Overview

About the programme

Cyclic structure building and optimization are two central research areas of grammatical theory, but also closely related to core concepts in psychology and computation: cyclicity implements the intuition that problem solving is not global, but applies in small incremental steps. Optimization approaches allow for bridging the gap between computational models of neural neural networks in Cognitive Science and symbolic models of human language.

This Cyclic Optimization research unit at Leipzig University explores the hypothesis that combining cyclicity and optimization achieves an added level of explanation not available to either alone: cyclicity can substantially restrict the search space of optimization processes and explain why optimization is often surface-opaque, while optimization yields a principled account for the timing, size, and variability of cycles.

Programme Structure

Subprojects include:

Prospects of inflectional morphology in Harmonic Serialism
Morphological strata of tone
Semantic and phonological correlates of affix orders
Layers of morphosyntactic number in Eastern Sudanic
Syntactic repairs and cyclic optimization
Prosodically determined dislocation of coordinators
Optimal matches between clause-embedding predicates and their cl. complements
Computational aspects of cyclic optimization

Key information

Duration

Full-time
- 36 months

Start dates & application deadlines

Starting 2026-10-01 00:00:00

Application deadline not specified.

Language

English

Delivered

On Campus

Campus Location

Leipzig, Germany

Disciplines

Linguistics View 7 other PhDs in Linguistics in Germany

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Academic requirements

We are not aware of any specific GRE, GMAT or GPA grading score requirements for this programme.

English requirements

We are not aware of any English requirements for this programme.

Other requirements

General requirements

Required:

dated and signed application form
written confirmation from your supervisor (supervision agreement)
CV
secondary school leaving certificate (certified copy)
evidence of university entrance examination (certified copy), if applicable
evidence of all university degrees (certified copies), e.g. bachelor’s, master’s, Diplom)
Transcripts of Records from all secondary and university qualifications (certified copies)
evidence of your knowledge of German at DSH-2 level, if the doctorate will be in German (certified copy)
evidence of your knowledge of English, if the doctorate will be in English
confirmation of admission to a faculty’s list of doctoral candidates, if already available (confirmation can otherwise be submitted within one semester)

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Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are shown in and the most likely applicable fee is shown based on your nationality.

International Applies to you

Applies to you

Non-residents

Free
EU/EEA Applies to you

Applies to you

EU/EEA Nationals

Free

Living costs

Leipzig

Germany

720 - 1047 EUR / month

The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.

Funding

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Scholarships Information

Below you will find PhD's scholarship opportunities for Cyclic Optimization.

Available Scholarships

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