[HPSG-L] postdoc position in Paris

[Anne Abeillé]

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Experimental Syntax, Semantics and/or Pragmatics
LABEX "Empirical Foundations of Linguistics"
http://www.labex-efl.org/

Université Paris Sorbonne Cité
Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle
http://www.llf.cnrs.fr/
CNRS-Université Paris Diderot

Specialty Areas: Semantics; Syntax; Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics; Psycholinguistics; Computational Linguistics

Description:
The Labex EFL (Empirical Foundations of Linguistics, http://www.labex-efl.org/) is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher in experimental syntax, semantics and/or pragmatics. The position is for 12
months (full time), and, depending on the results, may be renewed for another 12 months.
The position is provided by the strand « Experimental Grammar » of the Labex EFL project (strand 2).
The postdoc is expected to have knowledge of theoretical syntax, semantics and pragmatics, as well as empirical methods: annotated corpora, experiments, and statistics. The postdoc will work within
the context of the SA4 work package, entitled Near-Synonymy, Semantic Equivalence and Syntactic Variation (https://sites.google.com/site/labexeflsa4/home). As such, their primary responsibility will
be to conduct quantitative and/or experimental research on syntactic variation and change, and its relation to semantic, pragmatic and/or social meaning.

Applicants should propose a research project that they will work on during their contract. Phenomena currently being studied within SA4 include argument structure alternations and grammatical gender
alternations in French, German and Russian. These topics could serve as the focus of the postdoctoral project; however, applicants are also highly encouraged to propose an original project based on their
research interests which relates quantitative morpho-syntactic variation to meaning. Projects combining research in formal syntax/semantics/pragmatics with sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic
and/or computational research are particularly desirable.
There are no teaching requirements in this position. However, regular participation in collective scientific activities (e.g., seminars) will be expected. Knowledge of French is an asset but not required.

Research Environment:
The postdoc will be affiliated with the Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle (LLF http://www.llf.cnrs.fr/), located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. The LLF is an interdisciplinary
research laboratory linked to the Department of Linguistics (UFR de Linguistique) at the Université Paris Diderot (https://www.univ-paris-diderot.fr/), which brings together researchers from
computational, experimental, theoretical, and descriptive linguistics. The lab has an experimental room, a lab assistant as well as experimental material (eyetracker, SMI glasses, portable EEG...), and
houses a number of computational resources for corpus studies on French and other languages (French Treebank, ELICO, French parsed Wikipedia...).
The postdoc will also benefit from the lively syntax/semantics/pragmatics community in Paris, which includes labs such as the Institut Jean Nicod (ENS Paris) and Structures Formelles du Langage (Paris 8).

Starting date and salary:
The starting date of the position is flexible: between June 2018 and October 2018. The applicant's PhD should have been defended and filed by the starting date. The position will pay 26.000 euros net per
year.

Application details:
Prospective applicants should send:
- A curriculum vitae including publications
- a brief statement of research interests including a description of the research project to be undertaken during the contract (up to 4 pages)
- a website address where the publications can be downloaded.
- names of professors for reference letters.

For full consideration, please send the application in a single email and arrange to have (up to three) letters of reference sent directly by their author by March 1, 2018. All communication and materials
should be addressed to the application email address below. We intend to (Skype) interview and select candidates in March 2018.

Application Deadline: March 1, 2018
Contacts for applications: Anne Abeillé and Heather Burnett
Email address for applications and/or questions: heather.susan.burnett at gmail.com