34.625, Support: French; Language Acquisition; Syntax: PhD, KU Leuven, Belgium

Tue Feb 21 02:05:02 UTC 2023

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-625. Tue Feb 21 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.625, Support: French; Language Acquisition; Syntax: PhD, KU Leuven, Belgium 

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Date: 
From: Karen Lahousse [karen.lahousse at kuleuven.be]
Subject: French; Language Acquisition; Syntax: PhD, KU Leuven, Belgium 

Institution/Organization: KU Leuven, Belgium
Department: Linguistics
Web Address: https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/ling/index

Level: PhD

Duties: Research

Specialty Areas: Language Acquisition; Syntax; syntax, information
structure
Required Language(s): French (fra)

Description:

Looking for a PhD researcher on French Linguistics (language
acquisition)

The research project “The emergence of syntactic complexity. The first
language acquisition of cleft sentences as a window onto the syntax –
prosody – information structure interface”, funded by FWO (Research
Foundation – Flanders), is opening a fully-funded PhD position in
linguistics at the KU Leuven department of Linguistics.

The project is an international collaboration between the PI prof.
Karen Lahousse (KU Leuven,
https://sites.google.com/view/karenlahousse/about-me) and co-PIs prof.
Cécile De Cat (University of Leeds, UK,
https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/languages/staff/37/prof-cecile-de-cat), prof.
Kriszta Szendrői (University of Vienna, Austria, https://www.univie.ac
.at/en/research/research-overview/neue-professuren-ab-2020/detailansic
ht-en/artikel/univ-prof-dr-kriszta-eszter-szendroi/) and prof. Carla
Soares-Jesel (Université Paris Cité, Laboratoire de Linguistique
formelle, France, http://www.llf.cnrs.fr/fr/Gens/Soares-Jesel).

The external advisors of the research project are prof. Fatima
Hamlaoui (University of Toronto, Canada, https://www.french.utoronto.c
a/people/directories/all-faculty/fatima-hamlaoui), Cristel Portes
(Laboratoire Parole et Langage, Aix-en-Provence, France
https://www.lpl-aix.fr/contact/cristel-portes/) and Katerina Palasis
(CNRS, Université Côte d’Azur, France,
https://bcl.cnrs.fr/rubrique171?lang=fr). Prof. Karen Lahousse and
prof. Cécile De Cat will be the main and daily supervisors of the PhD
student; the collaboration with other co-supervisors and external
advisors depends on the specific work packages.

Project:
Although it is well-known that syntax, prosody and discourse
pragmatics (Information Structure, IS) interact in a range of
linguistic phenomena, the precise way in which they interact, and how
that interaction develops during first language acquisition (FLA),
remain subject to lively debate. The general goal of this project is
to explore the way in which children exploit the syntax – prosody – IS
interface to acquire syntactically complex phenomena in their first
language. We will focus on a prototypical interface phenomenon: French
cleft sentences introduced by c’est ‘it is’ (1a) or il y a ‘there is’
(1b).

(1) Full clefts (adult-like)
a. J(e) veux pas faire les tortues c'est compliqué. C'est toi qui m(e)
fais les tortues. (age 2;9)
‘I don’t want to do the turtles, it’s complicated. It’s you who do the
turtles for me.’
b.    (Il) y a quelqu'un qui vole un parapluie. (age 3;11)
    ‘(There) is somebody who is stealing an umbrella’

Cleft sentences are frequent in child and adult spoken French – and
more frequent in French than in other languages – but have received
relatively little attention in the acquisition literature. Attempts at
producing them emerge early (2), with the full structure (1) appearing
within a few months.

(2) Proto-clefts (non-adult-like)
a. C’est Marie fait. ‘It’s Marie does’ (age 2;0)
b. Non c’est moi, le pingouin. ‘No, it is me (who has) the penguin’
(age 2;1.11)

With their complex syntax, clear IS-interpretation, and specific
prosody, clefts are an ideal interface phenomenon to investigate from
a developmental point of view. Based on a large-scale corpus study of
spontaneous speech and an experiment, this project will investigate
how the contribution of each language module changes over the course
of development, as children become able to deal with progressively
more syntactic complexity.

Salary of more or less 2.100 euros net, depending on your personal
situation.
For more information, see the website.

Application Deadline: 15-Mar-2023

Web Address for Applications: https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsit
e/jobs/60192050?fbclid=IwAR3PNPhcm5c2lRDs4LIH5q7A51-BBxky5jiwoi2OF1VpP
U3hMRKjsNubQUI&hl=en&lang=en

Contact Information:
Professor Karen Lahousse
karen.lahousse at kuleuven.be

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