Code-switching and emotions display in Spanish/Galician bilingual conversation

This paper aims to contribute to recent research on bilingualism and emotions from a discourse approach, analyzing extracts taken from a spontaneous conversation between two Spanish/Galician female bilinguals. Spanish is the base language of this interaction and the dominant language of the speakers, but the extracts selected correspond to sequences of gossip and complaints about third parties including switches into Galician. The analysis reveals that these Spanish/Galician bilingual uses contribute towards the structure of the conversational activity and to foreground different affective stances. Spanish is employed to signal indignation at the arrogant attitude of the people talked about, while Galician is selected in producing a derogatory discourse on their social status or moral condition which displays contempt for them. While previous research on code-switching and emotions has linked the affective functions with the dominant language(s), this paper highlights the relevance of both the dominant language and the less dominant language in displaying affective stances. It is proposed that the specific emotive role of Galician in the contextualization of contempt could be related to the external symbolism of this language and its traditional lack of prestige.