Anthropological Linguistics, Language Documentation: PhD Student, La Trobe University, Australia

Institution/Organization: La Trobe University
Department: Research Centre for Linguistic Typology
Web Address: http://ping.fm/TnEOA

Level: PhD

Duties: Research

Specialty Areas: Anthropological Linguistics; Language Documentation

Description:


PhD positions in Language Description and Documentation at the Research Centre
for Linguistic Typology

The Research Centre for Linguistic Typology (RCLT) at La Trobe University in
Melbourne, Australia (http://ping.fm/kbxKkrclt) invites applications from
suitably qualified students to enter its PhD program.

The RCLT is committed to comprehensively analysing the linguistic structures of
languages that are endangered or have previously been little studied or are
completely undescribed.

PhD candidates at the RCLT undertake extensive fieldwork on their chosen
language. Following a period of academic preparation at the RCLT, students will
take a fieldtrip of at least several months duration to the community where the
language is spoken. Fieldwork methodology centres on the collection, transcription
and analysis of texts, together with participant observation, and judicious
grammatical elicitation in the language under description. RCLT students also aim
at language documentation: recording a range of linguistic styles, and building a
corpus of linguistic data that can be archived in international digital archives which
are available to both specialist linguists and the speakers of the language.

PhD candidates aim to write a grammatical description of the language they are
working on, covering the central areas of language such as phonology,
morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and sociolinguistics of that language.
Candidates may find that some of these areas merit a deeper examination than
others. Following the completion of a first draft of the thesis, the candidate would
undertake a second field trip of a further several months, during which time the
basis and claims of the thesis can be checked.

The main priorities of the RCLT are Tibeto-Burman languages (Asia), the Papuan
and Austronesian languages of New Guinea and surrounding islands, the
languages of Amazonia and of Africa. However, we do not exclude applicants who
have an established interest in languages from other areas.

PhDs in Australian universities generally involve no coursework, just a substantial
dissertation. Candidates must thus have had thorough coursework training before
embarking on this PhD program. This should have included courses on
morphology, syntax, semantics, phonology/phonetics and comparative-historical
linguistics, preferably taught from a typological/functional perspective. We place
emphasis on work that has a sound empirical basis and also shows a firm
grounding in general typological literature and work done on related languages.

The scholarship will be at the standard La Trobe University rate, Australian
$22,500 p.a. Students coming from overseas are liable for a tuition fee but this
can usually be covered by a separate scholarship. A small relocation allowance
may be provided on taking up the scholarship. In addition, an appropriate
allowance will be made to cover fieldwork expenses. The scholarship is for three
years (with the possibility of a six month extension).

Closing date for international applicants: 30TH SEPTEMBER 2010
Closing date for Australian and New Zealand applicants: 30TH OCTOBER 2010

Prospective applicants are invited, in the first place, to get in touch with the
Director, Professor Randy J. LaPolla, at r.lapolla@latrobe.edu.au, providing details
of their background, qualifications and interests (including a curriculum vitae and
detailed project proposal).

Application Deadline: 30-Sep-2010

Mailing Address for Applications:
Attn: Prof Randy LaPolla
RCLT
La Trobe University VIC 3086
Australia

Web Address for Applications: http://ping.fm/auhjIrclt/

Contact Information:
Prof Randy LaPolla
r.lapolla@latrobe.edu.au
Phone:+61 3 9479 6400
Fax:+61 3 9479 3053