Post-doc Languages of South America, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

[Hein van der Voort]

Job opportunity at the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, The Netherlands
http://www.ru.nl/vacatures/alle_vacatures/

Post-doctoral researcher for ‘Languages of South America’ (1,0 fte)

Faculty of Arts
Vacancy number: 23.16.09
Closing date: 20 April 2009

Job description
This project forms part of Traces of Contact, a large-scale project
funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The Traces of Contact
project aims to establish criteria by which results from language contact
studies can be used to strengthen the field of historical linguistics. To
this end, the scenario model for language contact studies is applied to a
number of concrete settings, which differ widely in their levels of
aggregation and dime depth: the languages of the Amazonian fringe in
South America, the complex multilingual setting of the Republic of
Suriname, the multilingual interaction of immigrant groups in the
Netherlands, and two groups of multilingual individuals. New methods from
structural phylogenetics are employed, and the same linguistic variables
(TMA and evidentiality marking, argument realization) will be studied in
various projects. The projects make use of a shared questionnaire, which
facilitates gathering comparable data. By applying the scenario model at
various levels of aggregation, a more principled link between language
contact studies and historical linguistics can be established.

As a postdoctoral researcher you will be studying the Amerindian
languages of South America, together with other researchers. Preferably,
you can help place the linguistic findings from the project in the
context of related disciplines, including ethnohistory, genetics,
archaeology, and anthropology.

Requirements
You have:
- a PhD degree in descriptive linguistics, typology, or linguistic
anthropology;
- good writing and presentation skills;
- a good knowledge of English and preferably at least passive knowledge
of Spanish and/or Portuguese;
- demonstrable affinity and experience with research on the Amerindian
languages of South America;
- a demonstrable interest in interdisciplinary research, including
ethnohistory, genetics, archaeology, and anthropology;
- a good track record of working in teams.

Organization
The Centre for Language Studies is one of the two research institutes at
the Faculty of Arts, Radboud University Nijmegen. It has a staff of
around 70 FTEs, including some 35 PhD students and postdoctoral
researchers. About 45% of our research projects are externally funded,
three of which have been granted prestigious EURYI/ERC awards. CLS
received an outstanding research assessment in 2006. Focused on broadly
theoretically based empirical research and affiliated with the on-campus
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the Donders Institute for
Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, it provides a stimulating research
climate and excellent opportunities for graduate training.

The present project is part of the Traces of Contact project. The
research will be conducted at the Department of Linguistics of Radboud
University in collaboration with a team headed by Prof. P.C. Muysken,
coordinator of the Traces of Contact project. Another team of
postdoctoral researchers and PhD students will also be directly or
indirectly involved in this project.

Conditions of employment
Maximum employment: 1,0 fte

Additional conditions of employment
The total duration of the contract is 3 years. You will be offered an
initial contract for 1 year with the possibility of prolongation for
another 2 years.
You will receive a salary dependent on qualifications and work experience
between €3,195 and €4,374 gross per month for a full-time position.

Other Information
Additional information and a summary of the research proposal can be
obtained from Pieter Muysken.

Additional Information
E-mail: p.muysken at let.ru.nl

Application
You can apply for the job (mention the vacancy number 23.16.09) before 20
April 2009 by sending your application -preferably by email- to:

RU Nijmegen, Faculty of Arts, Personnel Department
P.O. Box 9103, 6500 HD, Nijmegen (NL)
E-mail: vacatures at let.ru.nl


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