GENDER AND THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF EMOTION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF URDU–ENGLISH BILINGUALS' EMOTIONAL RESPONSES

This study explores the ways Urdu–English bilingual speakers respond emotionally to the narratives presented to them in Urdu and English language. The study analyzes the perception of male and female participants to provide a systematic comparison between both genders. Responses to the English ‘Andy’ and Urdu ‘Ahmed’ versions of the narrative were thematically analyzed using Pavlenko`s (2008) theory of differential emotional resonance across the bilingual`s languages, Wierzbicka`s (1999) cultural scripts theory of emotion, and Lutz`s (1990) theory of engendered emotion discourse. Findings reveal that male participants` responses shifted from the emotionally distant and evaluative mode in English to the markedly relationally oriented and sympathetic mode in Urdu, while the females` responses were relatively relationally oriented, and sympathetic in both languages with the inter-lingual shift limited mainly to intensification of specific family members in Urdu, especially mothers. The findings build upon the bilingual-emotion theory by revealing the phenomenon of change from ‘indifference’ to ‘sympathy’.