University of Silesia 1

Swearing and emotional expression in a native and non-native language

Hanna SitterUniversity of Silesia, Poland

University of Silesia

University of Silesia 2

Emotions and language preference

• emotion-related language choice (Kim & Starks 2008)• disembodied emotions in L2 (Pavlenko 2008)• using L2 to distance oneself from troublesome emotions (Bond & Lai 1986)• reprimands more arousing in L1 (Harris et al. 2003)• preference for psychotherapy in L2 (Altarriba 2003)

University of Silesia 3

Swearing and language choice

• preference for expressing strong emotions in L1 (Dewaele 2010a)• expressing anger in L2 seems fake (Dewaele 2010b)• however, preference for L2 if swearing in L1 is strongly stigmatized• L2 learners’ difficulties with assessing the strength of swear words (Rintell 1984)• Swearing in L2 may correlate with the extrovert/introvert scale (Dewaele 2004)• More frequent swear words produced by male learners (Register 1996)

University of Silesia 4

The current study

• How do Polish advanced learners rate swear words in Polish and English?• Is there an interaction between sex and language? (unbalanced groups)

University of Silesia 5

Participants

• 50 advanced Polish learners of English• fifth-year university students of English, University of Silesia• 45 females; 5 males (unbalanced)• residence in English-speaking countries no longer than 3 months

• a questionnaire with 50 sentences in L1 and L2• 25 target sentences with swear words• 1-7 Likert scale (very weak – very strong)

Materials

University of Silesia 6

Materials

University of Silesia 7

Procedure

• Oral and written instructions• encouraged to provide spontaneous ratings

• Mixed factorial 2x2 ANOVA with 2 independent variables - repeated-measures: language - between-subject: sex• Scores normally distributed: - ENG K-S [D=.10, p=.2] - POL K-S [D=.09, p=.2]

Statistical analysis

University of Silesia 8

Results: languageSwear words in L1 rated significantly higher (M=4.87; SE=0.11) than swear words in L2 (M=4.44; SE=0.12) [F(1,49)=8.9, p<.001, d=.83]

University of Silesia 9

Results: language/sex interactionNo significant interaction between language and sex [F(1,48)=.12, p=.73]

University of Silesia 10

Significant examples:

English Polish01234567

4.485.41

emotional value

EM

OT

ION

AL

VA

LU

E

• “You’re pissing me off with that shitty accent.” and “Wkurwiasz mnie tym chujowym akcentem.”

University of Silesia 11

Significant examples:

English Polish01234567

4.225.12

emotional value

EM

OT

ION

AL

VA

LU

E

• “Katie is such a slut; I bet she’s slept with every guy in this room.” and “Kasia jest straszną zdzirą, założę się, że przespała się z każdym facetem w tym pokoju.”

University of Silesia 12

Significant examples:

English Polish01234567

4.835.66

emotional value

EM

OT

ION

AL

VA

LU

E

• “Get out of my sight, you bastard! You look like crap!” and “Zejdź mi z oczu skurwysynie! Wyglądasz jak gówno!”

University of Silesia 13

General conclusions:

• stronger emotional connection with L1 (Polish)• swear words in L1 (Polish) perceived as stronger than the corresponding swear words in L2 (English)• sex of participants did not influence the observed difference between L1 and L2