11 May: fyi -- phd funding & postdoc, NL

Index of May 2007 | Index of year: 2007 | Full index


Netherlands Organization 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 different languages, as well as for the order in which children
acquire connectives and the way in which experienced language users
interpret causal relations. The program has started in September
2006. The team consists of the program leader, a Post Doc working on
the cross-linguistic realization of connectives and a PhD student
working on connective acquisition. At present, there are three
vacancies in the program.

POSITION 1: Post Doc

POSITION 2 (Position number 68723; starting date September, 1, 2007):
in close collaboration with the Post Doc, a PhD student will
investigate the processing and interpretation of various types of
causal connectives, which differ in the amount of information they
convey on how to interpret the discourse. Is processing easier when
the connectives express more specific information?

POSITION 3 (Position number 68724; starting date September, 1, 2007):
in close collaboration with an ongoing Post Doc project, a PhD student
will investigate the linguistic categorization of causal relations
with connectives in Dutch and English, in spoken and written
discourse. Methods are theoretical-linguistic and corpus-oriented. In
spoken discourse, special attention is paid to the role of prosody in
the linguistic realization of causality.

Goals

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 ambitious PhD students, with enthusiasm for (text)
linguistic and psycholinguistic issues, who are prepared to
collaborate with other researchers in a team.

Applicants for the PhD Position 2 have graduated in (psycho)
linguistics, language and communication, or discourse studies, or
expect to graduate before 1 September 2007. Candidates are near-native
speakers of English. Further desirable qualifications are: thorough
knowledge of Dutch, experience with experimental and corpus-based
methods and enthusiasm for language processing.

Applicants for the PhD Position 3 have graduated in (psycho)
linguistics, language and communication, phonetics or discourse
studies, or expect to graduate before 1 September 2007. Candidates are
native speakers of Dutch. Further desirable qualifications:
near-native in English, experience with prosodic analysis and
corpus-based methods and enthusiasm for discourse analysis.

Work conditions

For Positions 2 and 3, we offer a full-time 1-year PhD position (to be
extended with a maximum of two more years upon positive evaluation)
with a gross monthly salary starting at EUR 1.956,- per month in the
first year on the basis of 1.0 FTE. All positions offer good
secondary work conditions.

How to apply

We prefer applications by email. Specify your name and vacancy number
in the message as well as in the subject header. Also, include a list
of attachments in the message, and specify your name in every
attachment. Also see our website.

Application Deadline: 04-Jun-2007

Mailing Address for Applications:
Attn: Ms I. Wagenaar
Personnel Department, Faculty of Humanities
Kromme Nieuwegracht 46
Utrecht 3512 HJ
Netherlands

Web Address for Applications: http://www-uilots.let.uu.nl/

Contact Information:
Dr. M. Schoorlemmer
schoorlemmer@let.uu.nl
Phone:+31-30-2536183

Index of May 2007 | Index of year: 2007 | Full index