The Relationship between Bilingualism and Identity in Expressing Emotions and Thoughts

Abstract

This paper deals with the relationship between bilingualism and ways of expressing emotions and thoughts. The paper is divided into two main sections. The first section is the theoretical part and the second part is the analysis of the research conducted for the purposes of this paper. As far as the theoretical part is concerned, the first chapter offers the definitions of bilingualism and how bilingualism is connected to construction of identity. The second chapter explains the impact of bilingualism on emotions and the following chapter on cognitive processes. At the beginning of the second section the aim of the research and the methodology are presented. Results and the analysis of the undertaken research are discussed in the remainder of the paper. After placing the participants in their social environment, the focus is placed on the relationship between bilingualism and ways of expressing emotions, as this part examines different criteria which are taken into consideration to prove that a bilingual uses different languages in order to express emotions. The last part analyzes the results concerning cognitive process. Moreover, it analyzes different actions associated with thinking and examines for which processes and in which situations a bilingual uses a particular language.

Keywords

• bilingualism
• identity
• expressing emotions
• expressing thoughts