The Tocharian Trek is a linguistic test of the hypothesis that early speakers of Tocharian moved from the Indo-European homeland first to southern Siberia, where they can be identified with the Afanasievo Culture, and then south into the Tarim Basin in Northwest China. The prehistory of Tocharian is reconstructed on the basis of its position in the Indo-European family tree and contacts with Uralic, Turkic and Middle Indic. The project is led by PI Dr Michaël Peyrot and funded by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council. Contacts of Tocharian with Iranian are the topic of the NWO-funded sister project “Tracking the Tocharians” (www.nwo.nl/en/research-and-results/research-projects/i/53/26753.html).

Position 1: The phylogenetic position of Tocharian
It is often claimed that Tocharian was, after Anatolian, the second branch to leave the Indo-European homeland. In this subproject, this problem is to be investigated in a systematic way, focusing on finding additional evidence against or in support of this claim.

Position 2: Linguistic contacts between Tocharian and Uralic
Tocharian shows many typological parallels with Uralic, which may be due to language contact. In this subproject, typological parallels between Tocharian and Uralic, especially Proto-Uralic and Proto-Samoyedic, are to be investigated. Lexical evidence for language contact is to be included as far as possible.

Position 3: Linguistic contacts between Tocharian and Turkic
Tocharian has been in contact with Turkic languages in several periods of time. In this project, it is to be investigated where and when such contacts may have taken place. Contacts with Old Uyghur may be taken into account, while the focus should be on prehistoric contacts, taking into account evidence from for instance Chuvash and Mongolian.

Position 4: Linguistic contacts between Tocharian and Middle Indic
The Gāndhārī variety of Niya in the south of the Tarim Basin has been claimed to show influence from a Tocharian dialect. In this subproject, all possible evidence relevant to this claim may be taken into account, notably: spelling peculiarities, hitherto obscure words and akṣaras as well as Iranian loanwords.

All four positions are open to applications at PhD (4 years, 38 hours per week) as well as at Postdoc level (3 years, 38 hours per week) and should start April 2019.

Key responsibilities
• Writing a PhD thesis under the daily supervision of Dr Michaël Peyrot (PhD candidates only);
• Discussing and sharing (unpublished) results with the other team members;
• Submitting research results for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals;
• Presenting papers at (international) conferences.

• An MA (for PhD candidates) or PhD degree (for postdocs) in a relevant field;
• Demonstrable affinity with historical linguistics and linguistic reconstruction (knowledge of Tocharian is an advantage, but not a strict requirement);
• A scientific focus and creative approach, excellent analytical skills, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team;
• Good writing skills;
• Proficiency in English.

The employment of PhD candidates will be for a period of four years (first a contract of 18 months with an extension of 30 months after positive evaluation of capabilities and compatibility) and must lead to the completion of a PhD thesis. Appointment will be under the terms of the Collective Labour Agreement of the Dutch Universities. The gross monthly salary is set on €2,266 in the first year up to €2,897 gross per month in year four, based on fulltime employment (pay scale P).

The employment of postdocs will be for a period of three years (first a contract of 12 months, with an extension of 24 months after positive evaluation of capabilities and compatibility). Appointment will be under the terms of the Collective Labour Agreement of the Dutch Universities. Depending on education and work experience, the salary range is from €2,640 to €4,852 gross per month (pay scale 10 or 11), based on a full-time appointment. Please be aware that due to the project budget the employment period and/or FTE may be adjusted depending on your salary scale.

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3 %), training and career development and sabbatical leave. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break. More at https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/working-at/job-application-procedure-and-employment-conditions.

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