The newly funded Spezialforschungsbereich (SFB) ‘Language Between Redundancy and Deficiency’ is seeking to hire a number of pre- and post-docs for up to four year positions, starting in March 2024, or as soon as possible thereafter. The SFB consists of 8 subprojects and an administrative subproject in the areas of syntax, morphology and semantics, investigating the interface of the symbolic system of grammar and the stochastic cognitive system. The focus of the first four years will be on pronouns, their structure, feature specification and interpretation. The SFB involves PIs from Departments of Linguistics, German Studies, Romance Studies and Slavic Studies at the Universities of Vienna, Graz and Salzburg. The subprojects are connected under the SFB umbrella project, and there will be collaborations among the subprojects, but applications should be submitted for a specific subproject. We seek excellent early-career researchers with a strong background in theoretical linguistics. Applicants should have MA/PhD degrees in linguistics with specializations as detailed below. The SFB will provide an active and lively research environment with inter-university collaborations as well as ties to the local research communities, and an intellectually open, inclusive and flexible work environment at three leading Austrian universities. International applicants are encouraged, knowledge of German is not a prerequisite, unless noted otherwise below. Payment and benefits are as specified in the Austrian Kollektivvertrag for public employees; in addition, the SFB provides funds for travel, conferences, workshops and networking activities.

Subproject: Deficiency and redundancy in Ibero-romance pronominal systems
PI: Albert Wall
Location: Vienna, Department of Romance Studies
2 PhD positions (predoc, 75%)
The successful candidates will work on clitic doubling and/or null objects in varieties of Spanish and/or Portuguese, studying the micro-variation within and between these varieties comparatively with experimental methods. The over-arching goal of the project is to develop explicit accounts which link stochastic/variational data to symbolic systems of grammar based on the SFB’s theory of deficiency and redundancy.
Applicants should have an interest in the topic(s), show initiative and have excellent command of Spanish and/or Portuguese (ideally both), as well as a solid background in empirical and/or theoretical comparative Ibero-romance linguistics, ideally with a specialization in experimental methods.
The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the project work, including publications and conference participation, assist in organizational matters, and complete a PhD dissertation at the university of Vienna during the four years of the program.
For more information please contact the PI (albert.wall@univie.ac.at).

We are looking forward to receiving your application (in English). Applications should include the following documents:
• Cover letter/statement of interest
• CV
• Written academic paper (thesis, other qualifying paper, publication)
• Copies of degree certificates
• Addresses of potential recommenders or, optional: letters of recommendation
Unless indicated otherwise please submit the documents as a PDF-file, or several PDFs merged in
one zip-file.

Applications should also be sent to albert.wall@univie.ac.at

Application Deadline: Unless noted otherwise below, reviewing of applications will begin on the
19th of February 2024, but positions will remain open until filled.