[Lingtyp] Graduate position(s) in Indigenous language documentation and technology

[Antti Arppe]

[apologies for cross-postings]
Dear colleagues,

We'd appreciate if you shared the posting below on our graduate student 
position(s) 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.

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GRADUATE POSITION(S) IN INDIGENEOUS LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION/TECHNOLOGY
LEVEL: MA / PhD
INSTITUTION: University of Alberta, Canada

SPECIALTY AREAS:

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

DESCRIPTION:

The Alberta Language Technology Lab (ALTLab) in the Department of 
Linguistics at the University of Alberta is offering graduate student 
positions at the PhD (4 years) or MA (2 years) level in its graduate 
program, beginning in September 2021 within 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 our partnership website for more information: http://21c.tools/

This partnership is hosted by the ALTLab 
(https://altlab.artsrn.ualberta.ca/)) and is led by Dr. Antti Arppe 
(Associate Professor & Partnership Director).  We are developing 
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 in other 
languages. These tools and 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, all created in collaboration with 
Indigenous communities in order to facilitate and support the use of 
their languages in all spheres of life by community members.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

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

a. support the development or maintenance of our current or future 
projects within ALTLab for our partnering communities.

b. conduct research that falls within the purview of ALTLab research 
interests on either the languages of our partners and/or another 
Indigenous language (see our list of past publications from our ALTLab 
team and a full list of potential research topics: 
https://altlab.artsrn.ualberta.ca/).

REQUIREMENTS:

These graduate positions require:

a. a keen interest in North American Indigenous languages;

b. a Bachelor or Master’s degree in a relevant field; and

c. meeting the general entrance requirements to the Department’s 
graduate program 
(https://www.ualberta.ca/linguistics/graduate/admissions.html)

We will prefer candidates with:

a. experience in and knowledge of the phonetics/phonology and/or 
morphosyntax of North American Indigenous languages, in particular 
Plains Cree or other Western Cree, Algonquian, or Dene language; and/or

b. experience in computational linguistics and natural language 
processing (e.g. finite-state transducers, speech technology); and/or

c. interest or experience in language documentation, language 
revitalization, and language learning.

WE OFFER:

a. an opportunity to personally contribute to the practical retention of 
linguistic diversity;

b. opportunities for well-rounded, comprehensive training in empirical 
research methods in field linguistics, psycholinguistics and corpus 
linguistics as well as in language technology; and

c. a chance to participate in an international SSHRC funded Partnership 
involving collaboration with 27 researchers from 14 different partner 
organizations world-wide including leading research centers in the 
development of language technology and research on indigenous languages.

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested applicants must contact in advance Dr. Antti Arppe (email: 
arppe at ualberta.ca) in order to discuss their research interests and how 
they might match with the current research and development activities 
pursued by ALTLAb.

Following this, in order to apply, applicants should send by email to 
our Partnership office (21ct4il at gmail.com, Attn: Dr. Antti Arppe, ref: 
Grad 2021):

1. a brief statement of research interests and relevant background;
2. curriculum vitae (including possible publications and presentations);
3. transcripts of university studies; and
4. at least two confidential academic letters of recommendation 
delivered directly to Dr. Antti Arppe (arppe at ualberta.ca) by the referees.

We will start considering applications in January 2021. These positions 
are open until filled, but we urge applications to be submitted by 
Sunday Jan 10, 2021, in order to meet the Linguistics departmental 
regular graduate application deadline on that day. These positions are 
for a start in September 2021.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

21C Partnership office: 21ct4il at gmail.com

FURTHER INFORMATION:

https://altlab.artsrn.ualberta.ca/call-for-graduate-student-ma-phd-applications-deadline-january-2021/
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Antti Arppe - Ph.D (General Linguistics), M.Sc. (Engineering)
Associate Professor of Quantitative Linguistics
Director, Alberta Language Technology Lab (ALTLab)
Partnership Director, 21st Century Tools for Indigenous Languages (21C)
President, ACL SIG for Endangered Languages (SIGEL)
Department of Linguistics, University of Alberta
E-mail: arppe at ualberta.ca, antti.arppe at iki.fi
WWW: www.ualberta.ca/~arppe, altlab.artsrn.ualberta.ca
Mānahtu ina rēdûti ihza ummânūti ihannaq - dulum ugulak úmun ingul
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