36.782, Jobs: Latin; Computational Linguistics, Historical Linguistics: Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Project "Language Variation in Latin Hagiography of the Long Tenth Century", Ghent University

Tue Mar 4 15:05:02 UTC 2025

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-782. Tue Mar 04 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.782, Jobs: Latin; Computational Linguistics, Historical Linguistics: Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Project "Language Variation in Latin Hagiography of the Long Tenth Century", Ghent University

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Date: 04-Mar-2025
From: Anne Breitbarth [anne.breitbarth at ugent.be]
Subject: Latin; Computational Linguistics, Historical Linguistics: Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the Project "Language Variation in Latin Hagiography of the Long Tenth Century", Ghent University

Job Location: Belgium
Job Title: Postdoctoral research fellow on the project "Language
Variation in Latin Hagiography of the Long Tenth Century"
Job Rank: Post Doc

Specialty Areas: Computational Linguistics; Historical Linguistics

Specialty Language(s): Latin (lat)

Other Specialties: History, Dialectometry
Description:
Vacancy
======
The Faculty of Arts and Philosophy (https://www.ugent.be/lw/nl) at
Ghent University (https://www.ugent.be/en) is seeking a highly
motivated postdoctoral research associate to contribute to the
research project “Language Variation in Latin Hagiography of the Long
Tenth Century”.
This unique opportunity involves a funded postdoctoral position at
UGent, under the supervision of professors Steven Vanderputten
(https://research.flw.ugent.be/nl/steven.vanderputten) and Anne
Breitbarth (https://research.flw.ugent.be/nl/anne.breitbarth). The
successful candidate will join a dynamic interdisciplinary team
dedicated to advancing the understanding of regional variation of
Latin and literary production in the high medieval West, by combining
innovative historical analysis with developing new methods for
corpus-driven computational dialectology.
Project sketch
===========
By the end of the ninth century CE, vernacular languages had
definitively replaced Latin in everyday oral interactions throughout
the Carolingian world. However, Latin remained by and large dominant
in written culture. So far the assumption has been that its use
guaranteed universal intelligibility across the Latin West. However,
small scale case studies carried out on specific types of written
evidence have revealed strong regional syntactic variation, suggesting
that despite general intelligibility, regional Latin cultures were
gradually drifting apart. The whole extent of this variation is not
yet understood, and its potential for understanding the development of
these cultures remains unexplored. Recent developments in
computational linguistics and dialectometry hold the promise of
mapping this regional variation and thereby substantially enriching
historians’ and linguists’ understanding of written culture in the
High Middle Ages. At the same time, the dialectometric toolkit still
requires expansion in order to adequately deal with the mapping of
syntactic variation attested in corpora, so methodologically as well,
there is great potential for improving the state of the art.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, the current project aims to
achieve just that: combine methodological innovation with new insights
into linguistic variation and medieval written culture. As a test
case, it will look at a substantial corpus of Latin hagiographies
(texts on the life, achievements and cult of saints) and biographies
from tenth-century Lotharingia, a contact zone between the Romance and
Germanic linguistic areas with a particularly high and well-researched
production of such texts. The project is driven by the question of
whether the cultural and social dynamics behind the production of this
corpus can be linked to patterns in the linguistic variation in the
texts, whether influenced by respective substrate languages or
emerging (localized) communities of practice. In combining a
linguistic and a contextualizing historical approach, the project will
break new ground in understanding Latin culture and the circulation of
knowledge and ideas in this transitional period of Western society and
culture.
Environment
=========
The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between PIs at the
Departments of Linguistics and History of the Faculty of Arts and
Philosophy at Ghent University, and will be embedded within the Henri
Pirenne Institute of Medieval Studies
(https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/hpims) and the research group
∆iaLing (https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/dialing). Medieval studies
at UGent encompass diverse approaches and fields, including a vibrant
tradition for the historical study of religious life and thought in
the early and high medieval West and historical linguistics.
Interdisciplinarity lies at the heart of the Henri Pirenne Institute’s
mission. ∆iaLing brings together scholars conducting research in
historical and diatopic linguistics, and is known for infrastructure
projects such as the parsed Corpus of Historical Low German
(https://www.chlg.ugent.be/) and the parsed Spoken Corpus of the
(Southern) Dutch Dialects (https://www.gcnd.ugent.be/en/home/), both
led by one of the PIs of the current project.
Qualifications
==========
- A doctoral degree in computational linguistics or historical
linguistics with a strong Digital Humanities component, obtained by 1
September 2025.
- Demonstrated experience in working with primary sources written in
Latin.
- A strong interest in the history and written culture of the Early
and/or High Middle Ages, while not required, is considered an asset.
- Good to excellent English communication skills. Candidates from any
linguistic background are welcome to apply.
- Applicants should be able to work in team as well as independently
and have a critical and creative mindset.
What we can offer you
=================
- We offer a full-time position as a postdoctoral fellow, consisting
of an initial period of 12 months, which – after a positive evaluation
– will be extended to a total maximum of 27 months. The PIs of the
project, Steven Vanderputten and Anne Breitbarth, are strongly
committed to providing quality supervision to the candidate.
- The starting date is 1 September 2025 at the latest. Candidates who
are not yet holder of a doctoral degree but are due to obtain it by 1
September 2025 are welcome to apply.
- The Departments of Linguistics and History at Ghent University
actively foster a safe working environment for all staff and offer
substantial support to its junior researchers. Regular seminars,
discussion groups, and a friendly atmosphere contribute to the quality
of work and the well-being of all staff.
- The exact salary amount is determined by the Department of Personnel
and Organization based on family status and seniority. Precalculated
into the project budget are a range of expenses for research purposes.
- All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such
as 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job)
supplemented by annual fixed closing days, a bicycle allowance, and
eco vouchers.
- Click here for more information about our salary scales and staff
benefits: https://jobs.ugent.be/content/Benefits/?locale=en_GB
How to apply
==========
Applications including a full CV (including a transcript of university
study results), motivation letter (detailing why you are a good fit),
and the names contact information for two references should be sent
electronically to Anne Breitbarth (anne.breitbarth at ugent.be) and
Steven Vanderputten (steven.vanderputten at ugent.be).
The evaluation of the applicants starts on 1 April 2025 and continues
until the position is filled. Preselected candidates will be invited
for an (online) interview. The starting date will be determined in
agreement with the selected candidate.

Application Deadline: (Open until filled)
Email Address for Applications: anne.breitbarth at ugent.be
Contact Information:
        Anne Breitbarth
        Email: anne.breitbarth at ugent.be

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