advertisement in main message

[G.J. Steen]

4 PHD POSITIONS IN METAPHOR AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS F/M
FOR 32 HOURS A WEEK (NOT NEGOTIABLE)

Vacancynumber 1.2005.00089

The Faculty of Arts at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is
inviting applications for four PhD positions, beginning 1
September 2005, in the vici-programme "Metaphor in
discourse: linguistic forms, conceptual structures,
cognitive representations.”
The five-year research programme, awarded to Gerard Steen
by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
(NWO), addresses the role of metaphor in discourse by
examining its distribution, structure, function, and
effect in four varieties of English. The hypothesis is
that distinct linguistic forms and conceptual structures
of metaphor display distributions and functions of their
own, and that these interact with the domains of discourse
in which language users employ them. The programme aims at
describing and explaining these interactions on the basis
of detailed corpus research on four samples from the
British National Corpus, and at testing the cognitive
effects of some of these interactions in their mental
representation by language users. Metaphor in discourse
will be modelled by means of a discourse-analytical
elaboration of the cognitive-linguistic approach to
metaphor as a cross-domain mapping. Research involves
corpus analysis of samples from the British National
Corpus and psycholinguistic experiments on various aspects
of metaphor processing.

The four PhD projects constitute the core of the
programme. Each of the projects will concentrate on the
use of metaphor in one specific language variety:
conversation, news texts, academic texts, and fiction. All
projects will be organized by the
same—five-year—timetable, and the research will be
characterized by a great deal of synchronized team work.
During the first year, all researchers will identify
metaphors in samples from all four language varieties,
after which each researcher will concentrate on one
language variety for the rest of the programme.

Each of the four PhD projects will involve a research
training and aims at a dissertation within five years. As
part of their training, PhD students will take courses
offered by the National Graduate School in Linguistics
(LOT). They will present their work at annual expert
meetings and participate in international conferences.
Candidates will also be requested to make a small
contribution to the teaching programme of the Department
of English Language and Culture at the Vrije Universiteit.

Candidates should have native-speaker or near-native
speaker command of (British) English. They should have an
excellent MA thesis in English language and linguistics,
or be able to show that such a thesis will be completed by
August 31. Expertise in metaphor, discourse analysis,
cognitive linguistics, and/or corpus linguistics will be
regarded as an advantage.

Employer
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Arts
The vici-programme is part of one of the four research
programmes of the Institute of Language, Culture, and
History of the Faculty of Arts of the Vrije Universiteit,
“The architecture of the human language faculty”. This
research programme investigates the modular structure of
human language and cognition, with participation from
formal, functional, and cognitive grammarians, and
psycholinguists as well as discourse analysts.
The vici-programme is also connected to the recently
founded Ster research programme of the Vrije Universiteit
on “Discourse, cognition, and communication,” for which
two further PhD research positions are advertised
independently. This is an interdisciplinary research
programme between the faculties of Arts, Psychology, and
Social Science, with the Faculty of Arts concentrating on
“The conversationalization of public discourse” in the
usage of Dutch.

Conditions of employment
For all projects we offer a part-time (80%) five-year PhD
position with gross monthly salary starting at € 1,867,-
in the first year to € 2,394,- in the fifth year of
appointment (salary based on a full-time-contract).
Appointment will initially be for one year, to be extended
with a maximum of four more years upon positive
evaluation.
We also offer a pension scheme, a health insurance
allowance and flexible employment conditions. Conditions
are based on the Collective Employment Agreement of the
Dutch Universities and are supplemented with a holiday
allowance of 8% per year.
Additional Information
A full description of the complete programme and
additional information about the vacancy can be obtained
from dr. G.J. Steen, phone 31-20-598 6445, e-mail address:
Gj.Steen at let.vu.nl.

Application
Your letter of application will have to be in by Monday 30
May. Please send your application to Vrije Universiteit,
Faculteit der Letteren, t.a.v. dr. G.J. Steen, De
Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam or by e-mail to
Gj.Steen at let.vu.nl.
Applications (by regular mail or by e-mail) should include
a curriculum vitae and the names and addresses of two
referees. An MA thesis and a list of courses plus results
should also be included.
E-mail applications should be sent in pdf format and
should specify your name and vacancy number in the message
as well as in the topic, include a list of attachments in
the message, and specify your name in every attachment.
Interviews are planned between 15 and 20 June 2005.
When applying for this job always mention the vacancy
number: 1.200500089.