The acquisition of temporality in a second language

This study is part of a larger project organised under the auspices of the European Science Foundation (ESF) in which the second language acquisition of adult immigrants was investigated longitudinally and cross-linguistically in five European countries. The aims, scope and layout of the project as a whole are described in detail in chapter 1.2. The concept of time has been investigated by scholars of many disciplines, from psychology to physics. Why one should look at temporality through the severely restricted instrument of a beginner's second language, however, deserves some explanation. We briefly consider three areas of research for which empirically based insights into the organisation of temporality in early learner languages might be relevant or of interest.