Elizabeth Tobyn

Research project: Non-standard bilingualism in Italy and the semantics of unaccusative verbs

Supervisors: Prof Delia Bentley and Dr Andrea Nini

I am interested in split intransitivity and one of its main diagnostics: perfect auxiliary selection. My research project investigates perfect auxiliary selection in 'non-standard' bilinguals (i.e., bilingual speakers of a standardised and a non-standardised language, e.g., Italian and Palermitano, respectively). I also examine the effect of the age of acquisition of Italian by comparing two groups of bilinguals: early simultaneous and late consecutive bilinguals. In brief, my study seeks to determine whether perfect auxiliation in Italian is influenced by (i) competence in a non-standardised language, (ii) the age of acquisition of Italian, and (iii) the lexical-semantic properties of essere-selecting verbs. With respect to this final objective, Sorace’s (2000) ‘Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy’ is tested.

• Syntax-semantics interface
• Lexical semantics
• Bilingualism
• Languages of Italy
• Language acquisition

• Organising and Scientific Committee for the 18th Cambridge Italian Dialect Syntax-Morphology Meeting (CIDSM)

• Organising Committee for the Manchester Forum in Linguistics 2024 (Lead Organiser)

• Organising Committee for the Manchester Forum in Linguistics 2023 (Lead Organiser)

• Organising Committee for the Manchester Forum in Linguistics 2022 (Communications Co-ordinator)

• SALC PGR Support fund (2024/2025) - £549.44

• AHRC Conference Fund (2023/2024) - £665.29

• AHRC Cohort Development Fund (2023/2024) - £750

• AHRC 3-month programme extension for Knowledge Exchange placement

• AHRC Student Development Fund (2023/2024) - £4,145.37

• AHRC Conference Fund (2022/2023) - £155.52

• AHRC Fieldwork Bursary (2022/2023) - £4,477.28

• Postgraduate Research Fieldwork Bursary Fund (2021/2022) - £875.10

• AHRC NWCDTP PhD Award (stipend and tuition fees) - ~£46,000

• Erasmus+ Traineeship (2018/2019)

• Erasmus+ Studio (2018/2019)

• Erasmus+ Traineeship (2015/2016)

• Erasmus+ Studio (2014/2015)

Teaching Assistant LELA10201 Language, Mind and Brain

• (2017-2019)
  Master of Arts in Comparative Literatures and Cultures (English Linguistics and Italian Studies), Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", 110 cum laude 
• (2013-2016)
  Bachelor of Arts in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation (Linguistic Analysis and Translation), Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", 110 cum laude

E-mail: [email protected]