27.395, Support: Phonology; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Syntax / New Zealand

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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-395. Thu Jan 21 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.395, Support: Phonology; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Syntax / New Zealand

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Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 08:45:10
From: Sasha Calhoun [Sasha.Calhoun at vuw.ac.nz]
Subject: Phonology; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Syntax, PhD, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

 Institution/Organization: Victoria University of Wellington 
Department: School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 
Web Address: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/ 

Level: PhD 

Duties: Research
 
Specialty Areas: Phonology; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Syntax 
 

Description:

The School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University
of Wellington, New Zealand, invites applications for a PhD studentship on the
perception of prosody and information structure across languages. The
studentship is funded as part of a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Grant
“Searching for focus in a shared world: the integration of prosody and syntax
in cross-linguistic speech perception”. The PI is Dr Sasha Calhoun (Victoria).
Assoc. Prof. Enric Vallduví (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) is an AI on
the grant. The successful applicant will be based at Victoria University in
Wellington (VUW).

The project investigates how listeners use prosodic and syntactic cues to
focus in different languages, and the relationship between focus and attention
in speech perception. Dialogue models suggest that, in all languages, speakers
use prosody and syntax as cues to the focus of their message, facilitating the
building of a shared discourse model (e.g. Vallduví to appear, CUP). However,
there has been much less research on how listeners integrate prosodic and
syntactic cues to focus, and how this differs depending on the importance of
these different cues for focus-marking in different languages. Further, some
psycholinguistic research suggests that focused words in an utterance are
attended to and processed more deeply (e.g. Cutler & Fodor 1979, Cognition;
Braun & Tagliapietra 2010, Language & Cognitive Processes). However, this
research has mostly looked at English and other Germanic languages where
stress is the primary cue to focus, so it is at present unclear whether it is
focus, or stress, or both, which draws attention. The PI will direct research
using psycholinguistic methods to investigate how prosodic and syntactic cues
are used in the perception of focus by monolingual and bilingual speakers of
Samoan and English, and how this relates to attention in speech perception.
The PhD student’s project is intended to complement this, using
psycholinguistic methods to investigate the perception of focus in another
non-Germanic language.

Eligibility

Applicants should have an excellent background in the analysis of prosody
and/or information structure. They should also have experience in carrying out
psycholinguistic research on speech perception, and good working knowledge of
tools for such experimental work, such as Praat and the R Statistics package.
Applicants should hold a Masters or Honours degree in Linguistics or a related
area, including course work and ideally research projects in these areas. The
applicant needs to be a native or near-native speaker of the language they
propose to study. Published descriptions must be available of the prosodic and
syntactic expression of focus in the language, to provide a basis for
perception studies.

Total value

The Scholarship will provide a stipend to cover living expenses of NZ$27,500
pa for three years, plus tuition fees (students will be responsible for
payment of the student levy and international insurance if applicable).
Funding is also available for data collection in another country. The
applicant will also have access to contestable funding from Victoria for
conference travel.

Closing date for applications

The successful student is expected to start his/her PhD by 1 August 2016. 

Applications should be received by 15 April 2016.

Applications

Applicants should apply through the online portal of the Faculty of Graduate
Research at Victoria University. For more details see the link below.
 

Application Deadline: 15-Apr-2016 

Web Address for Applications: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/study/student-finance/scholarships/find-scholarship/scholarship-detail?detailCode=501039 

Contact Information: 
	Dr Sasha Calhoun 
	Sasha.Calhoun at vuw.ac.nz  


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