28.5266, Support: General Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: PhD, KU Leuven

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-28-5266. Tue Dec 12 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.5266, Support: General Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: PhD, KU Leuven

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Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:58:13
From: Benedikt Szmrecsanyi [benszm at kuleuven.be]
Subject: General Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: PhD, KU Leuven, Belgium

 Institution/Organization: KU Leuven 
Department: Department of Lingustics 
Web Address: http://www.kuleuven.be 

Level: PhD 

Duties: Research,Project Work
 
Specialty Areas: General Linguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax 
Register Analysis 

Description:

The research group Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL)
at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Leuven is looking to
hire a predoctoral researcher and PhD candidate to staff the FWO-funded
project ''The register-specificity of probabilistic grammatical knowledge in
English and Dutch'' (PIs: Benedikt Szmrecsanyi, Jason Grafmiller, and Freek
Van de Velde).

Probabilistic grammars regulate the way in which we choose between different
ways of saying the same thing. For example, in English people can say either
''Tom sent Mary a letter'', or ''Tom sent a letter to Mary''. Both syntactic
variants have roughly the same meaning, and we know that variant choice is a
function of quantifiable effects of probabilistic factors such as the length
of the theme, or the pronominality of the recipient. The question the project
is asking is if language users have different probabilistic grammars for
different types of speech situations – in other words, do our linguistic
choice making processes differ depending on whether we engage in e.g. informal
conversation or write blog entries? The project will tackle this question
empirically by investigating the register-specificity of grammatical variation
in English and Dutch. The contrastive variation analysis will rely on both
corpus evidence (i.e. observation) and rating task experiments. 

The ideal candidate will combine:
- a background in variational/variationist linguistics
- proficiency in the analysis of text corpora
- experience in designing and conducting experiments
- good communication skills (oral & written), as well as strong interpersonal
skills.

We offer a full-time position for 4 years (remuneration is in accordance with
the official Belgian scales for academic personnel and bursaries – see the KU
Leuven jobsite for more information).
 
The working language of the project is English. As Dutch is one of the object
languages included in the project, candidates who do not speak Dutch are
expected to build up proficiency in Dutch in the course of the project.
 
If you are interested in this PhD project, please send your CV and a
motivation letter to benszm at kuleuven.be by January 31, 2018. Shortlisted
candidates will be invited for an interview in February. The starting date is
negotiable.
 
For more information about this project, or a more extensive project
description, please email Benedikt Szmrecsanyi at benszm at kuleuven.be.
 

Application Deadline: 31-Jan-2018 

Mailing Address for Applications:
	Attn: Prof. Dr. Benedikt Szmrecsanyi 
	Blijde-Inkomststraat 21 
	PO Box 03308 
	Leuven 3000 
	Belgium 
	
Contact Information: 
	Prof. Dr. Benedikt Szmrecsanyi 
	benszm at kuleuven.be  


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