33.3221, Support: Historical Linguistics: PhD, University of Surrey

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3221. Mon Oct 24 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3221, Support: Historical Linguistics: PhD, University of Surrey

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Editor for this issue: Lauren Perkins <lauren at linguistlist.org>
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Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:50:07
From: Helen Sims-Williams [h.sims-williams at surrey.ac.uk]
Subject: Historical Linguistics: PhD, University of Surrey, Surrey, United Kingdom

 Institution/Organization: University of Surrey 
Department: Surrey Morphology Group 
Web Address: https://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/ 

Level: PhD 

Specialty Areas: Historical Linguistics 
 

Description:

We have an exciting opportunity for a funded PhD with the Surrey Morphology
Group on the topic of analogy in morphological change.

The staggering diversity of the world’s languages is the cumulative effect of
small-scale evolutionary processes. One such process is analogy, where
speakers notice patterns in their language and extend them to new
environments. Understanding analogy is crucial to understanding both how our
languages came to be the way they are – i.e. the pathways of change
underpinning individual language systems – and why, since analogical change
reveals the assumptions and biases of human beings learning from incomplete
and sometimes self-contradictory language data. The recipient of this
studentship will contribute to a multidisciplinary project using innovative
computational and statistical techniques to produce a predictive model of
analogy, a missing puzzle piece in a complete theory of language change. 

The student will be responsible for conducting a case study into morphological
change in the history of a specific language. They will design their own
project using the dataset they have collected, developing research questions
and hypotheses relating to the theme of analogy in morphological change.
Relevant topics for investigation could include (but are not limited to)
questions such as: What effect do sociolinguistic conditions (e.g. language
contact, adult learning, language death/attrition) have on the range of
possibilities for analogical extension? Are there any morphosyntactic or
lexical constraints on syncretism that reveal themselves diachronically? Under
what circumstances is inflectional overabundance (meaningless variation in
forms within paradigms) stable or unstable over time? 

The studentship is part of the project Predicting language evolution: Analogy
in morphological change, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The student will be
supervised by Professor Matthew Baerman, Dr Oliver Bond and Dr Helen
Sims-Williams, and will work and receive training in the vibrant research
environment of the Surrey Morphology Group, alongside leading researchers on
inflectional morphology.

For more information and how to apply, please visit:
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/studentships/predicting-language-evo
lution-analogy-morphological-change
 

Application Deadline: 31-Jan-2023 

Contact Information: 
	Dr Helen Sims-Williams
	h.sims-williams at surrey.ac.uk  


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