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Abstract

Aims:

The primary aim of this special issue is to advance theoretical and empirical knowledge about the role of emotion in family language policy (FLP). To better capture the complexity and multiplicity of emotion, the issue brings together five articles that reflect on different aspects of emotions in multilingual families and approach the topic from different perspectives, methods, populations, and settings.

Approach:

In this paper, we first address the conceptual and theoretical grounds of emotions in multilingual families through an interdisciplinary perspective to integrate recent developments in emotion research in psychology of language learning into FLP framework. We present two distinct ways in which language and emotion intersect in different subdisciplines of linguistics and in various research contexts while we centre on the context of FLP: (1) the language of emotions and (2) emotions about language(s), linguistic repertoire, and language practices. We then introduce the articles in this special issue and address the implications for the pivotal role played by emotion in FLP and their social, cultural aspects (e.g., family ties, identity construction, agency, and socialization).

Conclusions:

We conclude with a discussion of implications for future research on emotion in the study of FLP and multilingualism. We emphasize the need to treat emotion as one of the individual components of multilingualism and FLP because of its critical role in multilingual parenting and/or caregiving.

Originality:

This special issue is devoted to a better understanding of emotion in FLP research.This introduction addresses key theoretical and methodological issues in the study of emotion in FLP. It contributes to the need for epistemological vigilance and methodological diversity in investigating emotions in multilingualism and FLP.

Keywords

Emotion family language policy multilingualism emotions about language(s)language of emotions multilingual families family socialization home language maintenance emotional repertoire lived emotional experiences

Introduction

Since its emergence as an offshoot of the field of language policy in sociolinguistics in the early 2000s, the burgeoning field of family language policy (FLP) has combined theoretical frameworks from child language acquisition, language socialization, and language policy to examine explicit and overt planning in relation to language use within the home (e.g., King et al., 2008; Luykx, 2003). Taking a socially situated approach to analysing interactions at home, FLP scholars have applied the well-established three dimensions of policy, that is, language ideology, language management, and language practices (Spolsky, 2004), to understand the family members’ roles in the intergenerational transmission of certain language(s), dialects, and sociolects. The traditional focus of FLP studies has been on ‘contact zones’ (Pratt, 1991), such as in migratory or indigenous, ethnic minority contexts where a societal language and culture clash with those of migrant or ethnic minority families. This line of FLP inquiry has allowed researchers to address critical questions with respect to the degree of space and value which languages receive within the family domain.

More recently, through rich scholarship, FLP researchers have begun to illustrate how the domain of family is ‘porous’ against external forces such as state-level and institutional policies (Canagarajah, 2008; Mirvahedi, 2021; Mirvahedi & Cavallaro, 2020; Van Mensel, 2018). Following theoretical debates in both sociolinguistics and applied linguistics, scholars have shown that FLP is formed and implemented in contact with wider political, social, cultural, and economic forces (e.g., Curdt-Christiansen, 2020; King & Lanza, 2019; Lanza & Li, 2016; Wright & Higgins, 2021). This highlights the fact that FLP does not take place in a vacuum, but rather it emerges at the confluence of the private and public sphere of social life and the accompanying requirements of each. FLP clearly resonates with orientations towards emotional exchanges, intimacy, and family-bound affection, as well as orientations towards trajectories of success and mobility. Yet, compared to the sizable literature on emotions in classroom contexts, particularly in psychology of language learning and second language acquisition (SLA) (e.g., Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; MacIntyre et al., 2017), the role and influence of different types of emotions (i.e., positive, negative, or mixed emotions) in home language maintenance and in shaping FLP (e.g., language ideologies, practices and management at home) remains relatively underexplored in FLP literature (cf., Curdt-Christiansen, 2016; De Houwer, 2020; Sevinç, 2020; Tannenbaum, 2012). This special issue seeks to fill this gap in the field of FLP by directing attention to the interplay among multilingualism, family language ideologies, management strategies and socialization practices, familial interactions, and emotions in bi/multilingual families.

The primary aim of the issue is to increase awareness and understanding of the role of emotions in bi/multilingual parenting or caregiving. The issue contains five articles, all reflecting on different aspects of emotions in multilingual families, and approaching the topic from different perspectives, methods, populations, and settings, including a multivarietal context. It therefore contributes to the need for epistemological vigilance and methodological diversity in investigating emotions in FLP. The issue brings together research into emotions in FLP in the hope that it generates new methodological and theoretical insights, which are more nuanced, dynamic, and complex than would be the case with a single quantitative approach (e.g., through questionnaires, cf., Sevinç & Dewaele, 2017). This stems from the notion that attempts to quantify emotions in multilingual settings are not sufficient on their own to address the complexity of social and emotional factors at play in the process of language contact, transnational movement, immigration, and multilingualism (Sevinç & Backus, 2019).

In this introduction paper, we first address the conceptual and theoretical grounds of emotions in multilingual families through an interdisciplinary perspective to integrate recent developments in emotion research in psychology of language learning/SLA into FLP framework. We discuss the distinct ways in which language and emotion intersect in different subdisciplines of linguistics and in various research contexts while we centre on the context of FLP. To permit a better understanding of emotions in FLP, we highlight the importance of combining various aspects of emotions and multilingualism that are often studied separately in sociolinguistics and psychology of language learning. We then introduce the articles in this special issue. We present implications for the role played by emotion in FLP, and their social, cultural aspects (e.g., family ties, identity construction, agency, and socialization), as demonstrated in the articles of this special issue. Finally, we conclude with a summary and discussion of implications for future research on emotion in the study of FLP and multilingualism.

Conceptual understanding of emotion in multilingual families

‘Emotions and affect matter at all levels’ of multilingualism (i.e., micro, meso, and macro), intermeshing with cognitive and social processes, for example, ‘identity, agency, and power, all central in the learning and teaching of languages in today’s multilingual world’ (The Douglas Fir Group, 2016, p. 36). Individuals experience an emotion only when they appraise a situation as beneficial or harmful for their concerns (Arnold, 1960; Frijda, 1986; Lazarus, 1991). This reflects subjectivity and individual differences in emotions. Furthermore, emotions are relational; the most relevant components of emotions evolve around human relationships (Parkinson, 1996, 2021) such as family connections. The challenge of revealing and systematically bringing together these dynamic and diverse concerns therefore requires addressing the diverse spectrums of emotions and their influence on multilingual practices both at the individual and family levels, which has hitherto received little attention in FLP research.

The complexity of emotion¹ as a concept has been verified by empirical studies from different disciplines in humanities and in social and behavioural sciences. Emotion has proven notoriously difficult to pin down and define within a single discipline (Izard, 2010) and the term ‘emotion’ and its derivatives have often been used without a theoretical background or its implications. It has traditionally been associated with a range of psychological phenomena, including attitude and motivation (e.g., Arnold, 1960; Lucas & Diener, 2008). The analysis of emotion from a psychological perspective has mostly focused on the subjective feeling component as well as the neurophysiological and cognitive component of emotion (Scherer, 2005), see Sevinç (in press) for an overview. From a social perspective, emotion has also been treated as part of ‘the internal’ (thoughts, feelings, affect, attitudes, motivations) or as ‘bodily impulse’ (drive, reaction) (Scheer, 2012, p. 199), rather than a theorized category in and of itself, particularly in FLP research.

To better capture the complexity and multiplicity of emotion, recently scholars have applied a sociocultural (social constructionist) perspective to emotion, viewing emotion as a learned construct (e.g., Mesquita et al., 2016; Parkinson, 2019), while they have further developed this perspective by adding to it themes from the cognitivist and evolutionary tradition (see Scarantino, 2016, for an overview). When conceptualizing emotion, they follow early research, Gordon (1981), for example, introducing the four features that constitute an emotional experience: ‘(1) bodily sensations, (2) expressive gestures, (3) social situations or relationships and (4) the emotion culture of a society’ (cited in Peterson, 2006, p. 115). The fourth component, an emotion culture, comprises emotion vocabularies, beliefs, and norms and impacts each of the other three features (Gordon, 1981), varying over time and across societies (e.g., Wierzbicka, 1999). Emotions are therefore seen ‘as social constructs, the result of subjective as well as culturally circumscribed definitions of situations and appraisals’ (Boyns, 2006 cited in Sevinç, in press, p. 1343). According to the social constructionist approach, emotions originate in social relationships; therefore, most of the experiences attributed to human emotional nature are conceptualized as socially constructed (Gordon, 1981). Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus and his social theory, researchers have also emphasized that ‘the body is not a static, timeless, universal foundation that produces ahistorical emotional arousal, but is itself socially situated, adaptive, trained, plastic, and thus historical’ (Scheer, 2012, p. 194). Bourdieu’s theory has been found to elaborate ‘most thoroughly infusion of the physical body with social structure, both of which participate in the production of emotional experience’ (Scheer, 2012, p. 199).

Taking a sociocultural/social constructionist approach to emotion is particularly useful for studying emotion and consistent with the FLP and multilingualism research, especially when investigating the interplay between emotions, FLP, and multilingualism. However, traditionally, in an effort to understand the factors that contribute to home language maintenance and language shift and FLP, sociolinguistic scholars have placed a considerable emphasis on community attitudes and normative standards, overlooking the subjective and individual nature of emotion, and its relation to change. Not to move beyond disciplinary boundaries, ‘emotion has often and mistakenly been subsumed under attitude’ (Sevinç, in press, p. 1341), which has hindered a better understanding and conceptualization of emotion and its fundamental role in multilingual social settings, particularly at the individual and family level. To reach a better recognition of emotion in research, it is necessary to treat emotion as a multicomponent phenomenon that first of all needs to be distinguished from other affective phenomena such as attitude and motivation and to be theorized on its own terms, as illustrated below.

Attitude is a psychological tendency expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). While attitudes are held by individuals, an individual’s attitudes can strongly be shaped by those of the local society, their subjective norms, and linguistic prestige (Potowski, 2013). They can also be framed by individuals’ emotions and emotion culture that involves emotion vocabularies, beliefs, and norms. Motivation is the reason for behaviour, which may cause a person to want to repeat a certain behaviour (Gardner, 1985) (e.g., language use and practices). The critical role emotions play in language learning motivation has so far been undervalued, although emotions are found to be ‘a dynamic base that contributes significantly to the creation and maintenance of language motivation’ (MacIntyre et al., 2019, p. 183). Emotions clearly ‘facilitate motivation and help define desired goals, while failure or success in motivated goal pursuit can also cause emotional response’ (Sands et al., 2016, p. 336). It can thus motivate people to respond to stimuli in the environment (e.g., social interactions, relationships, norms, and attitudes), which in turn helps improve the chances of success and resilience (e.g., language learning or language maintenance) (cf., Sevinç & Anthonissen, 2022).

That is to say, emotion can be the source of a particular attitude, and so it can be a direct or indirect source of behaviour (e.g., language use and practices, home language maintenance; Sevinç, in press). It can also result in particular motivational behaviours of language learners (e.g., MacIntyre et al., 2019; Scherer, 2005). Emotion should therefore be theorized as one of the individual components of multilingualism and FLP and as an extremely important domain for maintaining the home language because of its critical role in forming multilingual children’s linguistic environment, well-being, attitudes towards language and norms, as well as their motivation in language use and practices.

Theorizing emotion in multilingual families

In recent decades, the concept of emotion has increasingly been on the agenda of scholars from numerous disciplines, different subdisciplines of linguistics, and in various research contexts (e.g., linguistic, sociological, neurological, anthropological, psychological, and educational) (e.g., Barrett et al., 2016; Lüdtke, 2015; Pritzker et al., 2020; Schalley & Eisenchlas, 2020; Schiewer et al., in press). Although the contexts and methodologies of these disciplines differ greatly, they generally concur on the pivotal role affective factors play in language acquisition and development. Two distinct ways in which language and emotion intersect in psychology of language learning and SLA research are (1) the language of emotions (cf., Pritzker et al., 2020) and (2) emotions about language(s), linguistic repertoire, and language practices.

1. The language of emotions (emotional language): As Ochs and Schieffelin (1989) propose, ‘beyond the function of communicating referential information, languages are responsive to the fundamental need of speakers to convey and assess feelings, moods, dispositions and attitudes’ (p. 9). Correspondingly, research on the language of emotions in multilingual contexts discusses the ways in which multilinguals process and interact with emotional stimuli in different languages and in different cultural and linguistic environments (e.g., Altarriba, 2013; Dewaele, 2004, 2008, 2013; Dewaele et al., 2021; Pavlenko, 2012). Mainly from a psycholinguistic perspective, the focus is placed on emotional repertoire, languages, language knowledge and use as the vehicle of emotional expressions, and as the tool of reference and predication. Investigation of emotion words and expressions, emotional intensity, and emotional resonance in the different languages of multilinguals (Dewaele, 2013; Dewaele & Moxsom-Turnbull, 2020) has been at the centre of this rapidly expanding research area of emotion.

Although recent studies from a sociolinguistic perspective have increasingly revealed that home language maintenance and FLP play an active role in strengthening emotional ties and nurturing relationships in multilingual families (e.g., Curdt-Christiansen, 2016; Curdt-Christiansen & Huang, 2020; De Houwer, 2020; Sevinç, 2022; Tannenbaum, 2012), only a handful of language socialization studies have drawn attention to multilingual family language practices and the role of affect and affective repertoire in caregiver–child and/or parent–child interaction. Smith-Christmas (2018) explores language practices in a multilingual family on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The study demonstrates that a grandmother uses a child-centred discourse style to encourage her granddaughter’s language mixing and use of the home/heritage language, Gaelic. It highlights the positive affective nature of the child-centred interaction and, in turn, the child’s playful use of Gaelic. Through a discursive analytical approach, recently, Lomeu Gomes (2022) focuses on parent–child multilingual interactions of a Brazilian-Norwegian family in Norway and draws on the role of linguistic repertoires in the ongoing construction of familial ties. Findings indicate how emotions adhere to both language practices and the language(s) associated with these practices. These studies lend valuable new insights into the language of emotions research in FLP, yet a focus on language as the tool of emotional expressions in multilingual family interactions, socialization practices, and familial bonding needs further exploration and theorizing.

2. Emotions about language(s), linguistic repertoire, and language practices: The topic has mainly concerned the interplay between emotions about language acquisition, multilingual development, use, and practices. Relevant to the physiological correlates of emotion, languages, language proficiency, and dominance have also been linked to emotional reactivity, causing changes in autonomic nervous system, which have measurable physiological correlates (see Harris, 2004; Sevinç, 2018). Research on negative and positive emotions about languages has been conducted mostly in the field of psychology of language learning and SLA with a focus on educational settings. Reflecting on the broaden-and-build theory in Positive Psychology (Fredrickson, 2001), psychology of language learning/SLA scholars have recently emphasized the importance of exploring positive emotions (e.g., joy, gratitude, hope, happiness) as well as negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, shame, guilt, fear) in educational settings (e.g., Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014; MacIntyre et al., 2017; MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012). According to this theory, pleasurable positive emotions can have a long-lasting impact on functional outcomes, leading to enhanced well-being and social connectedness. Emphasizing this, MacIntyre and Gregersen propose the following for teachers:

By invoking the imagination and using the power of positive emotion, teachers can provoke learners to respond to the dissonance found within their possible selves and to effectively summon the cognition that modifies the emotional schema, especially debilitating negative-narrowing reactions, using systemic desensitization and other building and broadening techniques. (MacIntyre & Gregersen, 2012, p. 211)

These recent developments contribute to an interest in applications of positive psychology strategies in SLA and in theories related to emotion, while studies in sociolinguistics increasingly explore the role FLP plays in strengthening emotional connection and emotions about languages in the family domain (e.g., Curdt-Christiansen, 2016; Curdt-Christiansen & Huang, 2020; De Houwer, 2020; Sevinç, 2020; Tannenbaum, 2012). In studying multilingual families, emotions have been found to govern language choice and use in multilingual families, in connection with other linguistic and social factors such as language dominance, social context, linguistic competence of the interlocutors, identity, socialization, and parent and child communication (e.g., Pavlenko, 2004). Norton (2013) identifies considerable emotional connections between language and identity, while the home language has been found to be a bridge to connect to older generations (e.g., Kwon, 2017). Granted that parental input and parent–child interaction represent an important source of language socialization and development (cf., De Houwer, 2007; Lanza, 2007), children’s sense of incompetence and negative emotions about their language competence have been found to influence their language socialization and communication with parents as well as family well-being (cf., De Houwer 2015; Sevinç, 2020). Tannenbaum and Yitzhaki (2016) investigate the emotional implications of Arab families’ decisions about sending their children to Hebrew preschools in Israel. They demonstrate that transnational families’ language/educational decisions come with an emotional price through mixed feelings, yet the consequence of this emotional price in relation to family relations, home language maintenance, and/or well-being remains to be explored. These findings suggest that research should not underestimate the investigation of different types of emotions, including mixed or conflicting emotions particularly in transnational contexts.

Although it is not explicitly stated in the field, the topic of emotions accounts for the interplay between individuals’ lived experiences of language and their lived experiences of emotions about a language and/or about individuals’ multilingual repertoires and practices (cf., Busch, 2017, 2021; Lanza, 2021). A negative emotion (e.g., anxiety) can result from language knowledge, multilingual repertoire, or multilinguals’ lived experiences, while it can also be the factor that contributes to them (Sevinç, 2020). Multilingual families often forego home language maintenance due to the pressure on them to join the mainstream society (e.g., Canagarajah, 2008; De Houwer, 2020) and the need to resolve intergenerational conflict (e.g., Purkarthofer, 2020), which eventually leads to language shift. Yet, perhaps above all, this pressure elicits negative emotions (Sevinç, 2020). Negative emotions further jeopardize individuals’ multilingual development and lived experiences, since they cause multilinguals to avoid using their languages in particular social contexts (e.g., family), resulting in social isolation and conflicting identities (see Sevinç & Backus, 2019).

Despite recent developments in psychology of language learning towards a focus on positive psychology, sociolinguistic research, however, still focuses on stereotypically negative emotions, rather than positive or mixed ones. Correspondingly, in psychology of language learning, multilingual families’ lived experiences of language (cf., Busch, 2017) and emotions have received little attention. Lived experiences of positive, negative, or mixed/conflicting emotions about languages, language practices, and linguistic repertoire in multilingual families should therefore be given a more prominent place in FLP and psychology of language learning than they currently are.

Methodologically, while greater use of a variety of methods is increasing within emotion research, there is still a dominant reliance on quantitative analysis or interviews and biographies in multilingualism research. With its multifaceted nature, emotion should be studied both as being a subjective state of being and a socially constructed phenomenon, particularly in the sense of understanding emotions as being an expression of our true inner selves in connection with our lived experiences in different multilingual domains, such as family. Due to an emphasis on language ideology, language management, and linguistic practices of multilingual families and communities, in FLP, there is also a lack of focus on ‘the diversity of experiences with multilingualism within . . . families’ (Hua & Li, 2016, p. 665), given that even individuals within the same family experience multilingualism differently. To account for diversity and subjectivity, multilingualism and emotions need to be studied as lived experiences, which can be better captured and explored by a multidimensional and multimethodological approach, as featured in the collection of papers in this special issue.

Emotions and multilingualism in FLP: special issue articles

This special issue is a collection of diverse contributions to the investigation of emotions in the field of multilingualism and FLP. The five articles in this volume all clearly illustrate the complexities of emotions and multilingualism in the individual and in family, approaching the topic from different perspectives, populations, and settings (i.e., Polish-British, multivarietal Belgian-Dutch, Chinese-British, Korean-American, German-British, and Chinese-Australian) along with the diversity of methods, experiences, and perspectives in relation to emotions. They highlight lived emotional experiences of families in relation to social aspects of FLP and diversity in FLP through different types of emotions, negative, positive, and mixed/conflicting ones. They provide us with critical views on methodology for unveiling vital features and aspects of multilingualism, emotions, and FLP (e.g., language ideology, language management, and language and socialization practices, mediated multilingual practices, identity, agency) and on theoretical considerations for understanding the complex interplay between these phenomena.

The articles introduced below also foreground the two distinct areas of emotion research: (1) the language of emotions (emotional language) and (2) emotions about language(s), linguistic repertoire, and language practices. The primary research questions investigated in the current special issue articles are therefore twofold:

The language of emotions (emotional language). How does the language of emotions influence FLP and home language maintenance and vice versa? How do bi/multilingual parents or care givers verbally and non-verbally communicate or transmit emotions to their bi/multilingual children in their family interactions? How do emotional expressions manifest themselves in language socialization practices, lived experiences, and familial bonding in bi/multilingual families? What ways or strategies do different multilingual families use to practise, manage, and interact with emotional stimuli in different languages?

Emotions about language(s), linguistic repertoire, and language practices. What types of emotions (negative, positive, and/or conflicting) do bi/multilingual families experience regarding multilingualism (e.g., bi/multilingual language skills, use and practices, language development and maintenance, and/or shift)? How do different emotions interact with family language policies – family language ideologies, practices, and management strategies? How are these emotions manifested in multilinguals’ lived experiences, agency, identity development, and language and socialization practices? What are the possible outcomes of emotions for the families’ state of bi/multilingualism and/or their social-psychological well-being?

Drawing on six families from Polish and Chinese communities, Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen and Janina Iwaniec’s analysis of recordings of mealtime conversations, daily WhatsApp/WeChat texts, and digitally mediated family talk sheds light on the interplay between ‘affective repertoire’, ‘linguistic repertoire’, and ‘familyness’. Addressing the language of emotions, an under-researched area of emotion research, the authors not only identify the family members’ use of emojis, terms of endearment, diminutives, declarations of love, and situated emotive language use, but they also show how the mundane interactions in both digital and non-digital domains contribute to familial bonding. The study suggests that of the different linguistic choices family members make, the heritage language is often tapped into when it comes to emotional expressions. While the societal language begins to lose its footing in this domain, using the heritage language as emotional language ultimately contributes to the construction of familyness. In sum, the originality of Curdt-Christiansen and Iwaniec’s paper lies in their investigating the language of emotions, how family members present their emotional expression in their daily communications, what role home/heritage language(s) play in communicating their emotional needs, and how these emotional expressions are manifested in their lived experiences and socialization practices.

Lars Naborn, Dorien Van De Mieroop, and Eline Zenner’s research shines a light on ‘managing conflicting emotions’ as one of the empirical aspects of a multivarietal context, which has hitherto been unexplored in FLP scholarship. Combining variationist analysis with a bottom-up discourse analytic approach, the paper examines Belgian Dutch caregivers’ attempts to manage conflicting emotions related to the particularly informative multivarietal case of Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. The authors offer critical insights into the two areas of emotion research: the language of emotions and conflicting/mixed emotions about language(s), language ideologies, and practices. They demonstrate how emotions emerge from the caregivers’ diglossic description of the Flemish context and how the caregivers’ attempts to manage conflicting emotions lead to dis(harmony) in the family. The mixed-methods approach applied in the study illuminates the shifting relationship between emotions expressed in the interviews and the language choices made in practice. Showing discrepancies in language ideologies and practices, and the value of using data triangulation in FLP research, the paper contributes to FLP research with its innovative focus on emotions in a multivarietal family setting.

In their case study on a Korean family in the United States, Ahyea (Alice) Jo, Stephanie Richardson, and Ester de Jong provide a counter-narrative to the negative emotions that parents and their children often express in extant FLP research. In doing so, they contribute to the second area of emotion research – emotions about language(s), language practices, and linguistic repertoire. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews and a language-mapping activity, the study centres children’s perspectives on their bilingual development, with a specific focus on their emotional engagement within their family’s linguistic landscape, sense of belonging, and their socioemotional well-being. It furthers the idea that parents viewing multilingualism as a resource for communication in FLP can positively impact their children’s multilingual development and socio-emotional well-being. The paper shows how a strong sense of belonging can be shaped through children’s emotional engagement in diverse and inclusive spaces in which multilingualism, multiculturalism, and their agency in language choices are valued.

Adopting an autoethnographic approach and focusing on emotional lived experiences of her son during the re-introduction of the heritage language at age 6 (after a 2-year hiatus), Sabine Little puts forward a collaborative and emotionally sensitive approach to FLP. Such an approach, as she argues, can facilitate child agency that leads to a positive impact on the child’s attitudes towards learning the heritage language. Based on a joint research diary where critical incidents were recorded and subsequently reflected on together, the paper shows how the mother (the author herself) and her son incorporated and acknowledged social and emotional aspects of the child’s identity development. Jointly sharing and reflecting on various emotions, both positive and negative ones (e.g., frustration, pride, joy, love, and guilt), during their long-term journey of reversing language shift provide insights into both parent’s and child’s concerns throughout FLP. Accordingly, the paper concludes by recommending that children should be more actively involved in FLP research. Also, their emotional links to and experiences with various aspects of language use should be taken into account. While this can contribute to a better understanding of the links between language and identity, it also provides children and parents with the space to reflect on and articulate their different points of view and emotions about languages, identity development, language practices, and linguistic repertoire, adding to the second area of emotion research.

Through an in-depth ethnographic investigation of 12 Chinese immigrant families in Australia, Yining Wang’s research combines open-ended interviews, informal conversations, observations, evidence of literacy practices, and postings on WeChat. The study demonstrates how parental feelings, whether positive such as a sense of accomplishment, fulfilment, and pride, or negative such as regret, guilt, and shame, are evoked by language ideologies, such as Chinese as an identity marker, as a family bonding tool, and/or as an instrument for future economic profit. Parents’ negative emotions are triggered by the tension between parents’ implementation of FLP and children’s language behaviour and performance, while their positive emotions are often accompanied by their perceived accomplishment in language maintenance. The paper contributes to our understanding of the interplay between parental feelings, language ideologies, and children’s language practices and development in parental discourse. In doing so, it reflects on the second area of emotion research: emotions about language(s), language practices, and linguistic repertoire.

Summary and future perspectives

The articles in this special issue explore emotions and the interplay between FLP, multilingualism, and different aspects of emotion: the language(s) of emotions (i.e., emotional language), emotions about languages and about various aspects of FLP and multilingualism (e.g., linguistic repertoire, ideologies and language practices, mediated multilingual practices, socialization, identity construction, family talk, relationships, agency). Presenting lived emotional experiences of multilingual families and caregivers, they contribute to our understanding of the role of emotions in bi/multilingual parenting and/or caregiving. Mainly through a sociocultural/social constructionist approach, emotions are studied as social constructs, the result of subjective as well as socially or culturally circumscribed definitions of situations and appraisals (within the family domain), and as distinct from other affective phenomena such as attitude and motivation.

Although FLP is mostly considered to be a sociolinguistic phenomenon, particularly on the micro-level, it can also be subject to perspectives from psychology of language learning. As such, factors involved in FLP on the individual and family level do influence multilinguals’ emotions, and vice versa. Studying emotions in FLP and multilingualism requires the integration of linguistic, social, and psychological issues through a unified framework drawing on a multidimensional and multimethodological approach. Focusing attention on the integration of knowledge on emotions and FLP in sociolinguistics and psychology of language learning can thus be remarkably beneficial for both disciplines.

Most studies in psychology of language learning have so far focused on emotions of students or teachers in classroom settings, in particular on psychology of language learners and teachers. The crucial question is how conclusive the outcome of these studies can be when multilingual children’s lived emotional experiences outside the classroom, e.g., within family, are overlooked. Social and emotional challenges of multilingual families are part of transnational contexts that may spill into life outside the family (e.g., into classroom contexts). When investigating emotions, future research in psychology of language learning should therefore pay further attention to FLP and psychology of family, and not only positive or negative emotions but also mixed/conflicting emotions particularly in minority, immigrant, refugee, and multivarietal contexts.

This special issue set out to advance our theoretical and empirical knowledge about the role of emotions in bi/multilingual parenting and/or caregiving. To reach a better recognition of emotion in FLP research, it demonstrates that emotion should be treated as one of the individual components of multilingualism and FLP and an extremely important domain for FLP because of its critical role in forging family ideologies, management and practices and well-being, multilingual children’s linguistic environment, attitudes towards language(s) and norms, as well as their motivation in language use and practices. It should then be reinserted into FLP research through studies investigating the interplay between emotion and other affective and social factors, as separate entities. In addition, the issue contributes to the different areas of emotion research through its multifaceted and multimethod approach to FLP and emotions and its investigation of different types of emotions (e.g., negative, positive, and mixed [conflicting] emotions).

Looking again at what constitutes emotion, as defined in Gordon (1981), sociocultural/social constructionist approach, the studies in this special issue relate to three of the four components of emotions, (2) expressive gestures (e.g., expression of emotionality through emojis), (3) social situations or relationships (e.g., familyness, family relationships, family talk, familial bonding, agency, socialization, ideologies), and (4) the emotion culture that comprises emotion vocabularies, beliefs and norms, and other social aspects of FLP, for example, mediated multilingual practices, identity, socialization, and ideologies. The collection of articles therefore illustrates the multifaceted nature of emotion, indicating that emotion should be studied both as a subjective state of being and a socially constructed phenomenon. However, to encourage further work in this field, we need to acknowledge certain limitations. This special issue lacks insights into the first component of emotion, bodily sensations (Gordon, 1981), such as changes in affective physiology and bodily responses (e.g., Harris, 2004; Sevinç, 2018), and the infusion of the physical body with social structure (cf., Bourdieu, 1990). Future research is necessary to achieve a more unified framework of emotion that involves all components of emotion and their link to individuals’ lived experiences, cognition, and the physical body as well as to various aspects of multilingualism, FLP, and well-being.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

We thank the contributors for making this issue an important asset to the existing body of literature in the field, as well as the reviewers who spent their valuable time critically examining each paper and providing detailed feedback. We further thank Dr. Ad Backus for his insightful comments and constructive suggestions on earlier versions of this paper.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was financially supported by the Research Council of Norway (Forskingsrådet) through its Centers of Excellence funding scheme [project number 223265].

ORCID iDs

Yeşim Sevinç

Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi

Notes

Author biographies

Yeşim Sevinç is an Assistant Professor of Multilingual Language Acquisition at the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam. Her research is interdisciplinary and applied with a focus on multilingualism, emotions and immigrant contexts. Her recent publications address social, emotional, pedagogical and physiological aspects of multilingualism both within and outside the family domain.

Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi is a postdoctoral fellow at Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (Multiling), University of Oslo. He is interested in the study of multilingualism with a focus on the interplay between state and institutional language policies and grassroots language ideologies and practices. His recent publications have appeared in Language in Society, Current Issues in Language Planning, International Journal of Multilingualism, and Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

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Emotions and multilingualism in family language policy: Introduction to the special issue

Abstract

Aims:

Approach:

Conclusions:

Originality:

Keywords

Introduction

Conceptual understanding of emotion in multilingual families

Theorizing emotion in multilingual families

Emotions and multilingualism in FLP: special issue articles

Summary and future perspectives

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

Declaration of conflicting interests

Funding

ORCID iDs

Notes

Author biographies

References