The topic of non-native language processing has been of steady interest in past decades. Yet, conclusions about the emotional responses in L2 have been highly variable. We conducted a large-scale rating study to explicitly measure how non-native readers of English respond to the valence and arousal of 2,628 English words. We investigated how the effect of a rater's L2 proficiency, length of time in Canada, and the semantic category of the word affects how L2 readers experience and rate that word. L2 speakers who had lived a longer time in Canada, and reported higher English proficiency, showed emotional responses that were more similar to those of L1 speakers of English. Additionally, valence differences between L1 and L2 raters were greater in words that L2 raters do not typically use in English. These findings highlight the importance of behavioural ecology in language learning, particularly as it applies to emotional word processing.

中文翻译：

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第二语言中的单词是如何感受的：L2 使用者对 2,628 个英语单词的效价和唤醒的规范

在过去的几十年中，非母语处理的主题一直受到关注。然而，关于 L2 中情绪反应的结论存在很大差异。我们进行了一项大规模的评级研究，以明确衡量非英语母语读者对 2,628 个英语单词的效价和唤醒的反应。我们调查了评分者的 L2 熟练程度、在加拿大的时间长度以及单词的语义类别如何影响 L2 读者对该单词的体验和评分。在加拿大生活较长时间并报告英语水平较高的 L2 演讲者表现出与 L1 英语演讲者更相似的情绪反应。此外，L1 和 L2 评分者之间的效价差异在 L2 评分者通常不会在英语中使用的单词中更大。