A clash of ‘Prides’ in Chinese-English bilinguals

Abstract Pride is an emotion that has increasingly attracted the attention of researchers in recent decades. Historically, it has been rarely explored in non-European languages. This study examines the verbal displays of pride in Singaporean Chinese–English bilingual youths who are highly fluent in both languages. Twenty-four bilinguals (12 with Mandarin Chinese as home language and 12 with English as home language) were interviewed in both languages in two separate sessions lasting 30 minutes each and held one month apart. In each session, the participants were presented with nine different scenarios comprising seven individual and group achievement-based scenarios, including two filler scenarios. They were asked how they felt about each of the scenarios. Three main trends were found in this study. Across the seven achievement-based scenarios, pride expressions were evaluated and regulated differently. The participants were more likely to express pride and view it more positively for a group-based achievement than when it was a personal achievement. Additionally, there was a significant home language effect with both English and Chinese home language speakers more likely to express pride in their home language and to feel them more strongly. However, Chinese home language bilinguals were less likely to express pride as compared to English home language bilinguals when interviewed in English. These findings highlight that Singaporean bilinguals generally showed more collectivistic construal of pride, but home language experience had a pronounced effect, hence distinguishing the bilingual groups from each other. This study points to the importance of examining the linguistic history and repertoire of bilinguals even though they are from within the same cultural and language group.