Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Linguistics and Human Evolution

Coordinators: Dr. Shigeru Miyagawa & Dr. Mercedes Okumura

We aim to engage a junior scientist who has produced original research in the field of language evolution, has broad bases in formal linguistics and in archaeology, and is willing to work towards the integration between prehistoric material record and evolutionary linguistics, from the perspective of the grammar of prehistoric non-figurative representations. The fellow will be based in the Institute of Biosciences of the University of Sâo Paulo (IB-USP) in Brazil.

This project aims to create an original formal methodology for comparing apparently heterogeneous human symbolic expressions – prehistoric engravings and language –, aiming to minimize the vagueness of the archaeological inferences. Its primary goal is to determine, in a principled way, whether the abstract geometric patterns of prehistoric non-figurative engravings signal the availability of a formal grammar parallel to that observed in present-day human language.

Send the following documents to miyagawa@mit.edu & okumuram@usp.br, all in a single message (subject: “SPEC – Postdoctoral Application”):

- Prove of a doctoral degree in the area;
- 1 or more academic publications on the core topic.

Preliminary selection

- Summary CV – up to 3 pages;
- Summary of the proposed research – up to 3 pages;
- Statement of English fluency;
- Letter of intention;
- 2 letters of recommendation.

Short-listed applicants will be invited to an interview (in person or online).

Questions: henriquedambrosioretti@gmail.com.

This opportunity is open to candidates of any nationality. The selected candidate will receive a Post-Doctoral fellowship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) in the amount of R$ 9,047.40 monthly and a research contingency fund, equivalent to 10% of the annual value of the fellowship which should be spent on items directly related to the research activity.