Question: why is it likely that people have less emotion in their second language?

Wilhelmiina Toivo answered on 15 Mar 2017:

This is what we are trying to find out at the moment 🙂 There are two main theories about it. One says it’s less emotional if you haven’t learnt it as a child when growing up, because your brain matures and develops at the same time as you learn the language, and as a result the emotions of that language would be coded deeply in your brain. So according to this theory your second language can only be as emotional as the first one if you have learnt it early in life.

The second theory says the emotionality of language develops through the associations you have. So for example if you learn your second language at school and only speak it there, you don’t really associate it with emotional situations. However, if you learn your second language at home or speak it with a girlfriend or a boyfriend, it becomes more emotional because you use it in more emotional situations.

I hope this makes sense! 🙂