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Language can become a cultural influence that shapes an individual’s personality. For a person who is multilingual, this means that there are several languages that help shape his or her personality. Psychiatrist Frantz Fanon states, “To speak means to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of a civilization” (Melber, 1981, p.17-18). When you speak a language fluently, you understand the cultural underpinnings of that society which is then reflected into your personality. Researcher Dieter W Halwachs also found that an individual’s “repertoire” of languages is reflected in their personality as well as part of his or her identity (Halwachs, 1993). Personality is not a one-dimensional characteristic of a person, rather, the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive and unique character. Therefore, an individual is unique, but multilinguals have a more dimensional personality due to numerous combinations of characteristics from varying cultures. Seeing as their own adaptation to multiple surroundings and languages may be a distinguishing difference between multilinguals and many of their peers, multilinguals have a personality made up of much more complexity. With this comes the benefit of a broader knowledge of cultures and people, but also the downside of having to bounce between multiple personalities when using different languages.

Linguistic Relativity

The idea of linguistic relativity by Benjamin Lee Whorf and Edward Sapir, claims that “our interpretation of the world is, to a large extent, dependent on the linguistic system by which we classify it” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012, p.425). The way that a culture looks at the world is reflected through its language. For example, some languages have many words for one thing such as love but other languages may only have one generic word. This shows how cultures classify the world around them but also how they place importance upon those things. Individuals who are fluent in multiple languages conceptualize the world in multiple ways, depending on the language being used or their surroundings of a particular culture. However, multilinguals can “deactivate” a language and only use a single language at a particular time, unlike multiculturalists (Grosjean, 2011).

Multilingualism = Multi-personality?

Do people who speak multiple languages have multiple personalities? A person, who speaks several languages, feels a part of the different cultures and has different cultural references may feel stigmatized. However, having different cultural influences from languages does not mean that the person will develop multiple personality disorder(Link to…). Cristina Allemann-Ghionda, a multilingual researcher who speaks seven languages states: This ‘double’ identity can very well be normal (i.e. not a pathological) state. If there is a disorder, I said, then it might most probably be the result of behaviors of monolingual and monocultural persons…who out of lack of experience and knowledge in that field, could not understand the normality of a double, or even multiple, cultural reference system, and therefore stigmatize a bilingual and bicultural child (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2003, p.184). Identity and personality are made of many elements for any person, but specifically for people who speak multiple languages. Many people believe identity to be one unifying classification of a person, but this is not true of multilingual people. Alleman-Ghionda states, …in a world where more and more people grow up and live with various cultural references - even more so after the expansion of the internet – it is meaningless to stick to the monistic concept of identity. Identity can be multiple, it can be plural (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2003, p.185). People who speak multiple languages are not necessarily in identity crisis because they are a part of many cultures. It is not practical to think that they can only have one identity and that otherwise they appear as an outsider. Identity is also thought of as a goal that a person can attain and will remain stable from then on. However, identity is, as researcher Charlotte Burck describes, always being actively constructed and renegotiated (Burck, 2005). Identity and personality are not a rigid structure, but something that flows as we grow, develop and evolve through different situations and circumstances.

It has also been found that people who speak multiple languages use different representations of selves when they are speaking in different languages. In the book, Growing up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven, Xiao-lei Wang describes how her children showed a trend representing themselves differently in each language (Wang, 2008). She states: When describing his visit to Paris, Dominique did not just directly translate his experience from one language to another and use the same sets of words and expressions. Instead he picked up different aspects of the experience when speaking to different listeners (Wang, 2008, p.185). The speaker expresses different aspects of themselves depending upon the listening audience. Societal values range from culture to culture and the way that a person expresses themselves reflects that concept. Wang describes this idea by stating, “…languages used by speakers with one or more than one language are used not just to represent a unitary self, but to enact different kinds of selves, and different linguistic context create different kinds of self-expression and experiences for the same person” (Wang, 2008, p.185). Research of personality characteristics of multilinguals has shown that a majority of multilinguals report feeling “different” when switching between their different languages. The “difference” felt from the shift of using one language than another can be caused from the different culture or frame of reference used for the different languages. Francois Grosjean wrote in her first book, Life of Two Languages, that, “what is seen as a change in personality is most probably simply a shift in attitudes and behaviors that correspond to a shift in situation or context, independent of language.” This may be compared to the way a monolingual would adopt different characteristics and way of behaving when they talk to their close friends or family members, but adapt differently when speaking to a teacher or boss. This would mean that what is taken as a personality shift by multilinguals that is believed to be caused by the change of language may have little, if anything, to do with language itself. However, tests and theories of the shift of personality lead to different conclusions. Multilinguals most often have a dominant language or culture over another. Whatever language is culturally dominant in an individual’s life is valued and used more than the other. This dominance may vary over one’s lifetime depending on their family’s use, environment, and occupation (Grosjean, 2011). Jean-Marc Dewaele and Jan Pieter van Oudenhoven’s study lead to the conclusion that language dominance had a significant effect on the five personality dimensions they measured, as shown by their results revealed that multidominance corresponded with significantly higher scores on the dimensions of openmindedness, marginally higher scores on cultural empathy, and significantly lower scores on emotional stability compared to participants who were dominant in a single language. In another one of Dewaele’s studies of multilingualism, he found that multilinguals are more prone to having a more creative behavior and use of divergent thinking (Dewaele & Wei, 2012). As well as being openminded, culturally empathetic, and creative, multilinguals score high in cognitive empathy, meaning, a better and more skillful conversationalist by being socially aware of another’s point of view. Studies have also shown that the number of languages that multilinguals knew and spoke linked to their personality (Dewaele, Jean-Marc, van Oudenhoven, 2009). These individuals show higher ratings of openmindedness and cultural empathy than their peers. However, multilinguals rated lower in emotional stability than their monolingual counterparts. This rating shows how personality may be shaped by social and biographical factors. For instance, if an individual speaks one language at home with their family and then speaks another language at school, these separate environments are not emotionally congruent and therefore, a disequilibrium.

References

Burck, C. (2005). Multilingual living: Explorations of language and subjectivity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dewaele, J. & Oudenhovenb, J. (2009). The effect of multilingualism/multiculturalism on personality: no gain without pain for third culture kids?. International Journal of Multilingualism, 6(443-459).

Dewaele, J. (2007). The effect of multilingualism, sociobiographical, and situational factors on communicative anxiety and foreign language anxiety of mature language learners. International Journal of Bilingualism, 11(391-409).

Dewaele, J. & Wei, L. (2012). Multilingualism, empathy, and mutlicompetence. International Journal of Multilingualism, (1-15).

Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Grosjean, F. (1984). Life of two languages: an introduction to bilingualism. (NOT FINISHED)

Grosjean, F. (2011). Life as a bilingual: the reality of living with two (or more) languages. Psychology Today. Sussex Directories, Inc.

Halwachs, D. W. (1993). Polysystem, repertoire, and identity. Grazer Linguistische Studien, 39-40, 71-90.

Melber, H. (1981). Black skin, white masks. Das Argument, 23(126), 293-295.

Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (Ed.). (2003). The multilingual mind: Issues discussed by, for, and about people living with many languages. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers.

Wang, X. (2008). In Baker C. (Ed.), Growing up with three languages: Birth to eleven. Bristol, United Kingdom: Mulitlingual Matters.

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