PhD position The Analysis of Multimodal Argumentation
The Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, offers a four year, employed position to complete a PhD within a project led by dr. Jan Albert van Laar (University of Groningen), dr. Emar Maier (University of Groningen) and prof. dr. Jean Wagemans (University of Amsterdam). Other members of the project team are: prof. dr. Lilian Bermejo-Luque (University of Granada), dr. Lotte van Poppel (University of Groningen) and dr. Janina Wildfeuer (University of Groningen).
The position is part of the project The Normativity of Multimodal Arguments, which is funded by the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO). The project aims to integrate description- and explanation-oriented insights into argumentation, as developed in multimodal semiotics and superlinguistics, with evaluation-oriented theories of argumentation, as developed in formal dialectics, pragma-dialectics and normative pragmatics. The motivation is to shed light on how participants in argumentative practices do, can and should deal with the vagaries of multimodal meaning.
The PhD project “The Analysis of Multimodal Argumentation” is concerned with the identification, reconstruction and characterization of argumentation, both in face-to-face conversations and in political and non-commercial advertisements. The focus will be on argumentation as communicated through multimodal means, i.e. by the interplay of different expressive forms such as spoken or written language, (moving) images, animations, sound, gestures, or others. How do these expressive forms or semiotic modes interact to construct meaning? Which patterns of meaning-making reveal argumentative speech acts and argumentative reasoning? Addressing these questions aims at developing a way of identifying the particularly multimodal structures of argumentation, with a specific focus on (audio-)visually implicit meanings. The PhD student will be given space to develop their own detailed PhD project plan.
Organisation
Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative center of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Balanced study and career paths in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 34,000 students and researchers to develop their own individual talents. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.
