This study aims at exploring to what extent transfer plays a role for young Italian learners of English. The informants consisted of a group of Italian high school students whose English written compositions are investigated. The collection of data is made up of an error analysis based on Pit Corder’s methodology (Corder in Ellis 2008: 46), in which six different linguistic categories are examined such as collocations, word order, the past tenses with special focus on the simple present perfect versus the simple past, furthermore the null subject parameter, false friends and subject-verb agreement. A brief discussion is also dedicated to the difference between what constitutes an error and a mistake. What emerges in this study is that the category of collocations is the one in which most instances of transfer errors are found followed by word order and the use of the simple past tense. Finally, the research aims to find out what could be the plausible reasons as to why certain categories appear to be more subject to the transfer phenomena.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo reunir uma série de entrevistas em italiano e analisar as influências locais sofridas no léxico por um grupo de imigrados italianos residentes em São Bernardo do Campo SP, que vieram para o Brasil durante o segundo fluxo emigratório italiano, entre 1948 e 1960. São indivíduos que possuem formação escolar limitada ao primário ou ao curso fundamental, pela classe social à que pertenciam e pela falta de condições econômicas na época, mas que hoje pertencem à classe média e, além de já terem retornado à Itália pelo menos uma vez, puderam oferecer cursos de nível superior aos filhos. Através da amostragem analisada, pudemos constatar que, apesar do longo período fora da Itália, esses indivíduos falam um italiano compreensível, o que os torna bilíngües, ainda que o vocabulário italiano de que dispõem seja pobre, muitas vezes inadequado e tenha sofrido interferências do portuguêsbrasileiro. As principais interferências foram classificadas em: 1- empréstimos totais, 2- empréstimos parciais, 3- comutações, 4- mudanças de significado e 5- decalques. Também foram assinaladas as principais impropriedades e, em parte, o uso mais ou menos correto das preposições, dos artigos, dos pronomes, dos advérbios e das conjunções. / This work aims at putting together a series of interviews conducted in Italian and to analyze the local influencies suffered in the lexicon in a group of Italian who emigrated to Brazil and currently reside in São Bernardo do Campo São Paulo. They came to Brazil during the second Italian migrating flux between 1948 -1960. These are individuals whose school formation is limited to the primary or the secondary school, affected by the social class to what they belonged to and by the lack of economic conditions of that period. Today, however, they belong to the middle class and have traveled to Italy at least once and were able to provide a college education for their children. Analysing some of the interviews we could verify that despite the long period away from Italy, these people still speak a comprehensible Italian which makes them bilingual even though using a poor amount of Italian vocabulary at their disposal, quite often inadequate and which had been affected by Brazilian Portuguese. The main interferences were classified as follow; 1- complete loan words, 2- partial loan words, 3- commuting, 4- changes in the meaning and 5- calque. Some other main inaccuracies were also detected and, by chance, the use of partially correct prepositions, pronouns, adverbs and conjuctions.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo reunir uma série de entrevistas em italiano e analisar as influências locais sofridas no léxico por um grupo de imigrados italianos residentes em São Bernardo do Campo SP, que vieram para o Brasil durante o segundo fluxo emigratório italiano, entre 1948 e 1960. São indivíduos que possuem formação escolar limitada ao primário ou ao curso fundamental, pela classe social à que pertenciam e pela falta de condições econômicas na época, mas que hoje pertencem à classe média e, além de já terem retornado à Itália pelo menos uma vez, puderam oferecer cursos de nível superior aos filhos. Através da amostragem analisada, pudemos constatar que, apesar do longo período fora da Itália, esses indivíduos falam um italiano compreensível, o que os torna bilíngües, ainda que o vocabulário italiano de que dispõem seja pobre, muitas vezes inadequado e tenha sofrido interferências do portuguêsbrasileiro. As principais interferências foram classificadas em: 1- empréstimos totais, 2- empréstimos parciais, 3- comutações, 4- mudanças de significado e 5- decalques. Também foram assinaladas as principais impropriedades e, em parte, o uso mais ou menos correto das preposições, dos artigos, dos pronomes, dos advérbios e das conjunções. / This work aims at putting together a series of interviews conducted in Italian and to analyze the local influencies suffered in the lexicon in a group of Italian who emigrated to Brazil and currently reside in São Bernardo do Campo São Paulo. They came to Brazil during the second Italian migrating flux between 1948 -1960. These are individuals whose school formation is limited to the primary or the secondary school, affected by the social class to what they belonged to and by the lack of economic conditions of that period. Today, however, they belong to the middle class and have traveled to Italy at least once and were able to provide a college education for their children. Analysing some of the interviews we could verify that despite the long period away from Italy, these people still speak a comprehensible Italian which makes them bilingual even though using a poor amount of Italian vocabulary at their disposal, quite often inadequate and which had been affected by Brazilian Portuguese. The main interferences were classified as follow; 1- complete loan words, 2- partial loan words, 3- commuting, 4- changes in the meaning and 5- calque. Some other main inaccuracies were also detected and, by chance, the use of partially correct prepositions, pronouns, adverbs and conjuctions.