29.4901, Support: Spanish; Computational Linguistics; Dialectology: PhD, Ghent University

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-4901. Mon Dec 10 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.4901, Support: Spanish; Computational Linguistics; Dialectology: PhD, Ghent University

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Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2018 11:00:09
From: Miriam Bouzouita [miriam.bouzouita at ugent.be]
Subject: Spanish; Computational Linguistics; Dialectology: PhD, Ghent University, Belgium

 Institution/Organization: Ghent University 
Department:  

Level: PhD 

Duties: Research
 
Specialty Areas: Computational Linguistics 
Dialectology 
Required Language(s): Spanish (spa)

Description:

In the context of a research infrastructure project, a scholarship is offered
for a PhD student in the LT3 Language and Translation Technology Team at the
Ghent University Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication.
The successful applicant will participate in a multidisciplinary research
collaboration between UGent (ΔiaLing and LT3) and UHasselt (Expertise Centre
for Digital Media). The PhD research topic is part of a Hercules (FWO-funded)
project (see description below), and focuses on the extension of Natural
Language Processing tools for application in the domain of Spanish
dialectology.

The envisaged starting date is February 1st, 2019. The successful candidate is
appointed for two years. Further funding will be sought for the remainder of
the PhD project.

Description of the Hercules project:
The study of dialectal microvariation of Spanish spoken in Spain has until
recently mainly focused on lexical and phonetic features. The morphosyntax of
these dialects, on the contrary, remains largely unexplored, despite the
recent surge in interest in dialect grammars. This is due to the lack of large
annotated dialectal corpora. This project aims to fill this lacuna and will
create the first morphosyntactically annotated and parsed corpus of the
European Spanish dialects. This dialect corpus will be designed in a
geographically balanced way and its material will proceed from the COSER
corpus (Corpus Oral y Sonoro del Español Rural `Audible Corpus of Spoken Rural
Spanish'; www.corpusrural.es), which is the largest collection of oral data in
the Spanish-speaking world. As transcribing and annotating are expensive and
labour-intensive, this project takes a collaborative game-based approach to
building the parsed corpus of European Spanish dialects. In other words, a
crowdsourced game will be built through which members of the public contribute
to the co-creation of the parsed corpus by providing annotations in the
context of a game.

Requirements:
- Master’s degree in a relevant field ((Computational) Linguistics,
(Computational) or Computer Science)
- Strong interest in language and speech technology
- Interested in research and having the intention to obtain a PhD degree
- Fluent in English and Spanish
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Eager to acquire new competences and knowledge
- Knowledge of programming languages (e.g. Python, Java)
- The candidate should be able to work independently as well as in a
multidisciplinary team, and will be guided by advisors with a computer
science/computational linguistics background (UGent-UHasselt) and with a
background in dialectology / linguistics (UGent). 

How to apply: 
The application (in English) should include
- A motivation letter, summarizing the candidate’s background and
capabilities, and describing his/her motivation for this position
- Attested copies of education certificates, and a list of master courses with
the grades obtained
- An extensive CV
- Contact information (e-mail) of potential referees

Applications are to be sent by e-mail to Prof. Dr Veronique Hoste
(Veronique.Hoste at UGent.be) and Prof. Dr Miriam Bouzouita
(Miriam.Bouzouita at UGent.be). 

Application deadline: see below.

Contact persons for more information: 
- For general information about the Hercules project: Prof. Dr Miriam
Bouzouita (Principal Investigator): Miriam.Bouzouita at UGent.be; tel.: +32 264
40 50
- For specifications about this post: Prof. Dr Veronique Hoste
(Veronique.Hoste at UGent.be)
 

Application Deadline: 07-Jan-2019 

Mailing Address for Applications:
	Attn: Miriam Bouzouita 
	Blandijnberg 2 
	Ghent 9000 
	Belgium 
	
Contact Information: 
	Miriam Bouzouita 
	miriam.bouzouita at ugent.be  


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