Postdoc in Resarch Unit "Questions at the Interfaces"

Universtiy of Konstanz
Konstanz
Germany
1. Juli 2019
The Department of Linguistics invites applicants for a

Postdoctoral Research Position
(salary scale 13 TVL/100\\%)

Applicants are invited for a three-year 100\\% postdoctoral position within the Research Unit (RU) "Questions at the Interfaces" (second phase), funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) at the University of Konstanz. The RU is dedicated to investigating question formation and question meaning, with a particular emphasis on non-canonical questions. See http://ling.uni-konstanz.de/pages/home/qi.

The successful candidate is expected to work in two projects: P1 "The Role of German Particles in Questions" and P3 "Alternative Questions and Beyond". The position is available as of July 1st, 2019. A later starting date is negotiable. The position can also be split into two 3-year long part-time positions or two shorter full-time positions.

Project description:

P1 "The role of German Particles in Questions" investigates how discourse particles (e.g. denn, schon, bloß) modify the illocutionary act of a question, turning a simple information-seeking question into a non-canonical question (e.g. a rhetorical question). Combining tools from formal semantics/pragmatics and psycho/neurolinguistic research, it strives to identify and derive the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic constraints that govern this modification and to explore the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the processing of discourse particles in questions. The selected candidate will design experimental pragmatic studies, will cooperate in designing psycholinguistic experiments and will be responsible for the theoretical modeling (formal semantics and pragmatics) of the results. See:
http://ling.uni-konstanz.de/pages/home/qi/main/P1.html

P3 "Alternative Questions and Beyond" investigates the composition, semantic properties and pragmatic distribution of alternative questions by combining formal tools, experimental methods and cross-linguistic research. Central to our project is how the final complex meaning of alternative questions compares to that of polar questions and wh-questions, both in non-canonical root uses (e.g., repeat uses) and in embedded environments (e.g., embedding puzzles with surprise-verbs, realize-verbs and admit-verbs). The selected candidate will be responsible for designing experimental studies and for theoretically modeling (semantics and pragmatics) the phenomenon. See:
http://ling.uni-konstanz.de/pages/home/qi/main/P3.html

Requirements:
Applicants should have a Ph.D. degree in linguistics with a specialization in formal semantics and/or pragmatics and experience in experimental methodology.

Application:
The deadline of application is May 31, 2019, but the search will continue until the position is filled. Applicants should send a short cover letter, a full CV and two sample publications to Maribel Romero at maribel.romero@uni-konstanz.de. Please write "Postdoc Position P1/P3" as subject of your email.

The University of Konstanz encourages disabled persons to apply. They will be given preference if appropriately qualified (contact + 49 (0) 7531 / 88 – 4016 and 88 - 2834).

The University of Konstanz is an equal opportunity employer that tries to increase the number of women in research and teaching.

The University of Konstanz has been certified as a family-friendly institution by the Hertie Foundation and is committed to further the compatibility of work and family life.

The University of Konstanz offers a “Dual Career Couples Programme“. Information is available at: http://https://www.familie.uni-konstanz.de/dual-career/.  

https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/equalopportunities/family/dual-career/