Second Language as an Exemptor from Sociocultural Norms. Emotion-Related Language Choice Revisited

PLoS ONE 8(12): e81225, 2013, DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0081225

1 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2013

See all articles by Marta Gawinkowska

Marta Gawinkowska

University of Warsaw - Faculty of Psychology

Michał B. Paradowski

University of Warsaw

Michał Bilewicz

University of Warsaw - Faculty of Psychology

Date Written: December 11, 2013

Abstract

Bilinguals often switch languages depending on what they are saying. According to the Emotion-Related Language Choice theory, they find their second language an easier medium of conveying content which evokes strong emotions. The first language carries too much emotional power, which can be threatening for the speaker. In a covert experiment, bilingual Polish students translated texts brimming with expletives from Polish into English and vice versa. In the Polish translations, the swear word equivalents used were weaker than in the source text; in the English translations, they were stronger than in the original. These results corroborate the ERLC theory. However, the effect was only observed for ethnophaulisms, i.e. expletives directed at social groups. It turns out that the main factor triggering the language choice in bilinguals is not necessarily the different emotional power of both languages, but social and cultural norms.

Keywords: bilingualism, language choice, swearing, swear words, ethnophaulisms, social norms, second language, translation

Suggested Citation

Gawinkowska, Marta and Paradowski, Michał B. and Bilewicz, Michał, Second Language as an Exemptor from Sociocultural Norms. Emotion-Related Language Choice Revisited (December 11, 2013). PLoS ONE 8(12): e81225, 2013, DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0081225, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2366580

Marta Gawinkowska

University of Warsaw - Faculty of Psychology ( email )

ul. Stawki 5/7
Warsaw, 00-183
Poland

Michał B. Paradowski (Contact Author)

University of Warsaw ( email )

Browarna 8/10
Warsaw, 00-311
Poland
+48225520988 (Phone)
+48228261391 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ils.uw.edu.pl/387.html

Michał Bilewicz

University of Warsaw - Faculty of Psychology ( email )

ul. Stawki 5/7
Warsaw, 00-183
Poland

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