Emotional Expression in Spanish/L2: A Qualitative Analysis of Anger Narratives in Bilingual Speakers

Abstract

This study compares the verbal expression of emotion in bilingual speakers depending on the language used, English L1 or Spanish L2. Twenty American university students, with intermediate Spanish proficiency and in an immersion context, produced oral narratives about personal experiences of anger in both languages. Using a mixed-methods approach that combined qualitative techniques of annotation and coding with quantitative methods, the presence and frequency of the emotions expressed were analyzed. The results show that emotional expression is largely comparable between L1 and L2, with no systematic advantage for either language, although differences emerge in the nature of the emotions expressed, with a tendency toward more reactive and intense emotions in L1 and more reflective and calm emotions in L2. The frequency of emotion use was similar, except for frustration, which was significantly more frequent in L1, potentially due to lexical-semantic differences between the two languages in the conceptualization and verbalization of anger. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating sociocultural perspectives that allow for a deeper understading of the verbal expression of emotion in bilingual speakers.