.

This paper deals with the relationship between bilingualism and ways of expressing emotions and thoughts. The paper is divided into two main parts. The first is theoretical, and the second provides an analysis of the research conducted for the purposes of this paper. As far as the theoretical part is concerned, the first section offers definitions of bilingualism and how bilingualism is connected to the construction of identity. The second section explains the impact of bilingualism on emotions, and the following section examines cognitive processes. This paper aims to demonstrate whether participants' second language is the language preferred for expressing emotions and thoughts, and to what extent. A qualitative methodology was used, through a questionnaire made up of open-ended questions. This gives place to a descriptive and quantitative presentation of the occurrences of usage of either L1, L2, or both in expressing emotions and other cognitive processes for all participants. Results and the analysis of the research undertaken are discussed in the remainder of the paper. After placing the participants in their sociolinguistic environment, focus is placed on the relationship between bilingualism and ways of expressing emotions, as this section examines different criteria which are taken into consideration to demonstrate that a bilingual person uses different languages in order to express emotions. The last section analyzes the results concerning cognitive processes. In addition, it analyzes different actions associated with thinking and examines for which processes and in which situations a bilingual person uses a particular language.

Keywords : bilingualism; identity; expressing emotions; expressing thoughts..

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