31.2462, Jobs: General Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Psycholinguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: Post Doc, University of Tromsø

Tue Aug 4 17:23:45 UTC 2020

LINGUIST List: Vol-31-2462. Tue Aug 04 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.2462, Jobs: General Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Psycholinguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: Post Doc, University of Tromsø

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Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:23:18
From: Björn Lundquist [bjorn.lundquist at uit.no]
Subject: General Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Psycholinguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax: Post Doc, University of Tromsø, Norway

University or Organization: University of Tromsø 
Department: Department of Language and Culture
Job Location: Tromsø, Norway 
Web Address: https://en.uit.no/enhet/isk
Job Title: Post Doc in Linguistics
Job Rank: Post Doc

Specialty Areas: General Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Psycholinguistics; Sociolinguistics; Syntax; Scandinavian languages

Description:

1-2 Post-doctoral Research Fellowship(s) in Linguistics within Formal and
Experimental syntax, language acquisition and phonetics are available in the
Department of Language and Culture at the University of Tromsø – The Arctic
University of Norway (UiT). The appointment is a fixed term position for a
period of three years. The positions are part of the project Experimental
approaches to Syntactic Optionality (ExSynOp), funded by the Research Council
of Norway. 

The position should be applied for at the application link provided below. 

For appointment as Post-doctoral Research Fellow, the applicant requires a
Norwegian doctoral degree in Linguistics, psychology or neighboring
disciplines or a corresponding foreign doctoral degree recognised as
equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree.

Previous experience within any of the fields mentioned above is required.
Previous experience from data collection with adults or children is not
required, but desired.

A PhD is required before commencement in the position. If you are at the final
stages of your PhD, you may still apply for the position. You should have
defended your thesis before the preferred start-up date of the position. 

Language skills: Fluent English is required, and knowledge of a Scandinavian
language is an advantage.

The ExSynOp project focuses on the development of categorical systems within
natural languages. The natural languages of the world are characterized by
largely rigid, often highly idiosyncratic rule systems. Within any given
language, it is hard to find instances of true optionality (i.e., a
many-to-one mapping from meaning to form). The ExSynOp project sets out to
explore this central puzzle: what drives the evolution of complex, rigid rule
systems in natural languages? The project seeks to do this by investigating
the sources of regularization, i.e., the reduction of variation in a language.
Our focus on regularization will bring new insights to one of the most debated
issues in linguistics: are languages shaped predominantly by the usage
patterns of adults (evident in processing, register/style choices, MacDonald
2013, Bybee 2015), or the learning preferences/limitations in children (Clark
1987, Newport 2005, Yang 2017, Chomsky 1986)? 

The ExSynOp project takes as its starting point the word order variation found
in the closely related Mainland Scandinavian languages and varieties. By
studying the acquisition (L1 child and L2 adult), and processing, both in
production and comprehension, in closely related languages that differ in the
presence/absence of variation for a certain phenomenon, we can pin down where
preferences for regular systems arise. Four questions addressing fundamental
issues in the establishment of rigid grammars will be asked: (I) are there
processing benefits (or costs) associated with categorical rules; (II) is the
L1 language learner disposed to categorical rules, or do categorical
tendencies develop later (III) is the variation within speakers conditioned by
register/dialect, and (IV) how should this kind of non-meaning related
variation in word order be modeled theoretically.

More information about the goals of the project and the project members can be
found here: https://uit.no/research/acqva/project?pid=665743

Application Deadline: 24-Aug-2020 

Web Address for Applications: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/189088/1-2-post-doctoral-research-fellowship-in-linguistics 
Contact Information:
	Björn Lundquist 
	Email: bjorn.lundquist at uit.no 

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