Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University of Southampton invites applications for a postdoctoral Research Fellow to participate in “Vulnerable native grammars: the effects of limited input in grammatical attrition”, a research project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) awarded to Professor Laura Domínguez (PI), Dr Glyn Hicks and Prof Monika Schmid (Essex). 

This is a full time, fixed term appointment from 1 June 2020 until 31 May 2023. The appointment will be made at the University’s Level 4, pt. 27, starting at £30,942 p.a. 

This innovative project employs a novel methodological approach from the fields of linguistics (morphosyntactic analysis), language acquisition (grammaticality judgement tasks), corpus linguistics (creating of a small-scale oral corpus) and psycholinguistics (self-pace reading task) to understand native grammatical attrition, changes in the grammatical knowledge of the native grammars in three bilingual/bidialectal populations (English-Spanish, German-Dutch and Belfast English-Southern British English). You will work alongside Prof Domínguez to manage the day-to-day operations of the project, undertake the development and implementation of the proposed tasks, oversee the main body of the data collection process, manage the transcriptions of the recordings, and carry out the data analysis. You will also assist in writing up outputs for publication and dissemination. More information can be found in the Further Particulars.

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher who has completed or is close to completing a PhD in linguistics and in an area which is directly relevant to the project. Native or near native competence in Spanish or German is highly desirable. You should demonstrate knowledge of relevant linguistic theory as well as experience carrying out an empirical study. You are expected to show an interest/ aptitude in the development of a small-scale corpus of bilingual speech. You will be expected to develop full expertise with CHILDES programs (CHAT and CLAN). Previous experience of CHILDES is desirable but not essential as training and support will be given as needed.

We are seeking to find an individual who works well within a team, can meet targets within a timetable, and has the ability to communicate academic research to a broader audience. You will join the research community at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Southampton as an Early Career Researcher and will have access to all training and development opportunities available to junior researchers. Regular meetings with the PI will further represent an opportunity to provide advice and mentoring for your longer-term career plans.

Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Laura Domínguez ldo@soton.ac.uk, applications are only accepted via the online application process.

Application Deadline: 17-Mar-2020

Web Address for Applications and Further Details: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BYS174/research-fellow-in-linguistics