PhD studentship in morphological change

We have an exciting opportunity for a fully funded PhD in historical linguistics with the Surrey Morphology Group on the subject of change to inflectional morphology.

We invite proposals investigating morphological change in any language or family, and particularly encourage proposals taking an empirical approach, i.e. involving the collection and analysis of diachronic data. Potential topics for investigation could include (but are not limited to) areas such as:

• Mechanisms or statistical tendencies of morphological change;
• Interactions between morphological change and phonology or syntax;
• Origins of and/or constraints on the development of particular morphological phenomena;
• Effects of sociolinguistic conditions on morphological change.

The Surrey Morphology Group is a world-class research centre dedicated to the study of language diversity and its theoretical consequences. The student will receive comprehensive training and support in a lively and stimulating research environment, working alongside leading researchers on inflectional morphology.

Applicants are expected to hold a good first degree (a minimum 2:1 or equivalent) in Linguistics or a related discipline, and should have training in historical linguistics. Applicants will usually be expected to have an MA or equivalent.

English language requirements

IELTS minimum 6.5 overall with 6.0 in each category and at least 7.0 in Writing when processing Linguistics applications.