PhD Student in Linguistics 75%

Institute of Linguistics
01.09.2024 or by agreement
Employment is fixed for 4 years (2.5 years plus 1.5 years).
As part of the SNF-funded project “Uncovering the dynamics of person marking: A construction-based approach in historical microtypology”, PI Prof.Dr. Linda Konnerth (Institute of Linguistics), we are seeking to hire one PhD student.

PhD Student in Linguistics

• Carry out descriptive linguistic research on a Trans-Himalayan (Sino-Tibetan) language of the South-Central (a.k.a. “Kuki-Chin”) branch spoken in Northeast India with the goal of producing a state-of-the-art comprehensive reference grammar of the language based on a diverse corpus of natural data
• Particular emphasis will be on the person marking system of the language, whose description will need to involve the examination of discourse data in addition to elicitation
• Conduct fieldwork in Northeast India to build a comprehensive text corpus
• Closely collaborate with other team members of the research project
• Participate in activities of the North East Indian Linguistics Society (NEILS)
• Participate in activities of the Institute of Linguistics at UniBE

• MA degree (or equivalent) in linguistics or a related field in hand by July 2024
• Interests and comprehensive prior training in linguistic fieldwork, corpus linguistics, typology, historical linguistics, from a functional-typological perspective
• Knowledge of relevant software such as ELAN, FLEx, or a commitment to acquire this knowledge prior to the start of the project; a desire to explore innovative (computational) methods is a plus
• Social skills needed to successfully collaborate with language consultants and other important members of the language community, as well as with the research team members
• Commitment to communicate research results through publications and conference presentations

• Engaging & international collaborative research group
• Multi-facetted and interesting range of tasks
• Progressive employment and social security provisions in accordance with

cantonal guidelines

For information about the position, please contact by email Prof. Dr. Linda Konnerth: linda.konnerth@unibe.ch