The Effect of Impersonal Language Structures in Portuguese and English on Bilinguals’ Ability to Endure Hunger

Do differences in linguistic structures affect the way speakers of those languages experience hunger? This experiment hypothesizes that they do, under the premise that our experience of the world (colors, emotions, and physiological sensations alike) is shaped by highly variable language-based conceptual knowledge. This study investigates how differing structures of impersonality in Portuguese and English affect bilingual speakers’ ability to endure hunger. In total, 162 Portuguese-English bilinguals would be randomly assigned to a fasting and language condition and asked to answer questions regarding their perceived ability to fast until the next day. Their answers, as well as the time between the completion of the study and their next meal, would be encoded as a hunger endurance score indicative of how capable they feel of fasting until the following morning. The results are expected to show a significant main effect of language on hunger endurance, with participants exposed to Portuguese reporting higher hunger endurance scores than those exposed to English. A main effect of hunger on hunger endurance is also expected to be observed, with satiated participants earning higher endurance scores than their fasted counterparts. Lastly, a significant interaction between language and hunger is expected, whereby only fasted participants exposed to Portuguese would demonstrate more hunger endurance based on the questions they answer. Language is not expected to have an effect on participants in the satiated condition.