18 August: fyi -- cross-linguistic analysis, Australia

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Applications are invited for a two year Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
in The Cairns Institute to work as part of a team headed by Professor
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald and Professor R.M.W. Dixon, within the framework of
their joint project 'World through the prism of language: a
cross-linguistic view of genders, noun classes and classifiers'.

Applicants must have a doctorate or equivalent qualification, preferably
awarded within the last five years. Cases in which the period since the
award of the doctorate is in excess of five years may also be considered,
as will applications from candidates whose thesis is currently under
examination. Experience of linguistic fieldwork is required and ideally the
appointee will have already completed a grammatical description of a
language that has not previously been described (not their native language)
in terms of basic linguistic theory. A Fellowship will not normally be
awarded to an applicant who already holds an appointment within the
University. Ideally, we are seeking to make an appointment to work on a
language from either South America, New Guinea or from the Tibeto-Burman
family. However excellent applicants with primary interest in another area
will be considered. The appointee will be required to undertake extensive
fieldwork and will produce a comprehensive description of a previously
undescribed language.

Duties and Accountabilities
The key duty is to conduct research in anthropological linguistics, with
particular attention to language analysis, producing high quality
publications in refereed outlets.

Key Selection Criteria
1. Thorough professional training in linguistics, with special reference to
language-description, anthropological linguistics and linguistic typology;
2. PhD (conferred or pending) in descriptive linguistics, in terms of basic
linguistic theory;
3. Demonstrated ability to work, under direction, as a member of a research
team;
4. Demonstrated ability to work to a timetable, and produce results on time;
5. Demonstrated ability and commitment to disseminate the results of
research in high quality publications within agreed timeframes; evidence of
high level written, oral and interpersonal communication skills to diverse
audiences.

Desirable Selection Criteria
1. Ideally, to have produced a description of a language, preferably
(a) a language for which there had previously been no good description; and
(b) a language other than that of which they are a native speaker;
2. Some training in anthropology.


Application Deadline: 18-Sep-2009
Mailing Address for Applications:
Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald
The Cairns Institute, FAESS, James Cook University
Cairns, Queensland 4870
Australia
Web Address for Applications: http://cms.jcu.edu.au/jobs/research/JCUPRD_051280
Contact Information:
Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald
Email: Sasha.Aikhenvald@jcu.edu.au
Phone: 61-7-40421117
Fax: 61-7-40421390

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