Postdoctoral Research Associate in Linguistics

The Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics seeks a part-time postdoctoral research fellow in Celtic Studies.

The research associate will contribute to data collection, transcription and encoding for the Syntactic Atlas of Welsh Dialects, funded by the University of Oxford Higher Studies Fund, under the direction of PI Professor David Willis (University of Oxford). This ongoing project aims to create a database of questionnaire responses on the basis of interviews with a representative sample of speakers of Welsh from all ages and backgrounds and from all parts of Wales in order to create an online atlas showcasing grammatical variation within the language. It involves a substantial element of fieldwork interviews, transcription, database creation and documentation, leading ultimately to synchronic and diachronic analyses of those grammatical features of greatest interest.

A substantial part of the fieldwork, particularly in Gwynedd and Aberconwy, has already been completed, and the successful applicant will help to bring the project to completion. The appointee will be expected to recruit participants, conduct and record interviews (particularly participants who grew up in areas currently underrepresented in the data, such as Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire), transcribe responses and add them to an existing database, and prepare documentation. Funding is available for a 40% position for 18 months from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2024, and is non-renewable. It may be possible to negotiate alternative arrangements with the successful candidate within the existing budget.