PhD Position in Languages

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities
Department: Department of Languages, Literature and Communication
Hours per week: 36 to 40
Application deadline: 1 December 2025

Project Overview

Bilingual infants have astonishing learning capabilities that allow them to learn the sound properties of two different languages in the first year of life. This project investigates how infants discover and distinguish two languages in their speech environment. The research will study how speech sounds infants hear at home guide their discovery of two languages. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, aiming to collect and analyse bilingual infant-directed speech, test infants’ reliance on sound cues, and use computational models to simulate the learning of two languages from speech.

Your Job

In the PhD subproject, you will work with Dutch-English bilingual families to collect and analyse a corpus of bilingual infant-directed speech. You will also study bilingual infants’ language discrimination skills using headturn-preference experiments. You will work in an interdisciplinary team with researchers from linguistics, psychology, and artificial intelligence. Assistance from student assistants in data collection and/or processing will be provided, and you will develop academic teaching skills during the project. The project will be carried out at the Institute for Language Sciences (ILS), Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

Your tasks include:

• Completion and defence of an article-based PhD thesis within four years (including studying relevant literature and writing articles)

• Presenting intermediate research results at workshops and conferences regularly

• Publication of peer-reviewed articles in established international journals

• Participation in training programmes and expert meetings organised for the project group

• Participation in relevant training programmes provided by ILS, Utrecht University graduate school, the National Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT), and other organisations

• Co-organisation of project workshops and conferences

Your Qualities

• An (R)MA degree in linguistics, psycholinguistics, psychology, artificial intelligence, or a related discipline by the starting date

• Affinity with research on infant language development

• Demonstrable knowledge in at least one of the following: phonetics, phonology, language development, early speech perception, bilingualism

• High proficiency in English and Dutch

• Readiness to learn new experimental methods and statistical analyses

• Ability to work both independently and as a team member

• Strong organisational, social, and communication skills

• Prior experience with infant research and/or quantitative linguistic research methods is a plus

Our Offer

• A position for 18 months, with an extension to a total of four years upon a positive evaluation

• Working week 1.0 FTE (38 hours) with gross monthly salary between €3,059 and €3,881 (salary scale P, CAO NU)

• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus

• Pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible terms of employment based on CAO NU

• Additional Utrecht University benefits: professional development, leave options, sports and cultural activities, and flexible employment conditions

About Us

Utrecht University is committed to a better future through leading research and inspiring teaching. The Faculty of Humanities has around 7,000 students and 1,100 staff members, comprising four knowledge domains: Philosophy and Religious Studies, History and Art History, Media and Culture Studies, and Languages, Literature and Communication. Research and education aim to contribute to understanding the Netherlands and Europe in a rapidly changing social and cultural context.

The Department of Language, Literature and Communication offers Bachelor's and Master's programmes in language education, intercultural communication, literary studies, linguistics, communication studies, translation, and multiple European languages. Research is conducted at the Institute for Language Sciences (ILS), which includes approximately 20 full professors, a dozen postdocs, and roughly 45 PhD candidates.

This PhD position is part of a project financed by NWO, entitled "The discovery of two languages by bilingual infants: testing the role of segmental cues", awarded to PI Dr. Frans Adriaans.

For more information:
Dr. Frans Adriaans (PI) – f.w.adriaans@uu.nl
Maaike Schoorlemmer (ILS research coordinator) – m.schoorlemmer@uu.nl

Candidates will be recruited by Utrecht University. If applying from outside the Netherlands, practical information about living and working in the Netherlands is available on the university website. It is required to live in the Netherlands for the duration of the appointment.

Apply Now

Utrecht University values staff with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and identities. The university strives to create a safe and inclusive environment.

Please submit the following documents via the ‘apply now’ button:

• CV including full personal and academic details

• Motivation letter clearly supporting your interest in the PhD position

• Copy of Master’s diploma and academic transcript (or Bachelor's degree and proof of current registration if Master’s not yet completed)

• Draft Master’s thesis and other relevant publications

• Contact details of two academic referees

Documents must be submitted as individual PDFs, with filenames including your name and document type.

Timeline:

• Interviews: Week of 12 January 2026

• Invitation for interviews by 19 December 2025

• Start date: 1 April 2026

• Application deadline: 1 December 2025

In your application, please refer to Professorpositions.com