ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates how migrants’ linguistic practices change with their cultural orientation and personality profile. The statistical findings will be presented along with quotes from migrants’ narratives. Considering the first language and the language of the host society, their frequency of use for expressing emotions (anger, love, and swearing) with different interlocutors, interpreted as the degree of affective socialisation, and their level of perceived dominance are the dependent variables in this section of the analysis. Participants’ linguistic practices matched their cultural orientation. High levels of affective socialisation in the first language and of its perceived dominance linked with migrants’ acculturation to the heritage culture. Likewise, high levels of affective socialisation, along with the perceived dominance of the local language, linked with migrants’ acculturation to the host culture. Each linguistic dimension also indicated independent sets of correlates with different personality characteristics. The maintenance of heritage linguistic practices negatively linked with the traits Flexibility and Emotional Stability, whereas the development of mainstream linguistic practices positively linked with the traits Cultural Empathy, Social Initiative, and Openmindedness. Approximately 10% of the variance in migrants’ linguistic practices was collectively explained by cultural attitudes and personality facets.
