34.3241, Support: Language Documentation: PhD, Ghent University

Wed Nov 1 02:05:02 UTC 2023

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-3241. Wed Nov 01 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.3241, Support: Language Documentation: PhD, Ghent University

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Date: 26-Oct-2023
From: Sara Pacchiarotti [sara.pacchiarotti at ugent.be]
Subject: Language Documentation: PhD, Ghent University

Institution/Organization: Ghent University
Department: Languages and Cultures
Web Address: http://www.talenenculturen.ugent.be

Level: PhD

Duties: Research

Specialty Areas: Language Documentation; Niger-Congo, Ubangi, Central
Sudanic, Northwestern Bantu languages, Historical Linguistics,
Language Description and Typology

Description:

Applications are invited for two PhD research positions of one-year,
starting as early as possible in 2024 and renewable once with three
additional years, to carry out linguistic research within the
ERC-funded CongUbangi project led by Prof. Sara Pacchiarotti. All
nationalities are welcome to apply;

Profile
 - You hold a MA degree in African Languages and/or Linguistics;
 - You have a basic training in African linguistics or you have been
exposed to African languages during your training as a linguist;
 - You have good knowledge of English as well as sufficient knowledge
of French to do fieldwork in francophone Central Africa;
 - You are willing and able to carry out fieldwork in remote locations
in West-Central Africa, including northwestern DRC, northeastern
Republic of the Congo and southwestern CAR to collect first-hand data
on undocumented languages;
 - You are a dynamic and enthusiastic team player who adapts to
challenging situations;

Additional assets
 - Experience with northwestern Bantu languages/Ubangi/Central
Sudanic;
 - Linguistic fieldwork experience in Africa or outside of Europe;
 - Ability to use specialized software for language analysis
(FieldWorks Language Explorer, Toolbox, Elan, Praat, etc.);
 - Training in historical linguistics;
 - Demonstrated ability to analyze and publish first-hand fieldwork
data on genetically diverse languages;
 - A keen interest in interdisciplinary approaches to the African
past;

Brief Project Description
[For more information contact the professor listed below]
The Congo-Ubangi watershed : An interdisciplinary approach to the
genesis of a linguistic accretion zone in Central Africa Central
Africa’s Congo-Ubangi watershed spans multiple ecozones in the
northern margins of the rainforest. It is a major hotbed of
linguistic, cultural and human genetic diversity with deep occupation
history. This linguistic accretion zone is home to a complex mosaic of
genealogically and typologically diverse languages spoken by
small-size communities with different societal organizations, material
cultures, and subsistence specializations. Despite the myriad of new
insights it could generate about language evolution and deep human
past, it is poorly known due to difficulty of access and an
astonishingly intricate configuration. CongUbangi will realize a
breakthrough in our understanding of how linguistic diversity
correlates with material culture and genetic diversity and why it
originated and persisted in this specific ecoregion for millennia.
Within linguistics, new bodies of evidence from mutually-feeding
disciplines will be integrated to determine whether (i) language shift
is an adaptive strategy in response to environmental stress and (ii)
past environmental changes impacted the synchronic distribution of
linguistic enclaves.

PhD research description
 - You will participate in fieldwork missions in Central Africa
planned between 2024 and 2029 or carry out fieldwork independently;
 - PhD candidate 1 will collect first-hand fieldwork data on an Ubangi
enclave variety known as Ndunga(-le), spoken to the northeast of the
city of Lisala, DRC, in order to describe its phonology, basic verbal
and nominal morphosyntax as well as specific grammatical subsystems.
 - PhD candidate 2 will work on selected case-studies of
multidirectional language shift involving any combination of Bantu,
Ubangi, and Central Sudanic languages.

Applicants should submit a single pdf file containing the following
items:
 (1) a motivation letter (cover letter) including a short research
plan, in which you specify how you would tackle the proposed PhD
research
 (2) CV
 (3) up to two samples of (published) academic work
 (4) a recommendation letter from you MA adviser
Send your pdf file to to the contact's email listed below and include
“CongUbangi: PhD in linguistics” in the subject line.

Application Deadline: 20-Dec-2023

Email Address for Applications: sara.pacchiarotti at ugent.be

Contact Information:
Prof.  Sara Pacchiarotti
sara.pacchiarotti at ugent.be

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