English speaking vacancies in Holland: Vacancies: Three PhD Students for Foreign Speech Comprehension

Thursday, 1 March 2012

Vacancies: Three PhD Students for Foreign Speech Comprehension

Three PhD Students for Foreign Speech Comprehension

Specificaties - (uitleg)

Locatie	Nijmegen
Functietypes	PhD positions
Wetenschappelijke discipline	Language and Culture
Uren	38.0 uren per week
Salaris	maximaal € 2612
Werk-/denkniveau	University Graduate
Vacaturenummer	23.09.12
Vertalingen	en

As a PhD student you will participate in one of two research projects on how non-native listeners learn and process reduced pronunciation variants that are highly frequent in spontaneous speech (e.g. English mis instead of mist). One project is funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council, other by a VICI Grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Both projects are directed by Professor Mirjam Ernestus. You will write at least three papers on the basis of this research for high-impact international journals.

General descriptions of the project:
The ERC and VICI projects investigate in detail how adult learners of a foreign language develop and use lexical representations for reduced pronunciation variants and how their listening skills can be improved. The projects aim at providing a first theory of how listeners learn to understand words in conversational speech in a foreign language.

PhD project E1 will investigate the nature of lexical representations that advanced late learners have developed for reduced variants in their foreign language, how they use these representations, and how this can be improved. It will study how native speakers of Dutch process vowel devoicing and categorical deletion of schwa in French.

PhD project E2 will investigate advanced late learners' sensitivities to subtle details of speech signals which act as cues to reduced sounds and how their comprehension of words can be improved with these subtle cues. It will study how native speakers of Spanish process gradient reduction of schwa and of word-final consonant clusters in English.

PhD project V1 will investigate how starting learners store phonetic details of reduced pronunciation variants in their lexical representations, how these representations develop over time, and the role of the native language therein. It will study how Dutch and Spanish young adults learn pronunciation variants with reduced vowels in English and French.

- you should have, or shortly expect to obtain an MSc degree in an area related to speech processing: such as psychology, cognitive neurosciences, phonetics, or linguistics;
- you should have an excellent written and spoken command of English and demonstrable knowledge of data analysis;
- you should be able to quickly learn new research methods and data analysis methods.

- you will be offered an initial contract for 18 months. Your performance will be evaluated after 18 months and if the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 24 months;
- you will be classified as a PhD student (promovendus) in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO);
- available as of 1 September 2012.

the gross starting salary is € 2,042 per month based on full-time employment

Radboud University Nijmegen

Strategically located in Europe, Radboud University Nijmegen is one of the leading academic communities in the Netherlands. A place with a personal touch, where top-flight education and research take place on a beautiful green campus in modern buildings with state-of-art facilities.

Faculty of Arts

Radboud University Nijmegen is strategically located in Europe and is one of the leading academic communities in the Netherlands. Established in 1923 and situated in the oldest city of the Netherlands, it has nine faculties and enrolls over 17,500 students in 107 study programmes.

The Faculty of Arts consists of ten departments in the areas of language and culture, history of arts, linguistics and business communication, which together cater for about 2,700 students and collaborate closely in teaching and research. Research at the Faculty of Arts is embedded in two research institutes: the institute for Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies (HCLS) and the Centre for Language Studies (CLS).

Your research will be embedded in the Centre for Language Studies at the Faculty of Arts. Research at the CLS is centred around two themes. The current project is in line with the theme 'Language in Mind'.

Additionele informatie

Prof. Dr. Mirjam Ernestus
+31 24 3612970
m.ernestus@let.ru.nl

www.ru.nl/cls/

Radboud University Nijmegen

Meer informatie over de werkgever Radboud University Nijmegen (RU Nijmegen) op AcademicTransfer. Verkorte link naar deze vacature: www.academictransfer.com/13197

To apply click here: http://www.academictransfer.com/employer/RUN/vacancy/13197/lang/en/

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Introduction of the ‘European Blue Card’

As from 19 June 2011 the Netherlands has a new purpose of stay: the European Blue Card. The European Blue Card is a separate purpose of stay in addition to the existing National Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. The EU Blue Card Council Directive is intended for highly skilled foreign nationals who do not have EU, EEA or Swiss nationality, and who wish to work in one of the member states of the EU. The Directive is also meant to make it easier to settle in another EU member state. A residence permit will always be required in that other member state, however. To obtain this residence permit the employee must comply with the conditions applicable in that member state.

The conditions for residence in the Netherlands as an EU Blue Card holder are stricter than those for residence as a Highly Skilled Migrant. The employee must have a contract for highly qualified employment for at least one year, earning at least EUR 60,000 gross (in 2011). The employee must have completed a course of higher education lasting at least three years. The employee must prove this by having his diploma assessed by Nuffic. For a regulated profession, a competent authority will take decisions about the admission to that profession.

Advantages
One of the advantages of the EU Blue Card is that it is easier for an EU Blue Card holder and his family members to settle in another EU member state at a later date. After eighteen months foreign nationals who have an EU Blue Card are exempted from the provisional residence permit (MVV) requirement, if they want to work in another EU member State. In this second member state the employee must submit an application for a residence permit as a holder of an EU Blue Card. Each member state may implement the directive in slightly different ways. If someone holds a Blue Card in the Netherlands, this does not mean that the requirements are also met in other member states.

Another advantage is that after having stayed lawfully with the EU Blue Card holder in the Netherlands for two years, the family members may apply for a residence permit for ‘continued residence’. For other purposes of stay this is only possible after having stayed lawfully in the Netherlands for three years. The family members must have resided legally and continuously within the territory of an EU member state for at least five years, however. An employee who has stayed legally in the Netherlands as an EU Blue Card holder for two years may apply for the status of ‘long-term resident as a non-EU member country national’. He must have resided legally and continuously within EU territory for five years and must comply with the other conditions for this purpose of stay.

Highly skilled migrants from outside of the EU

A highly skilled migrant is a migrant who comes to the Netherlands to be employed, and has a gross annual income of at least €47,565, or €34,881 if he/she is under thirty. This income requirement does not apply if the employee enters service for certain functions in an educational or research institution. For information on the specific functions to which this clause applies, you can inquire at the IND office for labour and highly skilled migrants. When a foreign national has been granted residence in the Netherlands as a highly skilled migrant, the employer of the highly skilled migrant is not required to be in possession of a work permit for that foreign national.

Professional soccer players, ministers of religion, teachers of religion and prostitutes are not eligible for a residency as highly skilled migrant.

Important!
The amounts stated above will be indexed every year as of 1 January.