Doctoral Research fellowship in Sociolinguistics

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label Burse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:00 history_edu Cristian Ion
The Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo invites applications for two 3 year PhD Research Fellow positions (SKO1017).

The positions will be part of a new research project “Standardising Minority Languages”, funded by the Research Council of Norway and the University of Oslo. The aim of the project is to carry out in-depth analyses of the standardisation of European Regional or Minority Languages, expanding the focus from macro-level processes and linguistic aspects of standardisation to include investigations of how users relate to standardisation processes. Developing a standard for a minority language is not a neutral process; this has consequences for the status of the language and how the language users position themselves in relation to the new standard.



Language standardisation can be seen as a form of technology, and the project will use Nexus Analysis and theories from the tradition of science and technology studies (STS) to analyse the role of social actors and users in the standardisation of historical minority languages in Europe. STS has dealt with different aspects of the standardisation of technologies. These insights will be applied to the case of language standardisation, and the project will explore issues such as: how the users of the standard are configured, the exclusionary effects of standards, the positions of non-users, and the political role of standards.

The research group will consist of Principal Investigator Pia Lane, 1 post doctoral fellow and 2 PhD students. The PI will analyse the standardisation processes related to the Kven language, whereas the post doctoral fellow and the PhDs will analyse the standardisation processes related to other languages protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

The persons appointed will be affiliated with the Faculty's organised research training. The academic work must result in a doctoral thesis that will be defended at the Faculty with a view to obtaining the degree of PhD. The persons appointed are expected to join the research group and contribute to development of the academic environment. The appointment is for a period of 3 years.