Three fully-funded PhD positions on early prosodic development at Utrecht University

These positions are part of a new Dutch Research Council project ‘SoundStart’ on early prosodic development led by Professor Aoju Chen at Utrecht University. Children show knowledge of prosody (i.e., melody and rhythm) of their native language already at birth and thrive on it in early language and communication development. However, how children learn prosody so early is still unknown. Taking an interdisciplinary and crosslinguistic approach, SoundStart aims to discern the role of innate mechanisms, uncover learning mechanisms in the auditory modality underlying development spanning prenatal and after-birth periods, and shed light on the role of visual cues to prosody (i.e., speech-accompanying gestures) in after-birth periods. PhD projects 1 and 2 will be concerned with the first two goals in the learning of prosodic phrasing (i.e., grouping sequences of sounds into meaningful units in speech streams) and prosodic form-meaning mappings (i.e. associating prosodic patterns with communicative functions), PhD project 3 with the third goal in both areas of prosodic development. We are seeking to hire highly motivated, driven and talented MA graduates to take on the PhD projects, starting 1 February 2022. A later starting date is negotiable.

In this research programme you will work within an interdisciplinary team, closely collaborating with researchers from linguistics, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, psychology and neonatology at Utrecht University and the University Medical Centre Utrecht. You will receive assistance from student assistants in data collection (in the Netherlands and abroad) and/or data processing and have the opportunity to develop your academic teaching skills during your project.

Do you want to play a key role in this new exciting research programme on early prosodic development? Read more and apply! The application deadline is 8 November, 2021.

https://www.uu.nl/en/organisation/working-at-utrecht-university/jobs/three-fully-funded-phd-positions-on-early-prosodic-development-at-utrecht-university-10-fte

For more information about these positions, please contact Professor Aoju Chen at aoju.chen@uu.nl.

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Prof. dr. Aoju Chen

Chair of Language Development in Relation to Socialisation and Identity

Head of the English Language and Culture Division 

Leader of VICI research group SoundStart

Department of Languages, Literature and Communication & Utrecht Institute of Linguistics - OTS

Utrecht University 

The Netherlands