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The auditory and visual appraisal of emotion-related words in Spanish–English bilinguals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2017

IDALY VÉLEZ-URIBE  and
MÓNICA ROSSELLI
IDALY VÉLEZ-URIBE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL, USA
MÓNICA ROSSELLI*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Mónica Rosselli, Department of Psychology, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Florida Atlantic University, 3200 College Ave, Davie, FL 33314, USA[email protected]
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Abstract

Bilinguals experience emotions differently depending on which language they are speaking. Emotionally loaded words were expected to be appraised differently in the first versus the second language in Spanish–English bilinguals. Three categories of words (positive, negative, and taboo) were appraised in both languages in the visual and auditory sensory modalities. Positive word ratings were more positive in English than in Spanish. Negative words were judged as more negative in English than in Spanish. Taboo words were rated as more negative in Spanish than in English. Significant regression models were obtained for the visual and auditory positive words and auditory negative words with English and Spanish proficiency as the most significant predictors. Results support the view that there are differences in the appraisal of emotions in the two languages spoken by bilinguals; the direction of the difference depends on the emotion category of words, and it is influenced by language proficiency.

Keywords

emotionbilingualsSpanishEnglishauditoryvisual words
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 30 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

Our most sincere gratitude to Valeria Torres, Deven Christopher and AmberRose Reale for their editorial support.

Supplementary material can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728917000517

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