The neurolinguistics of the second language pragmatic system

Conversational pragmatics is the study of language used in context, hence it goes beyond linguistic knowledge, such as word meaning, to incorporate social context, speaker’s intention and listener’s background. While a wealth of research into teaching, learning and assessment of the acquisition of pragmatic competence in L2 exists, almost no neurolinguistic research has been conducted to understand the temporal unfolding and neural correlates of how pragmatic phenomena are processed in L2; possibly because pragmatics has less of a focus on language knowledge. One exception is the study of pragmatic routines, including figurative expressions, and a handful of neuroscientific studies of discourse comprehension, which have extended to L2 speakers. This chapter reviews empirical research on the L2 pragmatic system by integrating traditional applied research with neurolinguistics, with a predominant focus on the latter, and provides suggestions for future promising avenues of neurolinguistic investigation.