How predictable are verb forms in Romance languages?
University of Surrey · Surrey Morphology Group (supervisors Dr Sacha Beniamine, Dr Oliver Bond, Dr Matteo Pellegrini)
- Pay
- £21,805/year (UKRI standard stipend, 2026-27) plus UK or international fees covered and conference travel support ≈ ₹2.3 lakh/month stipendAbout 6.3× the UGC JRF fellowship of ₹37,000/month
- Eligible degrees
- Open to UK and international candidates. Excellent undergraduate record (e.g. strong BA/MA in Linguistics or a language subject); expertise in morphological description and analysis and familiarity with Romance linguistics expected. Must meet Surrey's Linguistics PhD entry requirements.
- Tests
- Must meet the English language requirements for Surrey's Linguistics PhD (score not stated in advert)
- Duration
- 42 months (3.5 years)
- Start
- 2027-04-01
About the project
When speakers meet a new verb, they can often guess its other forms from patterns they already know. This PhD asks how much information speakers actually have when making those guesses, and how that varies across the Romance languages and over their history. Will help build and use new computational tools that measure predictability in inflection, apply them to existing Romance datasets, and compare results with other language families studied in the same UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project. The work combines careful linguistic description with quantitative methods, and no prior programming expertise is required, only willingness to learn. Will be based in the Surrey Morphology Group, a leading centre for research on morphological theory and typology, with funded conference travel.
Who this suits: EduSail Abroad mentor note
Suits an Indian MA Linguistics graduate (e.g. JNU, Hyderabad, EFL-U, Delhi) with morphology training and some French/Spanish/Italian; computational curiosity is a plus.
Listed by EduSail Abroad on 6 Oct 2026. Always confirm the final details and deadline on the university's original posting. Read our guide to fully-funded PhD in the UK.
Similar funded PhD positions
University of Warwick
Coventry, UK
~₹2.3 lakh/month stipend
Good 2:1 or first-class degree in Engineering, Physics or equivalent (e.g. BTech/BE in Mechanical, Materials, Polymer, Electrical or Instrumentation Engineering, or MSc Physics). Open to home and international students.
Apply by 31 Oct 2026
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK
~₹2.3 lakh/month stipend
Good 2:1 UK Honours degree or international equivalent (e.g. strong BSc/MSc or BTech in Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Biochemistry); check Cambridge's international qualifications equivalence for Indian degrees.
Apply by 3 Nov 2026
Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
Singapore, Singapore
~₹2.3 lakh/month stipend
Bachelor's degree with Second Class Upper Honours or equivalent CGPA (a strong Indian BA/BSc/BTech should be checked against this). PPGA and Sociology also require a good Master's degree. Scholarship needs at least Honours (Distinction) or equivalent.
Apply by 15 Nov 2026