Interpersonal perception of emotional intensity by English first (L1) and foreign (LX) language users in audio(visual) communication

Many studies have revealed multilinguals' reduced emotionality of a foreign language (LX) compared to a first language (L1). Contrary to the bulk of research so far, which has focused on multilinguals' own emotion experience or emotion processing, this study focuses on interpersonal communication and investigates how one perceives the intensity level of someone else's emotional experience. Data were collected via an online survey. A total of 557 L1 users and 811 upper-intermediate to advanced LX users of English rated the intensity of the emotional experience of a British actress enacting different emotional events in six audiovisual or audio-only clips in English. Overall, audiovisual stimuli yielded higher intensity ratings than audio-only stimuli. More surprisingly, the L1 participants' intensity ratings were lower than the LX participants' ratings in both conditions. English proficiency was not significantly correlated with intensity ratings among L1 and LX users, which suggests that paralinguistic skills develop independently from linguistic skills.