LINGUIST List 10.234

Sun Feb 14 1999

Support: Applied Ling, Psycholing

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. S J Hannahs, MA and PhD Studentships: University of Durham (UK)
2. Veerle Van Geenhoven, Psycholinguistics; Three PhD positions at Max Planck Institute

 ********* POSTGRADUATE STUDENTSHIPS *********
 Department of Linguistics and English Language
 ********* University of Durham, UK *********

 ** MA Degrees **
 
Applications are invited for Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
MA studentships for 1999-2000. Candidates must be British or European
Union residents and hold, or expect to hold, by October 1999, a minimum
of an upper second class honours undergraduate degree or the equivalent.
 
One guaranteed ESRC studentship is available:
 
 MA in Language Acquisition
 
An additional studentship is available through national competition on
any one of the following seven MA degrees in Applied Linguistics:
 
 MA in Applied Linguistics
 
 MA in Applied Linguistics with Reference to:
 ELT
 ESOL
 ESP
 ELT and Materials Development
 ELT, CALL and Educational Technology
 FLT (Spanish, French, German, Arabic or Japanese)
 
The Department of Linguistics and English Language also offers an MA in
Linguistics. EU students for this degree are able to compete for funding
from the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB).
 
All MA degrees can be completed in either 9-months or 12-months on a
full-time basis.
 
 ** PhD study **

The Department of Linguistics and English Language offers PhD supervision
in both theoretical and applied linguistics. The Department is
recognised by the ESRC in the areas of Applied Linguistics and Language
Acquisition for the awarding of the PhD. PhD students in theoretical
linguistics may apply for funding from the Arts and Humanities Research
Board
 
For further information and application materials, contact:

MA Applied Linguistics Dr. Martha Young-Scholten (MA Course
Director)
MA Linguistics Dr. Maggie Tallerman
PhD Applied Linguistics Mr. Peter Grundy
PhD Theoretical Linguistics Professor Joseph Emonds
 
 
 Department of Linguistics and English Language
 University of Durham
 Elvet Riverside II, New Elvet
 Durham DH1 3JT
 UK

 Tel.: +44 (0)191 374-2641
 Fax: +44 (0)191 374-2685
 E-mail: Durham.Linguisticsdurham.ac.uk
 WWW: http://www.dur.ac.uk/Linguistics/
 
 ******* *******
 ******* The application deadline for 1999-2000 ESRC/AHRB *******
 ******* studentships at either the MA or PhD level *******
 ******* is 31 March 1999. *******
 ******* ******* 

Ph.D. / postdoc openings - MPI for Psycholinguistics

The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics has one postdoc and three
Ph.D. positions available for research in the field of first or second
language acquisition. The postdoc will participate in the Scope Project and
the Ph.D.s will participate in either the Scope Project or the Argument
Structure Project. (These projects are described below.) All positions will
be for three years and will begin as soon as possible but no later than
October 1, 1999.

Applicants for the postdoctoral position in the Scope Project should have a
completed PhD degree in linguistics, psychology, or a related field, and an
interest in (theoretical and/or cross-linguistic) semantic and syntactic
aspects of language acquisition. Applications should include a curriculum
vitae, a sample of written work, a description of previous related studies
and research, names and addresses of 4 referees, and a statement of planned
research in the Scope Project. Payment for this position is regulated
according to the scale of the Max Planck Society (net approx. 4000 - 4300
Hfl).

Applicants for the Ph.D. positions in either the Scope Project or the
Argument Structure Project should have a completed Master's degree or
equivalent in linguistics, psychology, or a related field, and an interest
in syntactic and semantic aspects of language acquisition. Applications
should include a curriculum vitae, a description of previous related
studies and research, a sample of written work, names and addresses of 4
referees, and a characterization of plans or interests for the Ph.D.
research. The Ph.D. candidates must also already have or be prepared to
find a suitable university affiliation. Payment for these positions is
regulated according to the scale of the Max Planck Society (net approx 2200
- 2500 Hfl).

Please send applications via regular mail for arrival by April 1, 1999, to:

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Klein
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Postbus 310
6500 AH Nijmegen
The Netherlands

E-mail inquiries concerning the positions may be made to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang
Klein at:

kleinmpi.nl


Project descriptions:

The Scope Project studies how children and second language learners develop
the skills to analyze the semantic and syntactic composition of sentences,
skills needed for the interpretation of the linguistic input they are
exposed to. The project primarily considers the acquisition of those
elements in a sentence that take scope over other elements, since scoping
elements appear to be central clues in building the structure of a sentence
and in guiding its semantic interpretation. The phenomena considered for
investigation are the scope properties of temporal adverbials and
finiteness, the scope behaviour of focus particles, and scope-related
aspects of the interpretation of nominal expressions. The project is
cross-linguistic in perspective, and investigates the extent to which both
syntactic and semantic aspects of scope relations are language-universal
versus language-independent. In addition to contributing to an
understanding of how children interpret configurations containing scoping
elements, the project's results are expected to provide a clearer picture
of scope phenomena in adult language and to serve as a basis for new
insights into theoretical matters related to scope phenomena in natural
language.

The Argument Structure Project includes participants from both the Language
Acquisition and the Language and Cognition departments of the Institute.
Its goal is to learn more about which aspects of argument structure and,
more generally, event representation are universal versus variable, and
which may be innate as opposed to learned. The project is cross-linguistic
in orientation. Ph.D. candidates should be interested in investigating
topics such as the acquisition of predicate semantics, the syntactic
realization of arguments, argument ellipsis, or linguistic "event
packaging". Preference may be given to applicants working on the
acquisition of lesser-known languages.