Paper short abstract:

This research analyses language as a trigger for emotional bonds of early and late bilinguals providing evidence that for a deep emotional connection, not only age of acquisition but number/depth of emotionally meaningful experiences a speaker has made in connection with these languages is crucial.

Paper long abstract:

The first few years in life are still seen as crucial in language acquisition. This research analyses early and late bilinguals assuming that bilingualism and identity (self-image, self-assessment, etc.) are strongly interrelated, reflected by emotional bonds in the sense of an affective connection and identification with a specific language. For such a connection to arise it is argued, the age of acquisition is less important than emotionally significant experiences with a given language. Data collection was carried out with a qualitative guideline interview and evaluated by content analysis. German–Japanese bilinguals were divided into three groups (early and late bilinguals, while some of the late bilinguals have German as L1 and others Japanese), which allowed comparing their emotional bonds with the two languages. Following the data collection, audio recordings were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results suggest that for a deep emotional connection and identification with a language, not only the age of acquisition is important, but rather, or to a large extent, the number and depth of emotionally meaningful experiences a speaker has made in connection with these languages. Further, as such confirmation has never been pursued in linguistic research, the result can prove valid for languages in general. The results will have an impact on future research into other bilingual combinations (Japanese–Asian/non-Asian languages) and contribute to a better understanding of the overall situation of bilinguals in Japan. The results will bear upon future language acquisition research as well as linguistic research concerning emotion and language.