Postdoctoral Researcher in Speech Articulation

University of Zurich Department for Computational Linguistics

Switzerland

Department for Computational Linguistics - Phonetics & Speech Sciences

PhD Student (60 %) or Postdoctoral Researcher (80 %) in Speech Articulation
60-80 %

With the launch of the new NCCR Evolving Language (www.evolvinglanguage.ch), which involves nearly 40 different research groups from a large variety of disciplines across Switzerland, we seek to fill a PhD or Post-Doc position (~4 years; open until filled).

Your responsibilities

Our goal is to understand speaker-specific variability in articulation to disambiguate the role of the individual anatomy and acquired motor behaviour on the production of articulatory gestures. We will measure the articulatory movements of pre-selected speakers strongly varying vocal tract characteristics in cross-sectional studies. Anatomical and functional measurements will be performed using Ultrasound, MRI, Pharyngometry and EMA (amongst other possible techniques). The project is in collaboration with the Psycholinguistics Group at the University of Geneva (Prof. Dr. Marina Laganaro) who will work on the motor control of speech utterances.

Your profile

Essential for the work in this project is a proven record of experience with articulatory measurements, obtained with techniques such as:

• Electromagnetic articulography (EMA)
• Ultrasound for articulation studies
• Pharyngometry
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Acoustic and video recordings of speech for point-light tracking

What we offer

The position and tasks can be adapted to the stage of the applicant's career. The main selection criterion is expertise in the above areas.
The successful candidate will become part of the NCCR Evolving Language and will be based at the Phonetics & Speech Sciences Group at the Department of Computational Linguistics.
This application is open until filled. Before preparing your application, you may check on the following webpage whether a position is still available: pub.cl.uzh.ch/purl/vdellwo
Start of the position at the next possible date (negotiable).

Place of work

University of Zurich
Department for Computational Linguistics
Phonetics & Speech Sciences
Andreasstrasse 15
8050 Zurich

Start of employment

To be considered your application must consist of one single PDF file of max. 4 pages with the following structure:
• ~2 pages: CV including name and email of two potential referees
• ~2 page: Summary of your experiences with articulatory measurements and why you think you might be the right person for this type of project.