Missions

The interdisciplinary ERC-Synergy project SHAPE investigates how shape is represented in cognition, language development, and across languages (spoken and signed). The Paris team, lead by Frank Seifart, investigates the variability of shape expression across a diverse, worldwide sample of spoken languages. The Postdoctoral Researcher will contribute to cross-linguistic research on shape encoding, coordinate data collection and analysis across 40 languages, and ensure seamless collaboration between SHAPE's international and interdisciplinary network of field linguists and project partners.

Activités

- Conduct research on the cross-linguistic encoding of shape (semantic/morphosyntactic typology) across a global sample of languages.
- Contribute to designing and implementing standardized tasks for data collection in 40 languages.
- Perform typological analyses integrating SHAPE's experimental data, literature reviews, and expert consultations.
- Coordinate ethics approvals, data collection and processing for 15 field sites, ensuring compliance and consistency.
- Collaborate with SHAPE's sub-projects in Cologne, Trondheim, and Indiana, and manage communication with the CNRS administrative team at SeDyL.
- Support studies across the project team and contribute to publications, with the possibility to assume a leading role in some of them

Compétences

Required:
- PhD in Linguistics, Cognitive Science, or a related field (completed or defence scheduled before start date).
- Expertise in functional-typological frameworks and semantic/morphosyntactic typology.
- Fluency in English.
- Ability to coordinate collaborative research and communicate effectively across teams.

Preferred:
- Experience in research in semantic and/or morphosyntactic typology within functional-typological linguistics
- Fieldwork experience and an established fieldwork site on a non-European language for collecting data using the project's set of experiments
- Experience with quantitative methods for data processing and analysis (R, Python, etc.)
- Working knowledge of French or commitment to learning it.

Résultats attendus et contrôles

n/a

Contexte de travail

Working conditions:
- 38.5 hours per week
- presence at 4-6 in-person project workshops per year in Paris
- presence at weekly online meetings

Offer:
- Three years full time employment with the possibility of one year extension
- Between 3,081 and 3,520 monthly gross salary, depending on experience, in addition to benefits
- A central role in a prestigious ERC-Synergy project with an international, interdisciplinary team.
- Access to Paris's unparalleled linguistic research community and resources.
- Partial remote work can be negotiated
- Opportunities for fieldwork, conference travel, and career advancement.
- Opportunity for independent research design, as well as mentorship from senior scholars

Application:
in one pdf file (max. 10MB), in English, including:
- CV, including names of two referees who have agreed to be contacted regarding this application
- motivation letter (max 2 pages)
- if applicable, pdf(s) of up to two relevant publication(s). For book-length publications, please provide a URL instead of a pdf.

Additional information:
- the selection process will include a first round of remote interviews in September, and a second round of in-person interviews in Paris in October
_for questions, contact Frank Seifart
_start date as soon as possible after February 2026, depending on availability, and (for non-EU candidate) on visa processing times