Marian Viorica, Kaushanskaya Margarita
Northwestern University / University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ment Lex. 2008 Jan 1;3(1):72-90. doi: 10.1075/ml.3.1.06mar.
Cross-linguistic differences in emotionality of autobiographical memories were examined by eliciting memories of immigration from bilingual speakers. Forty-seven Russian-English bilinguals were asked to recount their immigration experiences in either Russian or English. Bilinguals used more emotion words when describing their immigration experiences in the second language (English) than in the first language (Russian). Bilinguals' immigration narratives contained more negative emotion words than positive emotion words. In addition, language preference (but not language proficiency) influenced results, with emotional expression amplified when speaking in the preferred language. These findings carry implications for organization of the bilingual lexicon and the special status of emotion words within it. We suggest that bilinguals' expression of emotion may vary across languages and that the linguistic and affective systems are interconnected in the bilingual cognitive architecture.
通过唤起双语者的移民记忆，研究了自传体记忆情感方面的跨语言差异。47名俄语-英语双语者被要求用俄语或英语讲述他们的移民经历。双语者在使用第二语言（英语）描述移民经历时比使用第一语言（俄语）时使用了更多的情感词汇。双语者的移民叙述中负面情感词汇比正面情感词汇更多。此外，语言偏好（而非语言能力）影响了结果，用偏好的语言说话时情感表达会增强。这些发现对双语词汇的组织以及其中情感词汇的特殊地位具有启示意义。我们认为双语者的情感表达可能因语言而异，并且在双语认知结构中语言和情感系统是相互关联的。
