8 May: fyi -- postgraduate & postdoctoral research positions, NL
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The Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS offers two research positions in the programme "Causality and Subjectivity as Cognitive principles of discourse representation\u201d.
1 Postdoc position Text linguistics and Discourse analysis
1 PhD position in language development (1,0 fte for both positions)
Job descriptions
Programme. The five-year research programme, awarded to Ted Sanders by the The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), studies human cognition by investigating the mechanisms underlying discourse coherence. Starting from the challenging idea of a direct link between linguistic categorization and cognition, causal connectives are investigated. The project focuses on the analysis, acquisition and processing of causal relations in discourse. The hypothesis is that the cognitive principles of causality and subjectivity play a crucial role; they explain for the organization of the lexicon of connectives in language, as well as for the order in which children acquire connectives and the way in which experienced language users interpret causal relations.At present, there are two vacancies in the program.
POSITION 1: (Position number 68617; starting date september 1, 2006): a 3-year postdoc-project addressing the linguistic categorization of causal connectives in Dutch, German and English, in both spoken and written discourse. Methods are theoretical inguistic study and corpus-based work. In spoken language, the role of prosody in the realization of various causal relations in conversations will receive special attention. In addition, the semantic-pragmatic characterization of the connected discourse segments in terms of tense and aspect is studied. A final aim is the comparison between \u2018hand-based\u2019 analysis and automatic techniques for the analysis of large text corpora. Next year, a ph.d.-student will join the project.
POSITION 2 (Position number 68618 ; starting date september, 1, 2006):
a 3 to 4 year PhD-project addressing the order in which children
acquire connectives. The crucial question is whether this order can be
explained in terms of cognitive complexity, in which causality and
subjectivity play a central role. The project addresses Dutch, English
and German, and devotes special attention to the alternative
hypothesis of parental input: the order of acquisition does not result
from differences in inherent complexity, but rather from the input
children receive. Research methods include corpus-based analysis and
experiments.
Goals. The postdoc researcher will be involved in the programme
coordination, including the collection, analysis, and interpretation
of research data. The project should result in a series of papers in
international journals, in collaboration with the project
supervisor. The PhD projects involve a research training and aim at a
dissertation within maximally four years. As part of their training,
PhD students will take courses offered by the National Graduate School
in Linguistics (LOT).
Qualifications. We are looking for an ambitious postdoc researcher and
a PhD-student, with enthousiasm for (text-)linguistic issues, who are
prepared to collaborate with other researchers in a team. Applicants
for the postdoc project should hold a doctoral degree (completed by 1
September 2006), as well as demonstrated capacities as an independent
researcher, in the form of publications. The successful candidate has
a background in a linguistic discipline, with expertise in the
corpus-based study of language. (Near-)native knowledge of Dutch is
required, as well as profound knowledge of English and
German. Experience with prosody analysis is an advantage.Applicants
for the PhD position should have graduated in linguistics, language
and communication, or psycholinguistics, or expect to graduate before
1 September 2006. Candidates are preferably native speakers of
Dutch. Further desirable qualifications: knowledge of English and
German, experience with experimental and corpus-based methods and
enthousiasm for issues of language acquisition.
Work conditions. For position 1, we offer a 2.5 to 3-year postdoc
position, preferably 0.8-1.0 fte. Salary depends on qualifications and
experience, and amounts to minimally \u20ac 2.934,- and maximally
\u20ac 4.027,- (level 11 Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch
Universities) gross per month, for 1.0 fte.Wij bieden een aanstelling
als AIO voor de duur van een jaar met, na evaluatie, de mogelijkheid
tot verlenging van maximaal nog eens twee jaar. De omvang van de
functie is 80 tot 100%. Uw salaris bedraagt in het eerste jaar
\u20ac1.813,- bruto per maand (volgens de CAO Nederlandse
Universiteiten) bij een volledige aanstelling. For position 2, we
offer a full-time 1-year PhD position (to be extended with a maximum
of two more years upon positive evaluation) with gross monthly salary
starting at \u20ac 1813,- . We also offer a pension scheme, a health
insurance allowance and flexible employment conditions. Conditions are
based on the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities
and are supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% per year.
Information
For further information, contact the project supervisor, Prof. dr. Ted
Sanders, telephone +31-30-2536080, e-mail Ted.Sanders@let.uu.nl or the
UiL-OTS PhD coordinator dr. Maaike Schoorlemmer, telephone
+31-30-2536183, e-mail Schoorlemmer@let.uu.nl. Also consult our
institute's website: http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/
How to apply?Applications (by regular mail or by e-mail) should
include a curriculum vitae and the names and addresses of two
referees. For the postdoc project, please send two publications plus
PhD dissertation; for the PhD projects, send an MA thesis and a list
of courses plus results. Written applications should be sent to the
Personnel Department, attn. Mr. P.S.B. Dybiona, Kromme Nieuwegracht
46, 3512 HJ Utrecht, The Netherlands. Please refer to the vacancy
number (68617 for the postdoc position; 68618, for the PhD position)
as well as to the website where you found this advertisement. E-mail
applications should be sent in pdf or doc format to
Patrick.Dybiona@let.uu.nl, and should specify your name and vacancy
number in the message as well as in the topic, include a list of
attachments in the message, and specify your name in every
attachment.Deadline for application is May, 19, 2006Interviews are
planned between June 6 and 8, 2006.
Publication date
april 20, 2006
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