The linguistics of emotions, bilingualism and multiple personalities, and tropes from Marathi pop culture

 I was listening to a Lingthusiasm episode on the linguistics of emotions, and the bit about how bilingual people process emotions stood out to me. A few months ago, I had an epiphany that how I feel and what language I write in are deeply intertwined. My journal entries in English are more businesslike, reflecting on things I should and should not do and planning my life. The tone is more of a to-do list meets pep talk to self. When I journal in Marathi on the other hand, my thoughts are  more meandering and laid-back. I came to the conclusion that the stage of life I learned these languages at and the contexts of use have trained me to access my thoughts differently in the two languages.  It's so cool to encounter actual data that relates to my experience!

I had not considered the effect of how emotion space is mapped in different languages on what context-language pairings people lean towards in practice.  In the podcast, they discussed an example of a Russian-speaking person reporting that saying 'I love you' in English is much easier than in their first language. A similar instance from Marathi: in Marathi pop culture, there is a running joke that Marathi kids declare their  relationship status by saying 'आमचं आहे ' ('aamcha aahe'),  literally translated to 'We have one'. The word for 'relationship' is silent! One could search and search for an equivalent to 'dating'/'relationship'/'boyfriend/girlfriend' in Marathi but any candidate just feels artificial when used in conversation. Traditionally, having or more specifically discussing pre-marital relationships is a huge taboo in most South Asian cultures. This has clearly shaped the contours of culture and language, too, by extension. 

Another trope in pop-culture is that Marathi boys' idea of flirting is asking the girl  'जेवलीस का ?' ('Did you have dinner?')  every day on loop. Although the exact words for 'I care about you' or 'I am invested in your well-being' exist and are used in Marathi writing, Marathi men don't feel they are permitted to engage in such a display of affection. This example probably veers a little away from the territory of linguistics and closer to social psychology, but are the two ever separate?