LINGUIST List 13.2200

Fri Aug 30 2002

Jobs: Psycholing: Research Asst., Scotland, UK

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>


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  • r.p.g.vangompel, Jobs: Psycholing: Researcher, University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom

    Message 1: Jobs: Psycholing: Researcher, University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom

    Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 06:11:59 +0000
    From: r.p.g.vangompel <r.p.g.vangompeldundee.ac.uk>
    Subject: Jobs: Psycholing: Researcher, University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom


    University or Organization: University of Dundee Rank of Job: Researcher Specialty Areas Required: Psycholinguistics Required Language(s):Finnish (Code = FIN)

    Description:

    RESEARCH ASSISTANT (Salary �17,626 - �19,681)

    Required for 12-13 months (depending on salary level) starting around November 2002. You will collaborate with Dr Roger van Gompel (University of Dundee, United Kingdom), Dr Jukka Hy�n� and Dr Raymond Bertram (University of Turku, Finland) on a project titled "Understanding pronouns in Finnish", funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The research assistant will be based at the University of Turku (Finland) and will employ eye-movement methodology to investigate the comprehension of pronouns. Applicants should have experience in conducting psychological experiments and will preferably have a PhD. The project provides an excellent opportunity for a researcher with interests in psycholinguistics to conduct experimental research to investigate the comprehension of pronouns.

    The aim of the project is to investigate theories about how language users understand pronouns. We will employ a new methodology, which involves the recording of eye movements to visual scenes while people listen to sentences containing ambiguous pronouns. Theories of pronoun resolution make different assumptions about the strategies that people use to interpret pronouns that are ambiguous in context. In languages with a fixed word order such as English, it is often very difficult to discriminate between the different theories. In the project, we will investigate Finnish, because its word order is extremely free. This will enable us to investigate various untested hypotheses about strategies that people use to interpret ambiguous pronouns.

    The research assistant will construct materials, conduct eye-movement experiments and analyse data for a number of studies investigating the comprehension of pronouns. The research assistant will also be involved in writing up the experiments and their publication. The assistant will be based at the University of Turku (Finland) and will work directly with Dr Jukka Hy�n� and Dr Raymond Bertram. The project will be directed by Dr Roger van Gompel (University of Dundee, UK). Travel and subsistence funds are available for travel between the Universities of Turku and Dundee.

    Applications by CV & covering letter (2 copies of each), complete with the names, addresses, telephone/fax numbers of 2 referees should be sent to Personnel Services, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN. Please quote Reference: ASS/801/1. Further Particulars are available for this post, tel: +44 1382 344015. Applicants will only be contacted if invited for interview.

    Address for Applications:

    Attn: Dr Roger van Gompel Department of Psychology University of Dundee Department of Psychology University of Dundee Dundee, Scotland DD1 4BN United Kingdom Applications are due by September 27, 2002

    Contact Information: Dr Roger van Gompel. Email: r.p.g.vangompeldundee.ac.uk Tel: +44 1382 348117 Website: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/psychology/rpgvangompel/