Introduction

Languages have emotion terms, and people across the world engage in talk about the emotions – though not necessarily to the same degree and with the same obsession and reflexivity as in the so-called Western world.

Bamberg, 1997: 309

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.

Communicating feelings in a language other than one's first language (L1) is, consequently, demanding, especially if there are only partial equivalents or even no linguistic translations for the concepts and words of one's L1 (Dewaele, 2010a; see also Farrell, 2006; Panayiotou, 2004a, 2004b, 2006; Shweder, 2008; Wierzbicka & Harkins, 2001). As has been shown in several crosslinguistic studies, there are differences in the conceptual and structural organisation of emotion lexicons as well as lexical strategies to express emotions (Pavlenko, 2002, 2005; Semin et al., 2002 cited in Pavlenko, 2008a: 91). Hence, the acquisition of the (verbal) expression of emotions is indeed challenging, yet it is central to successful cross-cultural communication.

Even though language and emotion are both described as the 'two basic systems involved in communication' (Reilly & Seibert, 2009: 535), investigating their interplay was ignored for a long time in linguistics – partly due to the false assumption that cognitive functions are uninfluenced by emotions. Its neglect in scientific investigations was even more prominent in research into multilingualism, which is interesting given that emotions are highly relevant to multilinguals, who are understood here as people with 'more than one language in the same mind' (Cook, 1991; see also Cook, 1992, 2002a, 2002b, 2003, 2012a, 2016). Only within the last 15 years has the comparably new research area of the relationship between language(s) and emotion(s) in a multilingual context gained more attention in scholarly discourse in applied linguistics (see, e.g. Dewaele, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c, 2006, 2008a, 2008b, 2009, 2010a, 2010b, 2011a, 2011b, 2013, 2015, 2016a, 2016b; Dewaele & Nakano, 2013; Dewaele & Pavlenko, 2001–2003, 2002, 2004; Lorette & Dewaele, 2015; Pavlenko, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2008a, 2008b, 2011; Pavlenko & Driagina, 2007). Until recently, most theoretical and/or empirical approaches to emotion research only focused on a small number of aspects and even these have been fiercely criticised: '[r]eading the history of emotion research is a somewhat frustrating experience. Most of the theoretical and research efforts have been directed toward a small number of controversies' (Scherer, 2010: 3). To meet the frequently stated need for a broader approach to the subject, this book provides both an overview of the field and a profound analysis with a special focus on language, emotion and gender in multilingual and multicultural contexts – on a theoretical and empirical level. Hence, it offers a new perspective.

Aim and Scope of the Book

The book attempts to present a kaleidoscopic picture of research on emotions in the context of multilingualism, an understanding of which is crucial in today's globalised, multilingual world in which migration frequently creates the need to express one's feelings in an LX (referring to any language attained after the first, i.e. after the age of 3 [Dewaele, 2016a, 2017a]). It examines the interrelationships of the aforementioned aspects, focusing on LX users of English from an interdisciplinary perspective. By triangulating research methods in an innovative way (investigating the meta-level of self-reflexivity, but also analysing the level of performance), the book provides answers to two general research questions:

(1) To what extent do cross-cultural, crosslinguistic and individual differences, including demographic (gender, age and education) and language-related variables (language learner history, self-perceived proficiency and frequency of use), have an impact on the perceived degree of emotionality of the L1 and second language (L2), the self-rated frequency of verbalising emotions in the L1 and L2, code-switching (CS) in various situations and the perception of L2 users' selves?

(2) To what extent do cross-cultural, crosslinguistic and gender differences have an impact on the frequency and way of expressing emotions when writing a story in the L2?

Thus, the book offers a fresh approach to the phenomenon of emotions in multilingual contexts by including the dimensions of gender and crosslinguistic and intercultural comparisons on the one hand and by combining a meta-level of self-reflexivity with the level of performance on the other. It calls for a change towards a holistic approach to multilingualism and emotion research and aims at contributing to a better understanding of the mechanisms and influences underlying LX users' verbalisation of emotions and the obstacles faced by them in this respect (e.g. structural, conceptual and lexical differences)....