PhD position: Tundra Yukaghir

Mon Feb 16 12:13:57 UTC 2009

Sibirologists, attention: forwarded from the LINGTYP list (apologies for
clumsy formatting, for list policy reasons I copy-pasted the contents of the
original PDF attachment)

***
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is a university with an internationally
acclaimed profile, 
located at the heart of the Dutch capital. As well as a world centre for
business and research,
Amsterdam is a hub of cultural and media activities. The University of
Amsterdam is a member
of the League of European Research Universities.

The Faculty of Humanities
The Faculty of Humanities undertakes teaching and research with a strong
international 
orientation in a large number of disciplines within the field of language
and culture. The faculty
is situated in the center of Amsterdam and maintains close contacts with
many cultural 
institutions in the city. It employs almost a thousand staff members and its
courses are attended
by approximately 6,500 students.

ACLC 
The Amsterdam Centre for Language and Communication (ACLC) focuses on the
description 
and explanations for variation in languages and language use. Despite their
enormous variety, 
languages show a remarkable degree of similarity, which can be described in
terms of a set of 
language universals. A key feature of the ACLC approach is that these
universals are studied
from the widest possible variety of perspectives, both descriptive and
theoretical, in order to
ensure that the findings are not accidental, but are truly representative of
the basic parameters that
govern the organization of natural languages. The ACLC includes both
functional and formal
approaches to language description and encourages dialogue between these
approaches. Studies
cover all aspects of speech and languages: phonetics, phonology, morphology,
syntax, semantics 
and pragmatics - in a search for the Language Blueprint. Language typology,
including that of 
creole and signed languages, plays an important part in the ACLC programme.
Language 
variation in terms of time, space and context is also a specialisation. The
study of variation in the
different types of language user - from the child learning her first
language to the adult second
language learner including also different types of language pathology – is a
clear focus. 

The ACLC has a vacant PhD position per 1 April 2009 as part of the NWO
funded project 
Tundra Yukagir, a nearly extinct Paleo-Asian Isolate in Arctic Russia: a
Collection on CD/DVD
of Linguistic and Folkloristic Materials of the Language and Culture of a
Siberian People for
Documentation, Education and Safeguarding for Posterity.

1 PhD position (m/f)
1,0 fte (4 years) 
For both internal and external candidates.
Vacancy number: 09-2015

Project description
Tundra Yukagir is a nearly extinct language spoken in the utmost northeast
of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The population is approximately 700, but at
present the number 
of fluent speakers is dramatically low with some 50 people still speaking
their mother tongue
properly. Tundra Yukagir forms, with Kolyma Yukagir, an isolated Paleo-Asian
language family. 
Despite typological correspondences, Tundra and Kolyma Yukagir are mutually
unintelligible 
due to large differences in both lexicon and morphology that presumably date
back some two 
millennia. The aim of the project is: 1) a full description of the language,
both as regards its
morphosyntax and as regards its phonology, based on a transcribed spoken
corpus; 2) a 
contribution to answering the typological question whether the Yukagir
language family is 
isolated or possibly related to Altaic or Uralic languages; 3) in
cooperation with local linguists:
contribution to the development of courseware for the revitalization of the
language. The research
methodology is linguistic fieldwork (recordings, interviews, elicitation,
transcription and 
analysis) with native speakers and local linguists. The role of the PhD
student within this project
is to provide a grammatical description of the Tundra Yukagir language, with
an emphasis on 
morphology and syntax.
Project supervisors: Prof dr P.C. Hengeveld:
http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/p.c.hengeveld/, and
Dr C. Odé: http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/c.ode/.

Tasks  
The candidate is expected to research and complete a Ph.D. dissertation
within a period of four
years, and to participate in the group work (incl. conferences, workshops,
and publications). 

Requirements 
MA in descriptive/theoretical linguistics, obtained no longer than five
years ago. 
The PhD candidate needs to have an excellent knowledge of Russian and
English and preferably
has experience with linguistic fieldwork. Knowledge of the Yakut language
would be an 
advantage. The PhD candidate must have a strong  affinity with endangered
language 
communities and their cultural heritage, and be able and willing to acquire
knowledge about 
anthropology, folklore and language revitalization. He/she must be able to
travel and carry out
linguistic fieldwork under circumstances of extreme hardship because of the
remote area in 
Northeast Siberia where the Tundra Yukagir language is spoken.

More information The document Guidelines for applying for an internal PhD
position gives 
precise information about the application procedure. This document can be
found on the ACLC 
website (www.hum.uva.nl/aclc) under Vacancies. NB: Incomplete applications
will be 
automatically rejected so please read the guidelines carefully. Further
information can be 
obtained from the project supervisors, Prof dr P.C. Hengeveld (tel.
+31-20-5253864,  
p.c.hengeveld at uva.nl) and/or Dr C. Odé (tel. +31-20-5252190/3864)
c.ode at uva.nl) or from the
managing director of the research institute dr. Els Verheugd, phone +31 20
525 2543, e-mail 
E.A.B.M.Verheugd-Daatzelaar at uva.nl.

Appointment 
The PhD candidate will be appointed for a period of four years (full time),
beginning as soon as possible at the Faculty of Humanities of the University
of Amsterdam under 
the terms of employment currently valid for the Faculty. A contract will be
given in the first 
instance for one year, with an extension for the following three years on
the basis of an 
evaluation of, amongst other things, a written piece of work. The salary (on
a full time base) will
be € 2042 during the first year (gross per month) and will reach € 2612
during the fourth year, in
accordance with the CAO for Dutch universities.

Applications 
Applications for this position (preferably in pdf format) should be sent to
the 
ACLC office aclc-fgw at uva.nl (or, in the case of a paper version, to the
director of the ACLC,
prof. dr A.E. Baker, Spuistraat 210, 1012 VT Amsterdam). Deadline of
submission March 15th
2009 at the latest. Please state the vacancy number. Applications received
after this date or those
that are incomplete will not be taken into consideration.

***

-- 
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso
Universität Wien, Institut für Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und
Literaturwissenschaft (EVSL) | Abteilung Finno-Ugristik
Universitätscampus Spitalgasse 2-4 Hof 7, A-1090 Wien
Tel. +43 1 4277 43019, (VoIP) +43 599664 43019 | Fax +43 1 4277 9430
johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at | http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/

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