Transfers from Venetan and Trentino dialects in the processing of English phrasal verbs

The existing literature on bilingualism, second language learning and transfers appears to have focused primarily on standard languages, with only a few exceptions. In the present study, we elected to use phrasal verbs as a means of investigating dialect-to-language transfer in dialect speakers acquiring English at school. In fact, phrasal verbs are present in the English language as compositional or idiomatic form, as well as in some Italian-Romance dialect varieties spoken in the Veneto and Trentino regions. This thesis presents two experiments. The first is a questionnaire concerning the production and comprehension of dialectal phrasal verbs in Veneto, Trentino and East Lombardia speakers. The second is an eye tracker experiment concerning the reading of English sentences with lexical and phrasal verbs in Venetan and Trentino dialect speakers.