Research Assistant (Linguistics)

ntu; Singapore; On-site; SGD 33,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

NTU's Linguistics and Multilingual Studies programme seeks a full-time Research Assistant to support a grant project on Austronesian languages in Southeast Asia. The role involves fieldwork coordination, transcription, data curation, and preparing outputs for archiving and dissemination.

The candidate will work with collaborators and community members, supervise junior assistants, and contribute to literature reviews and the preparation of project reports.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Linguistics or related field.
• Proficiency in English and Malay or Indonesian (written and spoken).
• Experience with linguistic annotation or related software is a plus.
• Familiarity with qualitative data collection and data management preferred.
• Strong understanding of research ethics and collaboration experience desirable.
• Entry-level candidates are welcome to apply.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate interview scheduling and manage consent procedures according to ethics.
• Transcribe, annotate, and process audio interviews using documentation software.
• Organise and secure project data including recordings, metadata, and fieldnotes.
• Support literature reviews and baseline grammatical descriptions for Malayo‑Polynesian languages.
• Supervise junior student assistants on tasks and workflows.
• Assist in preparing reports and community-facing dissemination materials.

Skills

Bachelor's degree in Linguistics

English

Malay/Indonesian

Linguistic annotation

Qualitative data collection

Research ethics

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's degree in Linguistics

Tools

FLEx

ELAN

Job description

The Linguistics and Multilingual Studies programme at the NTU School of Humanities explores language in all its dimensions: structural, social, cognitive, and technological. We have a strong focus on multilingualism, especially in linguistic ecologies of Asia and Southeast Asia, and produce globally significant research on linguistic diversity, human communication, and the evolving relationship between language and technology.

We are looking for a full-time Research Assistant to support the grant‑funded project Bridging history and structure: Formal approaches to family‑internal contact morphosyntax across Austronesian, a detailed investigation of the Malayo‑Polynesian languages of Maritime Southeast Asia. This project focuses on understudied and underdescribed Austronesian languages in Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor and beyond, and the interactions between speaker communities thereof (including but not limited to Singapore Colloquial Malay, Baweanese, Helong, Meto, Amarasi, Hawu, and Kupang Malay). This role will play a key role in collecting and analysing qualitative data, interfacing with collaborators and community members, and managing and preparing project outputs for archiving and dissemination.

Key Responsibilities:

• Coordinate interview scheduling and administer consent procedures in compliance with ethics requirements.
• Transcribe, annotate, and otherwise process audio-recorded interviews using language documentation software for analysis and archiving.
• Organise, maintain and manage project data (including recordings, metadata, transcriptions, and fieldnotes) in a manner which is both secure and in line with established archival standards.
• Support literature review tasks including establishing baseline grammatical descriptions for various Malayo‑Polynesian languages from published sources.
• Supervise junior student assistants.
• Support the preparation of project reports or documentation, materials for the dissemination of project findings, and other community‑facing project outputs.

Job Requirements:

• A Bachelor's degree in Linguistics or related field.
• Proficiency in English and Malay or Indonesian (both written and spoken, in colloquial as well as standardized registers), including oral communication skills so as to support the research project which focuses on understudied and underdescribed Austronesian languages in Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor and beyond, and the interactions between speaker communities thereof (including but not limited to Singapore Colloquial Malay, Baweanese, Helong, Meto, Amarasi, Hawu, and Kupang Malay).
• Prior experience in linguistic annotation, transcription, analysis, or related language research and software (e.g. FLEx, ELAN) is an advantage.
• Familiarity with qualitative data collection (including interviews) and basic data management practices is preferred.
• Strong understanding of research ethics and/or prior experience with community‑oriented research work are desirable.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, with meticulous attention to detail and excellent organisational skills
• Entry level candidates are welcome to apply.

We regret to inform you that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Hiring Institution: NTU