Logic List Mailing Archive

PhD student positions in Dynamics of Language, Canberra (Australia), Deadline: 20 Aug 2014

PhD Opportunities: The ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of 
Language, ANU node

Expressions of interest are now being sought for PhD positions at the new 
Centre for Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL), funded by the 
Australian Research Council for the period mid-2014 to mid-2021. This is 
the first stage in a two-step procedure: in this first stage we will go 
through the overall field of applications, and rank them for fit and 
competitiveness, then in a second phase we will get back to the 
highly-ranked ones with guidance about how to go through the somewhat 
baroque process of making a formal application. CoEDL 
[http://www.dynamicsoflanguage.edu.au/] is launching an ambitious series 
of interlinked projects, focusing on language as a dynamic and variable 
system, and drawing on the full diversity of the world?s languages, 
through four programs focusing on the design space of language (Shape), 
how it is learned (Learning) and processed (Processing), and how 
linguistic structures evolve at various timescales (Evolution). Two 
?threads? (Archiving, and New Generation technologies) will enable the 
technological advances needed to drive forward the language sciences in 
the coming decades. The Centre is strongly interdisciplinary and features 
researchers from linguistics, speech pathology, psychology, anthropology, 
philosophy, bioinformatics and robotics. CoEDL is centred on four 
Australian Universities (Australian National University, University of 
Melbourne, University of Western Sydney and University of Queensland), 
with partner institutions in Australasia and the Pacific, Asia, Europe and 
North America. The present PhD positions will be located at the Australian 
National University (ANU), which houses researchers working in and across 
all four Programs, and we are particularly interested in doctoral students 
whose interests make new interconnections between various approaches to 
language. Potential topics include the following:

- Description and documentation of a traditional indigenous language of 
Australia

- Description and documentation of new Australian varieties, including 
Kriol, new mixed languages

- Multigenerational documentation of an Australian language focusing on 
aspects of language-use across generations

- Description and documentation of an undescribed Papuan language

- Corpus-based study of an Australian or Papuan language; or corpus-based 
study of the coding of social-cognition across a parallel corpus

- Quantitative sociolinguistic study of immigrant varieties of Australian 
English

- Experimental studies of first language acquisition and language 
processing

- Corpus- and/or fieldwork-based study of language acquisition with 
particular focus on intersubjective functions, preferably in a language of 
the Asia-Pacific region

- Language phylogenies and human prehistory in New Guinea or South-East 
Asia

- Linking language micro-evolution to language macroevolution

- Coevolutionary interactions between language, cognition or culture

- Evolution and co-evolution of language structures

PhD applicants will need to successfully apply for an Australian 
Postgraduate Award (or other suitable scholarship); CoEDL will then 
supplement this with generous conference travel funds, and substantial 
training and development opportunities. Field-based PhD positions will 
undertake substantial fieldwork in the relevant speech community, and 
generous fieldwork support and mentoring will be provided. PhD students 
will be supervised by CoEDL researchers, as well as researchers across the 
other CoEDL nodes (Universities of Melbourne, Queensland and Western 
Sydney). Interested applicants should contact 
coedl@anu.edu.au<mailto:coedl@anu.edu.au> in the first instance; COEDL 
will then prioritise the most competitive applications and contact 
approved applicants about making a formal application for enrolment and 
scholarship through the regular ANU system, by 31st August 2014 for 
international applicants and by the 31st October 2014 for applicants from 
Australia and New Zealand. In their applications, applicants should 
provide the following:

1.  CV with educational qualifications, any publications and other 
relevant experience (e.g. fieldwork, relevant internships)

2.  Transcript of prior undergraduate and/or postgraduate degrees (will 
normally need at least 80% average to be competitive)

3.  A two-page statement setting out your preferred topic, potential field 
site (if relevant), what skills and personal attributes you will bring to 
the project, and what you see as the most interesting and challenging 
issues you will address

4.  If available, other materials supporting your case (e.g. relevant 
articles or other materials)

5.  For applicants whose undergraduate/postgraduate theses are not in 
English, their most recent TOEFL/IELTS scores Deadline for initial 
expressions of interest (International applicants): 20 August 2014 (note 
formal application must be completed by 31 August). Deadline (Australian 
and New Zealand Applicants): 15th September 2014. Scholarship information 
is available at: http://students.anu.edu.au/scholarships/gr/off/ General 
information about applying is available here: 
http://students.anu.edu.au/applications/gradresearch.php

Kim Sterelny
Philosophy Program
RSSS, ANU

e-mail
Kim.Sterelny@anu.edu.au<mailto:Kim.Sterelny@anu.edu.au>, Kim.Sterelny@vuw.ac.nz<mailto:Kim.Sterelny@vuw.ac.nz>

ANU Contact Information
Philosophy Program
Research School of the Social Sciences
Australian National University
0200 Canberra, ACT, Australia

phone

61- (0)2 6125-2886; messages:  Philosophy Program

61-(0)2 -6125 2341,
fax 61-(0)2 - 6125 3294