PROCESSAMENTO DE DATIVOS POR CRIANÇAS BILÍNGUES PORTUGUÊS-INGLÊS

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to discuss the processing of object pronouns in dative constructions, as in the example "The teacher sent the principal the children", by Portuguese-English bilinguals. Using the online method of the self-monitored experimental reading technique, bilingual children will be grouped according to Fountas and Pinnell reading levels (1996), whose guided reading level system gives a more accurate reading level for books and groups children alphabetically. The hypotheses testes were: I. Portuguese-English bilinguals, in general, will more easily process structures that resemble their mother tongue, demonstrating a transfer effect of L1 processing strategies on LE; II. Within bilingualism we have different levels of proficiency. The processing of object pronouns in dative constructions will be directly affected by the level of proficiency, so that level I learners will be less agile in processing LE than level II and level III learners. The main objective of the proposed experiment was to test the learner's parser's ease in situations in which it is not accustomed to act, such as when to find a structure that is possible only in the foreign language and not in the mother language, where such a structure would be considered ungrammatical.