[Lingtyp] PhD position

[Diana Forker]

*PhD position in linguistics "The evolution and diversification of the 
Caucasian languages"*

*Where*: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) 
in cooperation with the University of Jena, Institute for Caucasian 
Studies. The project is part of the International Max Planck Research 
School for the Science of Human History (IMPRS-SHH) (see the website 
https://imprs.shh.mpg.de/). The IMPRS-SHH provides doctoral researchers 
with optimum conditions for their PhD projects and custom-made 
preparation for the time thereafter, both with regard to academic and 
non-academic careers. We offer a clearly structured doctoral program 
with three pillars: a mentoring program for individual supervision by 
outstanding scientists, a scientific program of high academic standard, 
and a transferable skills program.


*Description of the 
project*(*https://imprs.shh.mpg.de/index.php/applications/open-positions/*)

This project will contribute to the development of large-scale 
comparative databases of the languages of the Caucasus from both lexical 
and typological perspectives. The student will be responsible of 
building up the database in close cooperation with the LexCauc project 
currently conducted at the Institute of Slavonic and Caucasian Studies, 
supervised by the project leaders Dr. Diana Forker and Dr. Oleg Belyaev. 
These data will provide both a detailed resource for the Caucasus 
languages as well as being integrated into the DLCE’s large-scale 
lexibank and grambank projects to enable global comparisons. In the 
second step the student will analyze these data using both traditional 
linguistic comparative method techniques, as well as leveraging the 
powerful tools developed by the DLCE including /Edictor, LingPy, CLICS/, 
and /Concepticon/. The project will then use quantitative statistical 
and phylogenetic tools for inferring the origins, dispersal and timing 
of the expansions of the Caucasian languages and evaluate the results in 
comparison with the existing literature (e.g. Nikolayev & Starostin 
1994, Koryakov 2006). A key component will be to use cutting-edge 
phylogeographic models to infer the geographic patterning of the 
underlying expansions through the region. In addition, since we will 
build our study on computer-assisted techniques, our study will allow 
for a very detailed representation of linguistic data that allows us to 
then apply cutting-edge techniques for sequence comparison, high-level 
annotation, including full and partial cognates inside and across the 
same concepts in our dataset, and will in this way also contribute to 
cross-disciplinary studies by integrating, for example, the names that 
the languages give to the physical objects to artifacts in 
archaeological records, or early attestations of domestication.

*The applicant should have: *

- MA or equivalent in linguistics

- knowledge of historical linguistics

- basic knowledge of quantitative methods in linguistics

- knowledge of Russian (at least A2)

For further information on the position please contact 
diana.forker at uni-jena.de <mailto:diana.forker at uni-jena.de>


The preferred *starting date* of PhD appointment: September 1^st , 2019 
/***or an individual basis between July 1 and October 1, 2019*

*Contract type:*TV-B/L 13 (50% / Max Planck support contract or contract 
with university), temporary, 3 years (extension possible)

Application: via the online application portal 
https://s-lotus.gwdg.de/mpg/mjws/perso/shh_d012.nsf/application

*The application deadline is January 31^st , 2019. *

*The deadline for references is February 3^rd , 2019.*

For further information on how to apply, please visit the website, or 
contact us at imprs.humanhistory at shh.mpg.de 
<mailto:imprs.humanhistory at shh.mpg.de>.

IMPRS-SHH is supporting equal opportunities and welcomes applications 
from all sections of the community. The Max Planck Society is committed 
to employ more handicapped individuals and especially encourages them to 
apply.

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