In het kort
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Department
Faculty of Arts
Organisation
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, University of Groningen, V25.0220
Job description
The Center for Language and Cognition Groningen (Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen) invites applications for a fully-funded four-year PhD position in the fields of sociolinguistics, experimental pragmatics and cognitive linguistics. The PhD candidate will work on the project “Don’t call me by your name: A cross-linguistic investigation of the social meaning of address forms” and contribute to teaching in relevant programmes (e.g., Linguistics and Communication Studies) at the Faculty of Arts. This project is jointly supervised by assistant professors Alexandra Lorson and Alexander Martin and promoted by associate professor Emar Maier.
The PhD Project: “Don’t call me by your name”
Address forms vary cross-linguistically, though a tendency to use alternative forms in so-called ‘formal’ versus ‘informal’ address is widely attested. In many European languages, for instance, a distinction between T-forms (informal) and V-forms (formal) is present (e.g., jij vs u in Netherlandic Dutch, du vs Sie in German, tu vs vous in French). This project aims to answer the following research questions:
- What social meanings are associated with address forms in Dutch, German, and French and to what extent do they differ between these languages?
- How do these meanings emerge, considering the speaker’s intentions, the addressee’s inference process, and the shared social context of both interlocutors?
This project takes an experimental approach to socio-pragmatics (see Van de Velde, et al., 2022’s “laboratory sociolinguistics”) to study the social meaning of these variant forms in different languages, in order to better understand the situation- and cultural-specific uses of alternative forms of address. Social meaning is understood in the context of this project to refer “to the stances, personal characteristics, and personas indexed through the deployment of linguistic forms in interaction”, following Podesva (2011: 234) (see also Beltrama, 2020; Burnett, 2023). These linguistic forms can carry social meaning or, when used in a specific (social) context, prompt addressees to draw pragmatic inferences about social meaning (Solt et al., 2025; Sinnott, 2013). The project will thus require the candidate to engage with theories dealing with stance taking (see, e.g., Jaffe, 2009; but also Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006), pragmatic inferences (e.g., Potts, 2005; Levinson, 1979), as well as an engagement with frameworks such as politeness theory (e.g., Brown & Levinson, 1987). The goal is (i) to establish the indexical field (Eckert, 2008) of alternative forms for each language and (ii) to gain a deeper understanding of how these meanings emerge in interaction, tested through meta-linguistic tasks (e.g., questionnaires), interpretation tasks (e.g., the matched guise technique, Lambert et al., 1960) and interaction experiments.
The PhD candidate will be asked to:
- Carry out academic research in sociolinguistics/experimental pragmatics/cognitive linguistics as specified in the project description
- Engage in regular meetings with supervisors to discuss the PhD project development
- Write three to four publishable articles/chapters, with supervisory guidance
- Present research findings at national and international conferences, workshops, internal seminars
- Participate in the activities of relevant research groups (e.g., Language Diversity and Semantics and Cognition) and the Center for Language and Cognition more broadly
- Complete the PhD in the specified timeframe (4 years)
- Teach in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year of the project
- Move to Groningen or its immediate vicinity
Organisation
Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has established an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative university offering high-quality teaching and research. Its 27,000 students are encouraged to develop their own individual talents through challenging study and career paths. The University of Groningen is an international centre of knowledge: It belongs to the best research universities in Europe and is allied with prestigious partner universities and networks worldwide.
The Faculty of Arts is a large, dynamic faculty in the heart of the city of Groningen. It has more than 5000 students and 700 staff members, who are working at the frontiers of knowledge every day. The Faculty offers a wide range of degree programmes: 15 Bachelor's programmes and over 35 Master's specialisations. Our research, which is internationally widely acclaimed, covers Archaeology, Cultural Studies, History, International Relations, Language and Literary Studies, Linguistics and Media and Journalism Studies.
Affiliation
The PhD candidate will be enrolled in the Graduate School for the Humanities at the University of Groningen. They will be involved in the Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT). The project will be embedded within the Center for Language and Cognition (CLCG) at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen, more specifically in the research groups for Language Diversity and Semantics & Cognition (which also hosts the Psycholinguistics research meetings). This will ensure the candidate can develop strong links with linguists with social, cognitive, and theoretical backgrounds. Moreover, dr. Martin has links with the SPRAAKLAB research group, which has extensive experience with data collection, and a well developed scientific outreach programme that the candidate can take part in.
Requirements
- A Research Master’s or Master’s degree in any area related to the project demonstrating knowledge of (and interest in) sociolinguistics, pragmatics and cognitive linguistics
- Excellent academic writing skills in English
- Previous knowledge of experimental research, and statistical data analysis
- A clear motivation for pursuing PhD research
- Advanced knowledge of languages other than English is essential for the project, though the candidate needn’t be a first-language speaker of any specific language
- Interest in interdisciplinary research, motivation to work as part of a team of researchers from different fields
Conditions of employment
Contract length: 48 months.
In accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, the University of Groningen offers you the following conditions:
- A salary of € 2,901 gross per month in the first year, up to a maximum of € 3,707 gross per month in the final year, based on a full-time position
- A holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income
- An 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance
- A temporary 1.0 FTE appointment for a specified period of four years. The candidate will first be appointed for twelve months. After six months, an assessment will take place of the candidate’s results and the progress of the PhD project, in order to decide whether employment will be continued
- The PhD candidate is expected to conduct a total of 0.4 FTE teaching spread over the second, third and fourth year of their appointment
- Excellent work-life balance
- Willingness to move and reside in the Netherlands (specifically the Groningen area)
The appointment will commence on 1 September or 1 October 2025 (by agreement between the candidate and the supervisors). We allow 3 months from selection in case of visa applications.
Job Application
Applications should be made in English and contain the following materials: - A project proposal (2 pages) to work within the framework sketched above on a comparative situation of the candidate’s choice, being careful to highlight specificities of the linguistic systems they are interested in (e.g., neutralization of informal/formal in the plural in French, but not in German), motivating the comparison in both linguistic and social terms. In pluricentric language situations, it is also possible to do a comparison of varieties (e.g., Metropolitan vs Québécois French or Netherlandic vs Flemish Dutch). Supervisor expertise is in Germanic and Romance varieties, but candidates may submit a proposal on any variety providing that there is a realistic data collection plan. - A curriculum vitae - Copies of Master’s diploma and list of grades (or the current transcript with grades, in case you haven’t graduated yet) - Copy of Master’s thesis (or a term paper, in case you haven’t graduated yet) - A writing sample (a copy of an article, book chapter or other academic text [e.g., outstanding term paper] that you feel best represents your work) - Contact details of two academic referees (no letters of recommendation are needed for the application process) - An English language certificate (in case your Master’s degree is not in English) - In case you haven’t graduated yet, a letter from you Master’s thesis supervisor stating the expected date of graduation Please send in your application as two PDF files (one for the MA thesis, and one for all other documents). You may apply for this position until 23:59PM 30 April 2025 / before 1 May 2025 Dutch local time (CEST) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website). Interviews with selected candidates will be held 20 May 2025. The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/policy-and-strategy/diversity-and-inclusion/ Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/sollicitatiecode/ and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code We provide career services for partners of new faculty members moving to Groningen. Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.
Additional information
For additional information, please contact:
Dr. Alexandra Lorson (for information about the project)
[email protected]
Dr. Alexander Martin (for information about the project)
[email protected]
Maarten Schmaal, Coordinator Graduate School (for questions regarding the submission procedure)
[email protected]
In your application, please always include the job opening ID V25.0220
