Job Utrecht University - Two PhD researchers on the acquisition of prosodic encoding of focus across languages

The PhD projects are part of the programme "Get the focus right: a cross-linguistic study on prosodic encoding of focus in children”, awarded to Dr. Aoju Chen by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This programme investigates how 4- to 10-year-olds acquire prosodic encoding of focus in four languages differing sharply in both prosodic realisation of focus and lexical specifications of prosody, i.e. Korean, Swedish, Dutch and Mandarin Chinese. Particular attention will be given to how individuals differ in the rate and route of acquisition and what causes individual differences. The programme aims to develop a comprehensive theory of acquisition of prosodic encoding of focus with an emphasis on language-specificity and individual differences.

The two PhD projects will examine the cross-linguistic similarities and differences in the acquisition of prosodic focus-marking, addressing the following research questions:

• How does the employment of a prosodic parameter for lexical purposes affect the acquisition of the use of the same parameter in marking focus?
• How does the relation between the focus-marking pitch gesture and the focused word affect the acquisition of the focus-marking pitch gesture?
• How do children acquire the prosodic adjustment in the post-focus sequence?

PhD project 1 (vacancy number 681125) focuses on the comparison between Dutch- and Swedish-speaking children. This project will include a research visit of two to three weeks to the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

PhD project 2 (vacancy number 681126) focuses on the comparison between Korean- and Mandarin Chinese-speaking children. This project will include research visits of two to three weeks to Hanyang University in Seoul and Beijing Normal University in Beijing. 

The PhD projects aim at a dissertation within a maximum of 3.5 years. They also involve research training, such as graduate courses offered by the National Graduate School in Linguistics (LOT).

Applicants should have

• a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in linguistics, psycholinguistics or a related filed;
• demonstrable knowledge in at least one of the following areas: prosody, phonetics, phonology, first language acquisition, and pragmatics;
• an excellent command of English, both spoken and written;
• high proficiency in at least one of the two languages under investigation in the project applied for;
• the ability to quickly learn the use of new speech processing software and new data analysis methods;
• the willingness to work in a closely collaborating team;
• the ambition to pursue an academic career in an internationally oriented scientific community.

Prior experience with testing children and conducting phonetic analysis using Praat is considered an advantage.

For both projects, we offer a full-time PhD position to a maximum of 3,5 years, with a gross monthly salary starting at € 2.042,- in the first year to € 2.612,- in the fourth year of appointment. The successful candidates will be offered an initial contract as a PhD student for 18 months. Upon positive evaluation of the PhD students’ performance at the end of the first year, the contract will be extended by 2 years. We also offer a pension scheme, a holiday allowance of 8% per year and flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities.

UIL-OTS features a stimulating, innovative, and internationally oriented research environment which offers opportunities for a broad professional development. Courses are offered by internationally renowned experts, while possibilities for conference visits are plentiful. We offer excellent experimental facilities and computational support. Students are invited to participate in the Academic Professionalism programme of transferrable skills offered by the Graduate School, which involves training in general research and project management skills.

Please contact Dr. Aoju Chen for more information on the projects (e.g. if you would like to have a copy of the NWO project proposal), and Dr. Maaike Schoorlemmer for further questions about the positions.

Dr. Aoju Chen
Telephone: +31 30 2535706 or +31 30 253 6006 (secretary)
E-mail: aoju.chen@uu.nl.

Dr. Maaike Schoorlemmer (UiL-OTS PhD coordinator)
Telephone: +31 30 253 6183 or +31 30 253 6006 (secretary)
E-mail: m.schoorlemmer@uu.nl.