Manuela Pinto

Dr. Manuela Pinto is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University's Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, with affiliations to the Institute for Language Sciences and the Dynamics of Youth (DoY) research theme. Her work bridges formal linguistics (Generative Grammar) with applied language education, focusing on second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and intercultural communication.

• PhD in Linguistics (Utrecht, 1997) - Thesis: Licensing and Interpretation of Inverted Subjects in Italian
• MA in General Linguistics (Utrecht, 1991)
• MA in German Language/Literature (Italy, 1986)

Research spans child language development, bilingualism, and societal applications through projects like:

• Coloring Book - Digital method for assessing language comprehension in children
• KleurenSchat - Dutch vocabulary assessment tool
• Nederlands voor Alle Kinderen (NvAK) - Language tracking for newcomer children
• Community Engaged Learning projects with migrants' organizations

Recent publications focus on:

• Syntactic theory and microcontact phenomena
• Ecological validity in language testing
• Aspectual properties in L2 acquisition
• Intercultural pragmatics in advertising

She has received research grants for:

• Heritage Storytelling projects
• Bidirectional Storytelling initiatives

Additional contributions include:

• Coordinating typological databases
• Organizing international conferences (Going Romance, ISB symposia)
• Founding Growingupbilingual.org information service