Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational and Experi mental Linguistics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düssel dorf

Job Location: *Düsseldorf, Germany*
Web Address: https://www.ling.hhu.de/
Job Title: *Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational and Experimental 
Linguistics*
Job Rank: Post Doc
Salary: TV-L E13 (100%)

Minimum Education: PhD

Specialty Areas: Computational Linguistics; Pragmatics; 
Psycholinguistics; Semantics

Specialty Language(s): English (eng)

*Project Description*:

The position is part of the DFG-funded project Learning Linguistic 
Inferences and Their Alternatives (PIs: Jacopo Romoli and Yulia Zinova, 
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf). The project investigates how 
language models learn linguistic inferences — including implicatures, 
presuppositions, implicated presuppositions, free choice, and 
distributive inferences — and whether training on one inference type 
facilitates learning of others. Combining theoretical, experimental, and 
computational methods, the project addresses foundational questions 
about the semantics–pragmatics interface and what language models 
actually learn about meaning. The project involves constructing novel 
datasets, running behavioral experiments with human participants, 
probing inference derivation and its ingredients in both humans and 
language models as well as training and fine-tuning models using 
collected data.

Broader context: LaSTing Priority Programme
This position is embedded within the DFG Priority Programme LaSTing (SPP 
2556): "Robust Assessment & Safe Applicability of Language Modeling: 
Foundations for a New Field of Language Science & Technology" 
(https://www.lasting-spp.org) LaSTing brings together researchers across 
linguistics, cognitive science, and language technology to advance our 
understanding of language models for safer and more principled use, 
especially in the language sciences. The programme fosters 
interdisciplinary community-building, networking, and the training of a 
new generation of researchers at the interface of language science and 
language technology.

*Position Description*:
We invite applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher (3 years) 
to join the project team. The postdoc will play a central role across 
the project's work packages, contributing to the computational 
components of the project as well as to the design and implementation of 
online behavioral experiments, dataset construction, and data analysis. 
The postdoc will also contribute to the writing and dissemination of 
research outputs, and will collaborate closely with both PIs and with 
Mercator Fellow Paul Marty (University of Lisbon).

*Required Qualifications*:
- PhD in Linguistics or a closely related field
- Expertise in computational linguistics
- Ability to engage with both the experimental and computational aspects 
of the project

*Desirable Qualifications*:
- Experience with experimental methods in psycholinguistics
- Background in formal semantics and pragmatics and familiarity with 
formal approaches to pragmatic inferences
- Experience working with large language models (LLMs)
- Familiarity with natural language inference (NLI) tasks and datasets

*Application* Deadline: 18-May-2026
Email Address for Applications: [email protected]
Application Instructions:
Applicants should send the following to [email protected]:
- A CV
- A cover letter describing their research profile and interests, 
explaining how these match the goals of the project and what they could 
contribute to it
- Informal inquiries are also welcome at the same address.
Contact Information:
Jacopo Romoli
Email: [email protected]



-- 
David Arps
Institut für Linguistik, Abteilung Computerlinguistik
Gebäude 23.21. Etage 04 Raum 101
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Duesseldorf
Universitaetsstr. 1
D-40225 Duesseldorf, Germany
https://davidarps.github.io/

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