Emotionally Speaking: Expressing anger or Happiness in Dutch or English by Turkish-Dutch bilingual teenagers and ESL Dutch teenagers

This thesis will test the hypothesis that Turkish- Dutch teenagers and Dutch English as a second learner teenagers, code-switch back to their first language, Turkish or Dutch when they are expressing the emotions ‘anger’ and ‘happiness’ in Dutch (second language for the Turkish-Dutch teenagers) or English (second language for the Turkish- Dutch teenagers, but third language for the Turkish- Dutch teenagers). According to scholars like Dewaele and Pavlenko among others, the first language is more encoded in the bilingual’s memory and that the first language feels more vivid and natural to the bilingual participant or the second language learner, therefore they codeswitch back to their first language when they are expressing strong emotions such as ‘anger’(Dewaele 119). However, there are also participants from Pavlenko’s study who claim to express their emotions in their second language, because it is the language of self-control. In order to test the hypothesis, 16 Turkish- Dutch...Show moreThis thesis will test the hypothesis that Turkish- Dutch teenagers and Dutch English as a second learner teenagers, code-switch back to their first language, Turkish or Dutch when they are expressing the emotions ‘anger’ and ‘happiness’ in Dutch (second language for the Turkish-Dutch teenagers) or English (second language for the Turkish- Dutch teenagers, but third language for the Turkish- Dutch teenagers). According to scholars like Dewaele and Pavlenko among others, the first language is more encoded in the bilingual’s memory and that the first language feels more vivid and natural to the bilingual participant or the second language learner, therefore they codeswitch back to their first language when they are expressing strong emotions such as ‘anger’(Dewaele 119). However, there are also participants from Pavlenko’s study who claim to express their emotions in their second language, because it is the language of self-control. In order to test the hypothesis, 16 Turkish- Dutch participants and 16 Dutch participants, who varied between the ages twelve till twenty-one, had to fill in a survey, which contains questions about language exposure and language use. The survey also contains indirect questions about social- economic status. After the survey the participants were asked to do a role-play in either Dutch or English. They were randomly given a cartoon, which contains animals who were either best friends or complete strangers to each other, the cartoon had either a good end or unhappy end. The participants were audio-recorded and these audio recordings were transcribed word for word. Later on, they received a qualitrics link to fill in a final survey for a follow up study. The results of the survey, transcribed conversations and the follow up study were analysed on the base of sex, age, and ethnicity. Due to the experimental setting, the hypothesis could not be confirmed.Show less

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Emotionally Speaking: Expressing anger or Happiness in Dutch or English by Turkish-Dutch bilingual teenagers and ESL Dutch teenagers