Abstract
A very popular field in research on bilingualism and multilingualism is how bilingual and multilingual people perceive and express their feelings and which languages they prefer each time (Pavlenko, 2012). A fascinating issue is that of distancing oneself from an L2 - something that has also been discussed in the texts of bilingual writers who have stated that their L2 was for them a less emotionally charged language, in comparison with their L1. Besides, a speaker often uses his L1 to express emotions, since each language can convey distinct emotional meanings according to the interlocutors and the context. Moreover, research on conscious event retrieval and autobiographical memory has also provided evidence for memory and language, as it has been found that memories tend to be more readily available for retrieval in the language in which they first appeared. Bilinguals generally report their memories in more detail and the level of processing during memory retrieval is higher in the language in which the event occurred. The exploration of the effect of multilingualism on memory and emotions is a promising field that can help educators and academics better understand the speakers’ abilities and specific attributes.
Highlights
According to Aronin (2005), the twentieth century can be distinguished into three stages as far as the study of the use of language is concerned
A fascinating issue is that of distancing oneself from an L2 something that has been discussed in the texts of bilingual writers who have stated that their L2 was for them a less emotionally charged language, in comparison with their L1
Communicate with other cultures, there are cases that countries have more than one official language and in general, we need to speak more than our mother tongue to be able to adapt to every aspect of our lives
Summary
According to Aronin (2005), the twentieth century can be distinguished into three stages as far as the study of the use of language is concerned. Researchers agree and recognize that multilingualism has benefits and that it "brings opportunities to the individual and to society as a whole" (Li, Dewaele, & Housen, 2002: 3) This is a re-examination of the previous belief that bilingualism was a phenomenon that could cause psychological and social problems to the speakers. The second category by Baetens-Beardsmore (2003) consists of cultural fears as parents may feel worried about the language and potential cognitive problems that the children may face, and about a possible inability to be culturally committed to the culture of their heritage These cultural fears are linked to identity conflicts, which could lead to marginalization and alienation within the community. These views lead to linguistic "myopia", which is often connected with a low cultural awareness of the value of languages and is supported by government policies that exclusively provide for the official language (Edwards, 2003). Dewaele (2015), observes that the right tendency to introduce the foreign language from a very early age in schools (including kindergartens), leads to high proficiency, but is not the only key to success, as it has been shown by research how success is related to several other factors, like the power and quality of the language input, as well as the capability to know how to facilitate language usage in actual communication
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