26.3977, Jobs: Forensic Linguistics; Phonetics; Sociolinguistics: Research Associate, University of York

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LINGUIST List: Vol-26-3977. Wed Sep 09 2015. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 26.3977, Jobs: Forensic Linguistics; Phonetics; Sociolinguistics: Research Associate, University of York

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Date: Wed, 09 Sep 2015 12:03:43
From: Tom Feasby [tom.feasby at york.ac.uk]
Subject: Forensic Linguistics; Phonetics; Sociolinguistics: Research Associate, University of York, York, United Kingdom

 
University or Organization: University of York 
Department: Language & Linguistic Science
Job Location: York, United Kingdom 
Web Address: https://jobs.york.ac.uk/wd/plsql/wd_portal.show_job?p_web_site_id=3885&p_web_page_id=230342
Job Title: Research Associates x2
Job Rank: Researcher

Specialty Areas: Forensic Linguistics; Phonetics; Sociolinguistics 


Description:

Salary: £30,434 - £31,342		
Contract type: Fixed-term
Hours of work: 1.0 FTE	
Based at: Heslington West, University of York	

We are seeking to appoint two full-time research assistants to work on a new ESRC-funded project: ‘The use and utility of localised speech forms in determining identity: forensic and sociophonetic perspectives’. The project team comprises Dr Carmen Llamas, Dr Dominic Watt and Professor Peter French. The positions are available for a period of three years to commence on 4 January 2016.

The project has two main aims – one sociophonetic, the other forensic. Sociophonetically, through analysis of the production and perception of various phonological forms in the Northeast of England, it seeks to better understand how forms can become localised to particular speech communities, while others become supralocal, but remain markers of regional identity. To this end, the project will investigate whether working-class speakers who are routinely geographically mobile within the region make greater use of supralocal forms than those who are economically marginal and geographically immobile. If the immobility of the latter gives rise to relative lack of contact between their proximal speech communities, geographically restricted phonological forms may develop and become markers of localised, as opposed to regional identities. 

The forensic aim involves analysing the speech corpora collected from the Northeast using long-term acoustic measures and comparing the ranges of variation found with those established from a corpus of Standard Southern British English.  This will throw light on the extent to which accent differences have a bearing on the performance of automatic speaker recognition systems, relative to the effects of vocal tract-related (i.e. anatomical) factors. 

The posts are suitable for post-doctoral candidates who have research interests and expertise in areas of quantitative sociophonetics, particularly phonetic/phonological variation and change, and forensic phonetics, particularly with regard to the use of Bayesian likelihood ratios. Successful candidates will have a high level of competence in auditory- and acoustic-phonetic analysis. Experience of fieldwork and/or the design of perceptual experiments would also be advantageous. 

Main purpose of the role

- To conduct research under the supervision of senior colleagues and to contribute to the production of research
- To assist in the identification and development of potential areas of research and the development of proposals for independent or collaborative research projects

Key responsibilities 
(Role holders will be required to undertake some or all of the duties below)

- To conduct individual and collaborative research projects, duties to include: analysis and interpretation of research data; use of appropriate research techniques and methods; writing up of research results and dissemination through publications,  seminar and conference presentations and public engagement and outreach activities; contributing to the identification of possible new areas of research
- To contribute to the preparation of research proposals and applications to external bodies
- To undertake appropriate organisational and administrative activities connected to the research project, including conference organisation, and the development of promotional or educational material including website maintenance and development
- To assist with undergraduate teaching in own area of expertise.


Application Deadline: 07-Oct-2015 
	  
Contact Information:
	Tom Feasby 
	Email: tom.feasby at york.ac.uk 


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