How do French students typically express emotions in conversations

French students typically express emotions in conversations using a combination of limited but expressive emotional lexicon, non-verbal cues, personal anecdotes, interactional markers, and cultural expressions. Their emotional lexicon in French can be somewhat limited, so they often use gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice to convey feelings during discussions. They may also recount personal stories or testimonies to communicate emotions effectively. Expressions such as “tu vois” (you see) are commonly used interactional devices to convey emotional stance or engage in delicate conversation turns, including disagreement or conveying feelings indirectly.

In informal communication among younger French speakers or students, internet memes and humor are also used to express emotions, with differences between males using memes more for happiness and humor, and females more for expressing sadness, anger, love, and hate.

Additionally, French students’ emotional expressions in conversations are influenced by their cultural context, social norms, and pedagogical approaches encouraging engagement and reflection in discussions, especially when addressing controversial or personal topics.

Overall, French students use a variety of verbal, non-verbal, and culturally specific communicative tools to express emotions in conversations, often relying on subtlety and interactional cues as much as explicit emotional vocabulary. ^{1, 2, 3, 4}

References

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