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PhD student position in "The Language of Fiction and Imagination" (linguistics/philosophy), Groningen (The Netherlands), Deadline: 20 Sep 2016

PhD position in Linguistics/Philosophy (1.0fte)

The Faculties of Arts and of Philosophy at the University of Groningen are
looking for a PhD student in the NWO-funded research project "The Language
of Fiction and Imagination" (https://sites.google.com/site/emarmaier/vidi)
led by Dr. Emar Maier

*Project Description*

Fiction is interpreted differently from non-fiction. In the context of a
fiction, the usual expectations of truth and reference are out the window.
We all know that Frodo never existed, yet we can interpret stories about
him and even be emotionally involved with this non-existent character.
Since traditional formal semantics has fundamental difficulties with things
like non-referring names and inconsistent plots, literary scholars have
turned to cognitive linguistics. The current project will build a bridge
between cognitive and formal semantics, exploiting existing semantic
frameworks (e.g. Discourse Representation Theory, Mental Spaces), and
philosophy (e.g. Mental Files, pretense theories of fiction), in order to
arrive at a formally explicit account of the interpretation of fiction.

The project has three parts: (A) formally modelling mental states,
including imagination and belief (PhD1); (B) modelling fiction as
imagination updates (PI); and (C) analyzing linguistic fiction markers
(PhD2). The position advertised is for subproject C. It is centered on the
linguistic questions raised by the project as a whole: How does a reader
even know that a given text is fiction? Are there linguistic clues an
author can leave to mark a text as fiction? Putative examples of such
"fiction markers" include narrative subject--verb inversion (in Dutch:
"Komt een skelet bij de dokter..."), past tense marking in children's
pretend play ("You were the father and I was the baby"), the historical
present, and free indirect discourse. The goal is to give a formal semantic
analysis of these and other constructions, building on the semantic
machinery for fiction interpretation developed in the other subprojects,
and engaging with existing work in both formal/cognitive linguistics and
literary studies/narratology.

*Qualifications*

Our ideal candidate has
- a strong background in formal semantics (through training in theoretical
linguistics, logic, and/or philosophy of language), and a clear interest in
(linguistic aspects of) literature/narratology;
- excellent English and academic writing/presentation skills;
- an MA or MSc degree in a field relevant to the project (e.g. linguistics,
philosophy, literary studies, A.I.);

*Organisation*

The PhD position is jointly hosted by two departments, The Department of
Theoretical Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy, and the Center for
Language and Communication in the Faculty of Arts. The successful applicant
will be working under direct supervision of dr. Emar Maier with
co-supervision of promotores prof. dr. Petra Hendriks and prof. dr.
Jan-Willem Romeijn.

*Conditions of employment*

The University of Groningen offers a salary of ?2,174,- (salary scale PhD
students Dutch Universities) gross per month in the first year, up to a
maximum of ? 2,779,- gross per month in the final year, based on a fulltime
position. The position requires residence in Groningen.

The preferred starting date is 1 January 2017, or earlier.

*Application*

You may apply for this position until Tuesday 20 September (23:59 local 
Dutch time) by means of the application form. For submission details and 
required documents, see the full advertisement at the RuG vacancies 
website: 
http://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/job-opportunities/overview?details=00347-02S00052TP&cat=phd 
Contact Dr Emar Maier (e.maier@rug.nl) for more information about the job 
or a full description of the project.

Project website: https://sites.google.com/site/emarmaier/vidi

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