An investigation of phenomenological differences in bilinguals' past and future autobiographical events across languages

The aim of the present study was to examine the phenomenological characteristics of bilinguals' past and future events across their languages. For this purpose, fifty-nine (Mage = 22.02, SDage = 2.01) Turkish (L1) - English (L2) bilinguals (F = 37, 63%) participated in two sessions, each conducted in a particular language (Turkish and English, with the counterbalanced order) and separated by one week. Participants' level of proficiency in each language was assessed with Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q). In each session, after completing the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), participants wrote down their past and future negative events and then rated eight different phenomenological characteristics including vividness, sensory details, visual perspectives, and emotional characteristics (valence, intensity, distance, preoccupation) with Autobiographical Memory Characteristics Questionnaire (AMCQ), followed by the questions regarding the temporal and linguistic details of the events. Results showed significant differences across languages in visual perspectives and emotional characteristics, both for future and past events. Additionally, there were significant differences in the vividness ratings of past events between languages. The findings of the study overall support the notion of reduced emotionality and increased psychological distance in the second language. These findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of second language use on autobiographical thinking and shed light on the relationship between second language and emotional experience. Additionally, this research is especially noteworthy in that it represents one of the first investigations into the phenomenology of bilinguals' imagined future events in their second language.