Third Culture Kids in DenmarkTransnational Upbringing in the Expressionof Anger and the Perceived Emotional Forceof Swearwords and Taboo words

Resumen

This study analysed the construct of anger in transnationalupbringing settings by examining the connections between Third Culture Kids’ (TCKs) unique sociobiographical factors and their perception andlanguage preferences to express anger. Data were collected from 61 TCKscoming from 21 different countries who were enrolled in the InternationalBaccalaureate at the same international school in Denmark. Participantsspoke 32 different languages, with 19 different first languages (L1s).English L1 represented the largest group with 25 users and 36 Englishas foreign language (LX) users. Factors of analysis were divided into:(1) language-related factors (age of onset of acquisition, self-ratedproficiency in receptive and productive skills and dominant language[s]);and (2) context-related factors (context of acquisition and frequency ofuse of the languages). English was examined as a specific factor due toits context of acquisition and frequency of use in the international schoolupbringing. Data were collected through an adapted version of the webbasedBilingualism and Emotions Questionnaire from Dewaele and Pavlenko(2001–2003). The results of the study showed that, when expressinganger, English LX users generally chose to use English rather than theirL1s. However, this was not the case for the perceived emotional force ofswear and taboo words, where anger was perceived to be stronger in theirL1s. This finding suggests that while some language and context-relatedfactors seem to exert a clear effect on the expression of anger, their impacton the perceived emotional force of swear and taboo words is less clear.