This brings back many similar conversations I've had in the past, e.g
[1] and its followups.
Udhay
[1] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silk-list/message/3415
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/06/25/are.you.a.different.person.when.you.speak.a.different.language
Are you a different person when you speak a different language?
Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 12:23 in Psychology & Sociology
Learn more about: baruch college david luna language sessions self
perception university of wisconsin milwaukee
People who are bicultural and speak two languages may actually shift
their personalities when they switch from one language to another,
according to new research in the Journal of Consumer Research. "Language
can be a cue that activates different culture-specific frames," write
David Luna (Baruch College), Torsten Ringberg, and Laura A. Peracchio
(University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee).
The authors studied groups of Hispanic women, all of whom were
bilingual, but with varying degrees of cultural identification. They
found significant levels of "frame-shifting" (changes in self
perception) in bicultural participants—those who participate in both
Latino and Anglo culture. While frame-shifting has been studied before,
the new research found that biculturals switched frames more quickly and
easily than bilingual monoculturals.
The authors found that the women classified themselves as more assertive
when they spoke Spanish than when they spoke English. They also had
significantly different perceptions of women in ads when the ads were in
Spanish versus English. "In the Spanish-language sessions, informants
perceived females as more self-sufficient and extroverted," write the
authors.
In one of the studies, a group of bilingual U.S. Hispanic women viewed
ads that featured women in different scenarios. The participants saw the
ads in one language (English or Spanish) and then, six months later,
they viewed the same ads in the other language. Their perceptions of
themselves and the women in the ads shifted depending on the language.
"One respondent, for example, saw an ad's main character as a
risk-taking, independent woman in the Spanish version of the ad, but as
a hopeless, lonely, confused woman in the English version," write the
authors.
The shift in perception seems to happen unconsciously, and may have
broad implications for consumer behavior and political choices among
biculturals.
Source: University of Chicago Press Journals
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((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
