[Lingtyp] PhD scholarships at LCRC

Thu Apr 16 05:13:15 UTC 2015

Dear colleagues 

 PhD scholarships are available at the Language and Culture Research Centre, JCU. Please feel free to spread the word! The announcement is right here. It is also attached, as a pdf document.  Best wishes Sasha

Come
and work in an exotic location, investigating a language which has never
previously been described!

PhD scholarships at
the language and culture research centre, JCU, Australia‏

Applications
are invited, from suitably qualified students, to enter the PhD program of the
Language and Culture Research Centre at James Cook University Australia.
Supervision will be provided by Professors Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, R. M. W.
Dixon, Dr Valérie Guérin, Dr Elena Mihas and Dr Simon Overall.

              Our PhD candidates generally undertake
extensive fieldwork on a previously undescribed (or scarcely described)
language and write a comprehensive grammar of it for their dissertation. They
are expected to work on a language which is still actively spoken, and to
establish a field situation within a community in which it is the first
language. Their first fieldtrip lasts for six to nine months. After completing
a first draft of the grammar, back in Cairns, they undertake a second fieldtrip
of two to three months. Fieldwork methodology centres on the collection,
transcription and analysis of texts, together with participant observation, and
— at a later stage — judicious grammatical elicitation in the language under
description (not through the lingua franca of the country). Our main priority
areas are the Papuan and Austronesian languages of New Guinea and surrounding
areas and the languages of tropical Amazonia. However, we do not exclude
applicants who have an established interest in languages from other areas
(which need not necessarily lie within the tropics).

              PhDs in Australian universities
generally involve no coursework, just a substantial dissertation. Candidates
must thus have had thorough coursework training before embarking on this PhD
program. This should have included courses on morphology, syntax, semantics,
and phonology/phonetics, taught from a non-formalist perspective. We place
emphasis on work that has a sound empirical basis but also shows a firm
theoretical orientation (in terms of general typological theory, or what has
recently come to be called basic linguistic theory). 

              Distinguished Professor Alexandra
(Sasha) Aikhenvald is Australian Laureate Fellow and Research Leader for People
and Societies of the Tropics. Together with Professor R. M. W. Dixon, she heads
the Language and Culture Research Centre, which includes Research Fellows and a
growing number of doctoral students. In addition, senior scholars from across
the world opt to spend their sabbatical at the Language and Culture Research
Centre.

            The LCRC has strong links with
anthropologists, archaeologists and educationalists, with scholars working on
environmental issues, all within James Cook University. Further information is
available at http://www.jcu.edu.au/lcrc/

              The scholarship will be at the
standard James Cook University rate, Australian $25,849 pa. Students coming
from overseas are liable for a tuition fee; but this may be waived in the case
of a student of high merit. A small relocation allowance may be provided on
taking up the scholarship. In addition, an adequate allowance will be made to
cover fieldwork expenses and conference attendance. 

              The scholarship is for three years
(with the possibility of a six month extension). The deadline for application
by international students (starting in 2015) is 31 August 2015; the deadline
for students with Australian and New Zealand passports is 31 October 2015. 

              Successful applicants would take
up their PhD scholarships between January and June 2016. (The academic year in
Australia runs from February to November.)

              The application procedures for
international students can be found at: http://www.jcu.edu.au/grs/scholarships/JCUDEV_014949.html

               Scholarship application form and procedures for
international students can be 

found at: http://www.jcu.edu.au/international/apply/index.htm

              Prospective applicants are
invited, in the first place, to get in touch with Professor Aikhenvald at Alexandra.Aikhenvald at jcu.edu.au,
providing details of their background, qualifications and interests (including
a curriculum vitae). Applicants are advised to send samples of their written
work in linguistics (at least some of this should be in English).

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, PhD, DLitt,
FAHA 

Distinguished Professor and Australian
Laureate Fellow

Director of the Language and Culture
Research Centre

James Cook University

PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870,
Australia

http://www.jcu.edu.au/faess/JCUPRD_043649.html

mobile 0400 305315, office
61-7-42321117

fax 61-7-4042 1880  http://www.aikhenvaldlinguistics.com/

http://www.jcu.edu.au/lcrc/

Alexandra.Aikhenvald at jcu.edu.au

http://www.jcu.edu.au/sass/staff/JCUPRD_043649.html

http://www.aikhenvaldlinguistics.com/

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