‘That part of me is in a different language’: 1.5 generation migrants’ views on feelings of difference when switching languages

ABSTRACT

Multilinguals’ feelings of difference when switching languages have been discussed extensively. However, this research area has mainly focused on multilinguals dominant in their first language (L1), examining the feelings they experience when using any language other than the L1 (LX). The present study offers a novel perspective on this topic and focuses on 19 Russian Australians belonging to the 1.5 generation, who participated in semi-structured interviews. This generation of childhood sequential bilinguals, by virtue of their early second language (L2) acquisition, is usually L2 dominant or L1+L2 dominant. This study presents qualitative analyses on these speakers’ feelings of difference in relation to their L1, Russian, and L2, English. Participants’ sense of feeling different typically emerged when using the L1, a language that maintained a strong emotional resonance, even when the speakers were potential L1 attriters. Hence, the combination of the emotional connotations attributed to the L1 and the inability to fully express themselves in this language seemed to intensify these speakers’ feelings of difference when using the language. These findings highlight the importance of focusing on the 1.5 generation, and on LX-dominant multilinguals in general, to better understand the potential role of L1 attrition on multilinguals’ self-perceptions when switching languages.

KEYWORDS:

• 1.5 generation
• immigrant children
• childhood sequential bilinguals
• feeling different in different languages
• L1 attrition

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the participants of this study for their time and precious insights. I am also very grateful to the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their help and suggestions on the previous versions of this paper, and to Natalia Batova for verifying the Russian-English translations.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 I use the terms bilingual and multilingual interchangeably to refer to any individual who has at least minimal competence in two or more languages (Dewaele 2015; Li 2000; Pavlenko 2005).

2 I use the term LX to refer generally to any language acquired after the first (Dewaele 2010), while I use the term L2 to indicate the second language learnt chronologically after the first.