Many Languages and a Few Feelings

When asked what makes us fundamentally human, one of the core aspects mentioned by many people is probably language. In addition, many would presumably subscribe to Birch's (1995: 2) view that '[f]eelings are what matter most in life'. Thus, both language and emotion are crucial and so is investigating their links. Language not only expresses emotions, it also reflects them. In addition, it helps show indirectly how to understand, clarify and explain emotions (Bamberg, n.d.). These aspects become even more complex in the case of multilingual speakers. Since, according to Wierzbicka (1992a, 1995), 'every language imposes its own classification upon human emotional experiences, English words such as anger and sadness are cultural artefacts of the English language, not culture-free analytical tools' (Wierzbicka, 1995: 236). Consequently, the expression of emotions in a language other than one's first is often seen as the ultimate challenge to highly proficient (second) language users (see also Fussell, 2002b).

Interacting linguistic and non-linguistic aspects of emotional communication are shaped by culture-specific display rules (Reilly & Seibert, 2009). The fact that culture-specific influence plays an important role in this respect becomes clear when looking at infants' development: at the time they start producing their first words (at the age of 12 months approximately), 'they are already skilled affective communicators' (Reilly & Seibert, 2009: 535). They use both vocal prosody and facial expression to interpret and convey emotionally charged information and by the age of four, the cognitive representation of emotions – including children's use of emotional words – can be described as sophisticated (Reilly & Seibert, 2009). Thus, socialisation clearly plays a crucial role in the way we learn to express emotions.