You will be participating in the project Time in Translation: a semantics of the Perfect (TinT). This project is funded by NWO, by way of a Vrije Competitie project awarded to Prof. dr. Henriëtte de Swart and Dr. Bert Le Bruyn at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. The project aims to develop the meaning of the present perfect. We will collect data from 5 languages (Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish) in parallel corpora, and analyse perfect use in relation to other verbal tense forms both at the sentence and at the discourse level. Translation experiments will be used to check the space of variation in choosing one form over another.

TinT offers two PhD positions and one Post-Doc position. One PhD position has already been filled, so we are currently searching to hire a PhD candidate and a Post-Doc for the following subprojects:

• Perfect use in discourse: from conversation to literary texts (PhD)
• Truth-conditional and dynamic semantics of the perfect (Post-Doc)

The PhD candidate will focus on the discourse role of the perfect in conversation and literary texts and will be responsible for developing an analysis of non-narrative tense use. Data collection and translation experiments will be carried out in close collaboration with the other PhD and the Post-Doc.

The Post-Doc is the theoretical driving force of the project and will lay the groundwork for the project’s semantic analyses of the Perfect – both truth-conditional and dynamic. S/he will closely collaborate with the PhD candidates and the PIs.

The PhD candidate and the Postdoctoral Researcher will of course have the opportunity to fill in the details of these projects or expand them, based on their expertise, the data they gather and their own research ideas, in consultation with the PIs.

Tasks for the PhD candidate will include:

• completion and defence of a PhD thesis within four years;
• carrying out corpus research and translation experiments, in agreement with the supervisors and division of labour within the team;
• regular presentation of intermediate research results at workshops and conferences;
• publication of at least two peer-reviewed articles, partly in collaboration with other project members;
• co-organization of workshops and conferences;
• participation in training programmes and expert meetings scheduled for the project;
• participation in training programmes scheduled for the Research Institute, Graduate School and the National Research School;
• teaching.

Tasks for the Post-Doc will include:

• collaboration with the PhDs and the PIs;
• presentations at workshops and conferences;
• publication of four peer-reviewed articles, partly in collaboration with other project members;
• co-organization of workshops and conferences;
• teaching.

Requirements for the PhD candidate:

• a (soon to be completed) (research) Master’s degree in Linguistics, with a focus on semantics and pragmatics; prior experience with corpus research and/or experiments welcome;
• excellent English oral proficiency, academic writing and presentation skills;
• fluency in at least two languages of the project besides English (Dutch, German, French, Spanish);
• an outstanding record of work in the Master's degree;
• ability to meet deadlines and work both as an independent researcher and as part of a team;
• ability to work in an international, interdisciplinary team;
• excellent organizational, social and communication skills.

Requirements for the Post-Doc:

• PhD in Linguistics, with a focus on semantics and pragmatics, prior experience with discourse theory, inquisitive semantics, corpus research and/or experiments welcome;
• ability to perform and publish high quality research, demonstrated for instance by a strong publication record in international peer-reviewed journals;
• excellent English oral proficiency, academic writing and presentation skills;
• fluency in at least two languages of the project besides English (Dutch, German, French, Spanish);
• excellent organizational, social and communication skills.

The successful PhD candidate will be appointed on a fixed-term full-time basis (38 hours per week/1.0 FTE), starting 1 June 2018 or soon thereafter. The appointment is initially for a period of 18 months. Upon good performance and a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended for the remaining period of 30 months (4 years in total). The gross monthly salary starts at €2,222 in the first year, and ends at €2,840 in the fourth year, on a full-time basis.

The successful Post-Doc candidate will be appointed on a fixed-term full-time basis (32 hours per week/0.8 FTE), starting 1 June 2018 or soon thereafter. The appointment is for a period of 36 months, with a one-year initial trial period. Based on the experience and qualifications of the candidate the gross salary is in the range between €3,238 and maximum €4,084 per month for a full-time employment.

Utrecht University offers a pension scheme, a holiday allowance of 8% per year, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities. More information is available here: terms of employment.

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major societal themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions, Life Sciences and Sustainability.

The research is conducted within the Language, Logic and Information group of the Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS. Other research groups at UiL OTS focus on Language Variation, Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition, Language Processing and Language Pathology, Language and Education, Language and Communication. The UiL OTS research staff comprises approximately 20 Full Professors, a dozen Postdocs and roughly 40 PhD students.

UiL OTS is part of the Faculty of Humanities which has approximately seven thousand students and nine hundred staff members. It comprises four Research Institutes: The Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Institute of History and Art History, Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICON), and the Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS (UiL OTS). With its research and education in these fields, the Faculty aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Netherlands and Europe in a rapidly changing social and cultural context. The enthusiastic and committed colleagues and the excellent amenities in the historical city centre of Utrecht, where the Faculty is housed, contribute to an inspiring working environment.

The Department of Language, Literature and Communication offers BA and MA programmes in Literary studies, Linguistics, Communication studies, Translation, as well as Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and (uniquely in the Netherlands) Celtic languages.