21.1048, Support: Forensic Linguistics: PhD Student, University of York, UK

Wed Mar 3 23:39:03 UTC 2010

LINGUIST List: Vol-21-1048. Wed Mar 03 2010. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 21.1048, Support: Forensic Linguistics: PhD Student, University of York, UK

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1)
Date: 25-Feb-2010
From: Paul Foulkes < pf11 at york.ac.uk >
Subject: Forensic Linguistics: PhD Student, University of York, United Kingdom

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:38:20
From: Paul Foulkes [pf11 at york.ac.uk]
Subject: Forensic Linguistics: PhD Student, University of York, United Kingdom

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Institution/Organization: University of York 
Department: Language and Linguistic Science 
Web Address: http://www.york.ac.uk 

Level: PhD 

Duties: Research

Specialty Areas: Forensic Linguistics; Phonetics; Psycholinguistics 
Acoustics 

Description:

Calculation of likelihood ratios using phonetic and linguistic features.

Salary: £28,579 - £31,031 per annum, plus generous travel allowances and career
exploratory allowances, which are available under Marie Curie ITN provisions.

The post is available from 1 May 2010, or as soon as possible thereafter, for a
period of three years. You must complete a doctoral dissertation within three
years of the start date.

The Role

You will work on a project developing phonetic-acoustic comparison of speech in
an LR framework. The project is funded by the Marie Curie Training Network
Bayesian Biometrics for Forensics, which consists of 12 European research
institutes and associated partners. The post will be based at York, but you will
be required to spend a period at another Network institute, and you will also
have the opportunity to gain experience in a commercial or forensic laboratory.

You will have a Masters degree in Linguistics, Phonetics and/or Acoustics,
Statistics or Psychology; be capable of rapidly attaining a thorough knowledge
and understanding of statistics, including likelihood ratios and Bayesian
principles, and have a high level of competence in written and spoken English.

Eligibility criteria are quite complex. It must be less than four years since
completion of your most recent degree and you cannot have been resident in the
UK for a total of more than 12 months in the last three years. UK nationals are
generally not eligible to apply. Further details about the eligibility criteria
can be found in the further information for the post.

The Project

Calculation of likelihood ratios using phonetic and linguistic features.

Supervisors: Professor Peter French (York) and Dr Didier Meuwly (Netherlands
Forensic Institute)

The most prevalent strain of forensic speaker comparison work across European
experts and institutions involves auditory-phonetic and acoustic examinations of
speech samples on a wide range of parameters including voice quality,
intonation, rhythm and consonant and vowel realisations.

Those working within this tradition express their conclusions within a variety
of different frameworks. Most do not currently utilise a likelihood ratio
(logical inference) framework, which is acknowledged to be the goal for forensic
science generally.

There are practical difficulties in interpreting the results of a phonetic
acoustic comparison of speech samples in a likelihood ratio framework. These
include the use of speech data from the appropriate sections of the background
population to estimate empirically the evidential value of the results and to
combine them in an overall statistical assessment. The aim of the project is to
find solutions to these problems, thus paving the way for forensic speaker
comparison work to become conceptually aligned with more developed areas of
forensic science such as DNA analysis. 

Application Deadline: 25-Jul-2010 

Web Address for Applications: https://www22.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_YorkUni01.asp?s=eziKhNSpCaRDiFfRax&jobid=32559,0248236823&key=3997284&c=837956365614&pagestamp=sexifrlmocyecbstpu 

Contact Information: 
	Prof Peter French 
	jpf501 at york.ac.uk  

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