27.403, Support: Modified: General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories; Morphology; Semantics; Syntax; Typology / Germany

Thu Jan 21 18:43:49 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-403. Thu Jan 21 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.403, Support: Modified: General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories; Morphology; Semantics; Syntax; Typology / Germany

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Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 13:43:36
From: Sandhya Sundaresan [sandhya.sundaresan at uni-leipzig.de]
Subject: Modified: General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories; Morphology; Semantics; Syntax; Typology, PhD, University of Leipzig/University of Göttingen, Germany

 Institution/Organization: University of Leipzig/University of Göttingen 
Department: Departments of Linguistics/English Philology 
Web Address: http://www.sandhyasundaresan.com/#!blank/a27za 

Level: PhD 

Duties: Research,Project Work

Specialty Areas: General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories; Morphology; Semantics; Syntax; Typology 

Description:

Support for two 3-year PhD positions (with social benefits, payscale: 0.65
TVL-E13) is offered as part of the project ''Anaphora vs. Agreement:
investigating the Anaphor Agreement Effect'', funded by the German Research
Foundation (DFG Project SU 835/1; ZE 1040/3). Starting date: April 1, 2016
(applicants are urged to contact us if they have questions or concerns about
meeting this deadline, as there may be some room for flexibility given
compelling circumstances). The project will be jointly conducted at the
Universities of Leipzig (PI: Sandhya Sundaresan) and Göttingen (PI: Hedde
Zeijlstra). Each PhD student will be primarily affiliated with one university
and will be expected to conduct research, culminating in a dissertation under
the PI at that university. However, there will be frequent interactions,
including scheduled monthly meetings, between the Göttingen-Leipzig project
teams, allowing ample opportunities for collaboration and teamwork. The PhD
student in the Leipzig group will be an affiliated member of the graduate
program (Graduiertenkolleg) ''Interaction of Grammatical Building Blocks
(IGRA)'' (http://igra.philol.uni-leipzig.de), and benefit from the courses and
research activities of IGRA. The Göttingen PhD student will participate in
“Linguistics in Göttingen (LinG)”
(https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/44659.html) and be affiliated with the
“Graduate School of Humanities Göttingen”
(https://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/44659.html). Travel funding for academic
conferences is also available. 

The central research focus is the ''Anaphor Agreement Effect (AAE)'' -- the
observation that anaphors may not trigger phi-covarying verbal agreement.
Languages employ a variety of parametrized strategies to avoid an AAE
violation: e.g. completely barring anaphors from agreement-triggering
positions (e.g. English); having default (e.g. Italian, Albanian) or
''special'' agreement (e.g. Swahili, Chichewa) triggered under the anaphor; or
having the agreement be triggered by a different element (e.g. Tamil). A
fundamental goal is to investigate how robust the AAE really is
crosslinguistically and what its formal underpinnings are. To the extent that
the AAE captures a restriction on the interaction between anaphora and
phi-agreement, we also intend to exploit it to shed valuable insight into
these broader phenomena. The PhD students will be centrally involved in
establishing a database of 30 languages: cataloging their empirical behaviour
with respect to the AAE, researching their typological connections, and
developing theoretical models to account for these patterns (with an emphasis
on anaphora in the Leipzig branch and on agreement in the Göttingen one).
Project consultants: Mark Baker (Rutgers), Marjo van Koppen (Utrecht), David
Pesetsky (MIT), Ken Safir (Rutgers), Barbara Stiebels (Leipzig), and Ellen
Woolford (UMass). Detailed project description:
http://www.sandhyasundaresan.com/#!blank/a27za

Applicants should have an excellent background in formal, generative
linguistics: in particular, syntax, semantics, and morphology. Knowledge of
linguistic typology and experience working with databases a plus (but not
required). Students from international backgrounds, women, and members of
minority groups are particularly encouraged to apply. The language of
interaction is English.

Application documents:

- Statement of purpose (2-3 pages) clarifying research interests, particularly
how they would fit with the project (in English)
- Writing sample (M.A. thesis or equivalent): in English/German
- Names of two referees
- Curriculum Vitae
- Copy of M.A. degree (to be handed in latest by April 1, 2016)

Application Deadline: 31-Jan-2016 

Mailing Address for Applications:
	Attn: Dr. Sandhya Sundaresan 
	Institut für Linguistik, Universität Leipzig 
	Beethovenstrasse 15 
	Leipzig Sachsen 04107 
	Germany 

Contact Information: 
	Dr. Sandhya Sundaresan 
	anagreeffect at gmail.com  

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