[RNLD] Graduate student positions in Indigenous languages and technology

[Erin McGarvey]

Dear colleagues,

We'd appreciate if you shared the posting below on our graduate student
positions through your networks. Also, if you know of students who'd be
interested in the creation of language technological resources and in
Indigenous languages, we'd be most happy if they applied.

----

Level: PhD / MA

Institution/Organization: University of Alberta

Duties: Research

Specialty Areas:

Morphology; Phonetics; Computational Linguistics; Language Documentation;
Text/Corpus Linguistics; Indigenous Languages; Language Revitalization

Description:

The Alberta Language Technology Lab (ALTLab) at the Department of
Linguistics, University of Alberta is offering two graduate student
positions at the PhD (4 years) or MA (2 years) level in its graduate
program, to start September 2020 under the research project: 21st Century
Tools for Indigenous Languages, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant in 2019 – 2026, see:
http://altlab.artsrn.ualberta.ca/21c.

Our Partnership is hosted by ALTLab and led by Dr. Antti Arppe. We develop
language technological models, tools, and resources for Indigenous
languages in Canada, starting with Plains Cree (Algonquian) and Tsuut’ina
(Dene), and plan to continue and expand work with other languages. These
resources include: intelligent electronic dictionaries, linguistically
analyzed collections of spoken and written texts, spell-checkers, language
learning and practice tools, and word form analyzers and generators,
created in collaboration with Indigenous communities to facilitate and
support the use of their languages in all spheres of life by community
members.

Duties and responsibilities:

Beside studies in the Department’s graduate program, the graduate student
will be expected to:

- support the development or maintenance of current or future projects
within ALTLab for our Partner communities
- conduct research that falls under ALTLab research topics on the languages
of our Partners and/or another Indigenous language (see past publications
and list of potential research topics on our website)

Requirements:

- a keen interest in North American Indigenous languages
- a Bachelor or Master’s degree in a relevant field
- meeting the general entrance requirements to the Department’s graduate
program (http://www.linguistics.ualberta.ca/Graduate/Admissions.aspx)

Preferred Qualities:
- experience in and knowledge of the phonetics/phonology and/or
morphosyntax of Indigenous languages (North American Indigenous languages,
in particular Plains Cree or other Algonquian language)
- experience in computational linguistics and natural language processing
(e.g. finite-state transducers, speech technology)
- interest or experience in language documentation, language
revitalization, language learning

We offer:
- an opportunity to personally contribute to the practical retention of
linguistic diversity

- opportunities for well-rounded, comprehensive training in empirical
research methods in field linguistics, psycholinguistics and corpus
linguistics as well as in language technology
- a chance to participate in an international SSHRC funded Partnership
involving collaboration with partner organizations world-wide in the
development of language technology and research on Indigenous languages

How to apply:

To apply, send by email to 21ct4il at gmail.ca (attn: Dr. Antti Arppe, ref:
PhD 2020):

- a brief statement of research interests and relevant background
- curriculum vitae (including possible publications and presentations)
- university transcripts
- at least two confidential academic letters of reference delivered
directly to Dr. Arppe (arppe at ualberta.ca) by the referees

We will start considering applications in late-December 2019. The positions
are open until filled, but we urge applications to be submitted by Friday
Jan 3, 2020, so as to meet the Linguistics departmental regular graduate
application deadline on Friday, Jan 10, 2020. These positions are for a
start in September 2020.

For further information, please consult the ALTLab website:
https://altlab.artsrn.ualberta.ca/call-for-phd-student-applications-deadline-january-3rd-2020/
or contact us (21ct4il at gmail.com).

Applications Deadline: 03-Jan-2020

Mailing Address for Applications:

        Attn: Dr. Antti Arppe

        2-40 Assiniboia Hall

        Department of Linguistics, University of Alberta

        Edmonton Alberta T6G 2E7

        Canada

Contact Information:
Partnership office
21ct4il at gmail.com

-- 
Erin McGarvey
Administrative Assistant
21st Century Tools for Indigenous Languages
MSc Student - Department of Linguistics
University of Alberta
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