24 March: fyi -- research positions, Tilburg
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PhD and Post-Doc Researcher Tilburg University Tilburg University is a
modern, specialized university. Its education and research are of high
quality. Students and employees experience Tilburg University as an
environment in which they are challenged and inspired. Moreover, it
offers excellent fringe benefits and a corporate culture in which
commitment and cooperation are central themes.
Faculty of Humanities The Faculty of Humanities conducts scientific
research and education in the fields of communication and information
sciences, philosophy, theology and religious studies, and language and
culture studies. The faculty features four departments, several
research institutes and a faculty bureau. Each year around 275
students commence a Bachelor or (Pre) Master Programme. The Faculty
has approximately 1200 students and 250 employees.
The Department of Language and Culture Studies One of the projects of
the department is “The building blocks of language: The impact of
typological variation and literacy”, financed by the Netherlands
Science Foundation (NWO). For this project we are looking for a
post-doc researcher (75%, four years) and a PhD (100%, four years)
POST-DOC RESEARCHER Vacancy number 500.08.04
PhD Vacany number 500.08.05
Summary of the project Young children do not conceive of spoken
language as consisting of conventional words, probably until they have
learned to read and write. The building blocks they use and recognize
do not initially correspond to what we call words, but rather to
larger constituents and constructions. Children learn chunks and then
gradually break up these constructions into smaller units such as
words and morphemes. The proposed research is a psycholinguistic study
that aims to, first, investigate what these building blocks are, and,
second, trace changes in the use and awareness of these building
blocks in relation to two factors: the acquisition of literacy and
typological differences between languages. In this project, two groups
of children, pre-readers and readers, of three different linguistic
backgrounds (monolingual Dutch, monolingual Turkish, and bilingual
Dutch/Turkish), are presented with experimental tasks that measure the
use (in on-line experiments) and awareness (in off-line experiments)
of building blocks at the level of morphemes, words and
constructions. After a joint data collection phase, Study 1 will focus
on the impact of the acquisition of literacy, and Study 2 on the
influence of typological differences.
Main tasks The PhD candidate carries out the research in four years
(full-time) or five years (four days a week) and writes a dissertation
(which may be in the form of a collection of articles). In the same
time period, the Postdoc writes three articles, at least one of which
together with the PhD student, organizes a workshop and edits the
Proceedings of this workshop.
Requirements As both studies are highly interrelated, candidates
should have willingness to be part of a team, and all that entails. We
have chosen not to decide beforehand how the following domains of
required expertise should be distributed over the two positions. Not
all expertise needs to be possessed by both candidates.
The PhD candidate must have a:
* (Research) Master degree or equivalent qualification in
* linguistics, psycholinguistics, or in a related discipline,
* obtained no longer than five years ago. very good command of
* English
The Post Doc candidate must have a:
* doctorate in linguistics, psycholinguistics, or in a related
* discipline. very good command of English
At least one of the candidates will have the following qualifications:
* experience with psycholinguistic experiments an extensive
* knowledge of linguistic theories and of language typology a
* solid background in language acquisition and literacy
* (near-)native knowledge of Dutch (near-)native knowledge of
* Turkish
Information For more information please contact dr. A. Backus
(A.M.Backus@uvt.nl / +31.13.4662654) or dr. J. Kurvers
(J.J.Kurvers@uvt.nl / +31.13.4662235). More information about the
project is available on:
http://let.uvt.nl//general/people/avermeer/building_blocks_final.pdf
Terms of employment: Tilburg University is rated among the top Dutch
employers, offering excellent terms of employment. The collective
labour agreement of Tilburg University applies. The selected candidate
will apply for a full-time contract for one year, concluded by an
evaluation. Upon a positive outcome of the first-year evaluation, the
candidate will be offered an employment contract for the remaining
years.
The Post-doc candidate will be ranked in the Dutch university job
ranking system (UFO) as an researcher (onderzoeker 4) with a starting
salary of minimally € 2.916 gross per month. The PhD candidate will
receive a starting salay of € 2.000 in the first year and up to €
2.558 in the fourth year. Furthermore, the usual facilities (desk,
computer, options model) are offered, as well as support with housing,
immigrations, etc.
Applications Applications should include cover letter, CV, and names
of two references. Application letters should be sent before the
application deadline of April 20, 2007, by regular mail to mr. P. van
Balen, Human Resources, Faculty of Arts, Room Y302, Tilburg
University, P.O. Box 90153, NL-5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands or by
email to solliciterenFDL@uvt.nl In your letter, please refer to the
relevant vacancy code.
It is the policy of the university to increase the number of women
employed. Also members of ethnic minority groups and handicapped
people are expressly invited to apply.
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