LOVE STYLES FROM A BILINGUAL (HUNGARIAN-SERBIAN) AND A MONOLINGUAL (SERBIAN) PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Recently there has been a growing body of research interested in the concept of love and in the emotional life of bilinguals. The aim of this research was twofold. One aim was to explore the love styles of young people in Vojvodina, Serbia in the context of Hungarian and Serbian language. On the other hand, a monolingual Serbian group and a bilingual group of Hungarian-Serbian young people were studied to see if there were significant differences in their intimate relationships in Serbian, as the dominant language and in Hungarian, as a minority language. The goal was to explore if there were different love styles connected to each language in a majority and a minority group. Additionally, we wanted to see if there were detectable language dominance effects in bilinguals, whether bilinguals had different romantic relationship constructs in their two languages. In this research, Susan and Clyde Hendrick's Love Attitude Scale-Short form was applied. The scale was translated into Hungarian and Serbian. The equality of the meaning of the two scale versions was carefully matched. The results showed that comparing the monolingual group and the bilingual group in the first language there were group differences in Eros and Agape. In the monolingual Hungarian and bilingual Serbian answers we can find the same differences: Eros and Agape were found to be more powerfully expressed in the bilingual group in both of their languages compared to the monolingual group. Considering bilinguals' first and second language results, two styles have been found to differ. These were Mania and Storge, which were present in different amounts in the first and the second language. The relevance of this study lies in the fact that there is a rising number of multiethnic and multicultural intimate relationships. Many of the partners have to use a second language to express love and affection. Expression and understanding of emotions may depend on the language which is used in communication and on cultural variation in values and norms. This research has important implications for the study of ethnocultural differences and first- and second language modulated affective functioning. Keywords: bilingualism, monolingualism, love, Love Attitude Scale, Hungarian, Serbian.