The  Prosody & Speech Dynamics Lab  in the Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University (Dr. Jennifer Cole, P.I.) is seeking to hire a postdoc to work on an NSF-funded project on Memory and context effects on representations of variation in phrasal intonation. The goal of this project is to understand the nature of the cognitive encoding of intonation in terms of representations accessed in short- and long-term memory, which will be investigated through the acoustic analysis of intonation patterns that are reproduced from auditory model utterances. Imitated intonation patterns will be analyzed for similarity to the heard stimulus in terms of their acoustic and perceptual similarity.

Applications are invited from individuals with a Ph.D. in Linguistics or related field, who are interested in understanding speech as a cognitive and social behavior. Desired qualifications include experience with experimental methods in prosody or intonation research, acoustic analysis, statistical modeling with R, and Praat. Responsibilities include working with the PI to design and run speech production experiments* with speakers of American English; performing acoustic analyses using Praat; designing and running statistical models of experimental data; maintaining a digital archive for experimental data; preparing oral and written presentations of research findings; participating in weekly lab meetings; and contributing to grant preparation for follow-up research.

*Experiments will be conducted online with remote participants, with in-lab experiments possible after campus labs are re-opened following the Coronavirus shut-down.

The postdoc will join a vibrant community of speech and language researchers at Northwestern University whose expertise spans areas such as bilingualism, speech perception and auditory processing, sociolinguistics, sentence processing, computational linguistics, spoken discourse, and the cognitive and neural bases of language.

The initial appointment will be for one year with an extension to a second year subject to satisfactory progress. The preferred start date is Sept. 15, 2020. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Candidates must have completed their Ph.D. by the time of the appointment. Applications should include (i) a cover letter that states the applicant’s experience and research interests related to prosody and speech dynamics; (ii) a current CV, (iii) a PDF copy of publications or a list of links for online access to publications; (iv) the names and contact information of at least two references.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States.

Applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Jennifer Cole (jennifer.cole1@northwestern.edu ) with any questions about the Lab and the position.

Jennifer’s website: https://sites.northwestern.edu/cole/