Do interlocutors or conversation topics affect migrants’ sense of feeling different when switching languages?

ABSTRACT

A majority of multilinguals report feeling different when switching languages [Dewaele, J.-M. (2016). “Why do So Many Bi- and Multilinguals Feel Different When Switching Languages?” International Journal of Multilingualism 13 (1): 92–105; Panicacci, A., and J.-M. Dewaele. (2017). “‘A Voice from Elsewhere’: Acculturation, Personality and Migrants’ Self-perceptions Across Languages and Cultures.” International Journal of Multilingualism. doi:10.1080/14790718.2016.1273937]. The present study focuses on feelings of difference when switching languages with specific categories of interlocutors (strangers, colleagues, friends, family, partner) and when discussing specific types of topics (neutral, personal, emotional). Statistical analyses revealed that 468 Italian migrants living in English-speaking countries feel more different when they use English to discuss emotional topics with less familiar interlocutors. Subsequent interviews with five participants and data from a survey open question pointed at migrants’ affective socialisation within the new cultural environment, cultural orientation and other unique personal aspects as potential causes for this phenomenon.

KEYWORDS:

• Multilingual identities
• multilingualism
• self-perception in different languages
• affective socialisation
• emotions in different languages
• migrants’ identities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Participants’ names have been presented in full or in the form of initials, according to their preference.