32.2029, Support: Language Acquisition; Sociolinguistics: PhD, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-32-2029. Fri Jun 11 2021. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 32.2029, Support: Language Acquisition; Sociolinguistics: PhD, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2021 13:24:03
From: Laura Rosseel [laura.rosseel at vub.be]
Subject: Language Acquisition; Sociolinguistics: PhD, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

 Institution/Organization: Vrije Universiteit Brussel 
Department: Center for Linguistics (CLIN) 
Web Address: https://clin.research.vub.be/en/ 

Level: PhD 

Duties: Research
 
Specialty Areas: Language Acquisition; Sociolinguistics 
 

Description:

The research groups ‘Center for Linguistics’ (CLIN) of the Faculty of Arts and
Philosophy at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and ‘Quantitative Lexicology and
Variational Linguistics’ (QLVL) of the Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven, Belgium,
invite applications for a four year junior researcher-position on a new
research project funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO). The title
of the project is: ‘Acquiring social meaning of language variation: an
experimental exploration.’

Project:
Language varies in many different ways. People for instance use different
words to refer to the same object or they pronounce words in various ways.
Listeners often associate this language variation
with presumed social attributes of the speaker (e.g. level of education). This
is referred to as the social meaning of language variation.

This project studies how people learn this type of sociolinguistic meaning.
More concretely, the project aims to answer four questions about this
acquisition process.
- What is the role of memory in the acquisition process of sociolinguistic
meaning and which linguistic factors influence retention and attrition of
newly acquired meanings?
- Do adults need a more robust link between linguistic form and social meaning
than children- to ensure acquisition?
- How quickly are second order indexical meanings inferred from newly learnt
first order indexical meanings?
- What type of linguistic feature gets most easily imbued with new social
meanings?

Tasks:
- Development and execution of the proposed research project. 
- Conduct literature review
- Design and conduct experiments
- Analyze data in light of the objectives (four case studies)
- Present results at national and international conferences. 
- Report results in international refereed journals. 
- Follow specialized courses through the research school. 
- Provide teaching assistance at undergraduate level and assist in the
supervision of undergraduate students (maximum 10-15%).

Profile:
Applications are invited from candidates with the following qualifications: 
- A master’s degree in either Linguistics or in Linguistics and Literature or
other relevant master’s degrees - final year students who are sure they will
obtain their master’s degree in September 2021 or January 2022 can also apply.
An outstanding record of undergraduate and Master's level work is an asset.
- A curious, enterprising, and creative mind;
- Excellent analytical skills and a passion for research;
- An interest in and talent for working in the field of experimental and
developmental sociolinguistics;
- A good command of (written and spoken) English; willingness to learn some
basic Dutch
- The ability to present research results at international conferences and to
publish in academic journals;
- A cooperative attitude and the ability to work independently as well as in a
team;
- Previous experience in experimental design is considered an asset.

Offer:
The junior researcher to be appointed on this project, will be working under
the supervision of Prof Dr Laura Rosseel (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Prof
Dr Eline Zenner (KU Leuven) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Funding is
available for 4 years. The appointment is initially for the duration of 1 year
(starting date determined in mutual agreement with the candidate) and will be
extended given satisfactory achievements. Salaries are more than competitive
with international standards.

To apply, please visit the application link provided below.
 

Web Address for Applications: https://jobs.vub.be/job/Elsene-PhD-Scholarship-'Acquiring-social-meaning-of-language-variation-an-experimental-exploration'/683492001/ 

Contact Information: 
	Prof Dr Laura Rosseel
	laura.rosseel at vub.be  


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