The ZISA project was initiated in 1974 at the University of Wuppertal (Germany) by a group of students (including Harald Clahsen and Manfred Pienemann) directed by Jürgen M. Meisel, professor of Romance linguistics. The acronym stands for Zweitspracherwerb italienischer (portugiesischer) und spanischer Arbeiter (Second Language Acquisition by Italian (Portuguese) and Spanish Workers), referring to a project investigating naturalistic acquisition of German by migrant workers from Italy, Portugal, and Spain. P(ortuguese) is missing because recruiting informants from the small local Portuguese community initially seemed impossible.