The reason why tense has occupied such a central place in linguistic discussion, and has done so for so long, is that this topic - along with its related topics aspect, modality and evidentiality - is not only rich and complex but also deeply rooted in language, manifesting itself at all its levels and in a significant number of contexts. The contributions collected in this volume appear at first sight as specific studies of specific phenomena, but it soon becomes clear that, by its very nature, the subject of 'time' cannot be approached in 'isolation', since it runs through the language as a pervasive system, without its boundaries being clearly defined.
Laura Baranzini received her Ph.D. in Italian Linguistics from the University of Geneva in 2010. She worked as a post-doc researcher at the universities of Neuchâtel, Basel and Turin. She is currently a permanent researcher at Osservatorio linguistico della Svizzera italiana and a lecturer at Università della Svizzera italiana.
Louis de Saussure, Ph.D., is professor of linguistics and discourse analysis at the University of Neuchatel where he participated to the creation of the Cognitive Science Centre. He has published extensively, in particular in the domain of TAME.