[Lingtyp] PhD position in Lyon

[Nina Dobrushina]

Dear colleagues,

The Research unit DDL (Laboratory of Language Dynamics (University Lumière
Lyon 2 & CNRS) invites applications for a three-year PhD position. Please
note the deadline: *08/07/2024*

Areal typology of non-indicative categories

The PhD dissertation will be written within a project supervised by Nina
Dobrushina studying the areal diffusion of optatives (the expressions of
the speaker’s wish by means of dedicated morphology and constructions) in
the languages of the Caucasus. The project aims at describing typical means
of expressing the speaker’s wish cross-linguistically, with special
attention to the area of the Caucasus. The contact-induced phenomena and
areal distribution of the expression of optative meaning are studied in
comparison with the diffusion of particular wish formulas.

Although the term and the notion of optative are very common, there is not
a lot of typological research devoted to this category. Book-length studies
include the volume by Patrick Grosz written from the position of formal
semantics (Grosz 2012) and based on data from languages which have no
inflectional optative, such as English; the study of French optative
constructions (Kordi 2009, in Russian); and an issue of the journal Syntaxe
& Sémantique devoted to optatives in the languages of the world (Dobrushina
& Ruchot 2022).

Depending on the personal expertise of the candidate, the PhD research can
be developed along different research axes. The candidate could focus on
the languages of the Caucasus, studying the areal distribution of one of
the non-indicative categories in a large set of languages; this research
project would require a good knowledge of Russian. The candidate could as
well choose another area to study the expressions of wish of the speaker
(Tibet seems particularly interesting in this respect). Finally, the PhD
research could take a typological approach and study the patterns of
expressing the speaker’s wish cross-linguistically, using grammars and
parallel corpora.



Place of Work: Lyon 7

Scientific Supervisor: Nina Dobrushina

Type of Contract: Doctoral Contract

Contract Duration: 36 months

Thesis Start Date: October 1st 2024

Work Quota: Full time

Salary: €2,100 monthly

18/06/2024: Publication of the call for applications

08/07/2024: Application submission deadline

July 2024: Eligibility review

15/07/2024: Online interviews

Your application

- CV

- Motivation letter (maximum 2 pages) briefly explaining the candidate's
background and its relevance to the position, the proposed analytical
framework, and the methodology intended to address the research question.

- Master's thesis

Applications should be sent to nina.dobrushina at cnrs.fr  before 08/07/2024
midnight.

Please, spread the word!

Best wishes,
Nina Dobrushina


*I condemn the aggression in Ukraine*
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