University or Organization: Centre Nacional de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Department: Dynamique du Langage (DDL)
Job Location: Lyon, France
Web Address: http://www.ddl.cnrs.fr/index.asp?Langue=EN&
Job Title: PhD position on the language geography and history of Eurasia
Job Rank: Researcher

Specialty Areas: General Linguistics; History of Linguistics; Typology

Description:

Description:

The CNRS is offering a full-time PhD position in linguistics on the language geography and historical linguistics of Eurasia, hosted at the lab „Dynamique du Langage“ in Lyon. The position is available initially for 36 months and to be filled no later than October 1st 2024.

The position is embedded in the interdisciplinary LANGUAGE REDUX research project (http://www.ddl.cnrs.fr/projets/Redux/), funded by a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council to PI Matthias Urban (http://www.ddl.cnrs.fr/annuaires/Index.asp?Langue=EN&Page=Matthias%20URBAN)BAN). The project will start in August 2024 and carry out frontier research on the historical dynamics of language geographies. It will explore a new approach to language history and investigate the process by which the areas in which languages are spoken shrink as they are gradually replaced by others. In this way it aims to identify old linguistic distributions that have been replaced elsewhere, opening up a new perspective on language history. The team will likely be international. The working language of the research group will be English.

This successful applicant will investigate processes in which the areas in which languages are spoken shrink, and the changes the languages undergo during the process. This position will focus on investigating processes of range reduction and the changes languages undergo during the process in Eurasia, which, thanks to the attestation of languages up to several millenia in the past, is particularly suite

The successful applicant is expected to relocate to the Lyon area. In addition to governmental social security support and access to health care, benefits include assistance in relocation from Espace Ulys, the university's support center for international scientists; subsidized meals; and tickets for public transport in Lyon at a reduced price.

Duties of the successful applicant :
• Collecting data on language range reduction in Eurasia from extant literature
• Digitizing and curating the data, aided by a GIS developer
• Carry out comparative research on the linguistic changes that happens across languages as their ranges reduce
• Preparing data and analysis for presentations and publications in the form of articles (including ones co-authored with other team members) that lead to a cumulative PhD thesis
• Active and constructive contributions to the success oft he team as a whole

Required qualifications :
• MA in General Linguistics or a closely related field
• Background in historical linguistics, language contact research, and/or language typology
• Interest in the broader ecologies in which languages are embedded and used and anthropology and interdisciplinary work
• Willingness to acquire skills in GIS
• Excellent proficiency in spoken and written English

Additional desirable (but not required) qualifications :
• Basic oral and written proficiency in French, as institute-level administration partly is carried out in French
• Reading skills in Russian
• Background and knowledge about the linguistic diversity and history of (parts of) Eurasia
• Experience with quantitative and statistical analysis of linguistic data
• Experience with GIS systems

Applicants should submit:
• a letter of motivation
• a CV
• two samples of academic writing (e.g. published work, MA thesis, term paper, completed draft of article)
• names, affiliations, and email addresses of three referees who are willing to supply letters of reference in support of your application

Please note that applications must go through the CNRS job portal. No application will be accepted by email.

Application Deadline: 21-Jun-2024
Mailing Address for Applications:

Web Address for Applications: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Doctorant/UMR5596-RABMAK-014/Default.aspx?Lang=EN
Contact Information:
Dr Matthias Urban
Email: [email protected]