Overview
Background
Michael Haugh is Professor of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
His research interests lie primarily in the field of pragmatics, the study of the use of language in context, with a particular focus on studying the role of language in social interaction. He works with recordings and transcriptions of naturally occuring spoken interactions, as well as data from digitally-mediated forms of communication across a number of languages, as he is ultimately interested in the ways in which pragmatic phenomena have their distinct local flavours, both across and within languages and cultures. An area of emerging importance in his view is the role that language corpora and technologies can play in pragmatics and linguistics more broadly. He is currently leading the establishment of the Language Data Commons of Australia (LDaCA) (https://www.ldaca.edu.au/) and the Australian Text Analytics Platform (ATAP) (https://www.atap.edu.au/), as well as being co-director of the Language Technology and Data Analysis Laboratory (LADAL) (http://ladal.edu.au).
He has published more than 150 papers and books, including Sociopragmatics of Japanese (2023, Routledge, with Yasuko Obana), Im/Politeness Implicatures (2015, Mouton de Gruyter), Pragmatics and the English Language (2014, Palgrave Macmillan, with Jonathan Culpeper), and Understanding Politeness (2013, Cambridge University Press, with Dániel Z. Kádár). He has also co-edited a number of books and special issues of journals, including Morality in Discourse (forthcoming, Oxford University Press, with Rosina Márquez Reiter), the Sociopragmatics of Emotion (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press, with Laura Alba-Juez), Action Ascription in Interaction (2022, Cambridge University Press, with Arnulf Deppermann), the Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics (2021, Cambridge University Press, with Marina Terkourafi and Dániel Z. Kádár), and the Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness (2017, Palgrave Macmillan with Jonathan Culpeper and Dániel Z. Kádár). He was co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Pragmatics (Elsevier, https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-pragmatics/) from 2015-2020, and is currently co-editor of Cambridge Elements in Pragmatics book series (Cambridge University Press, https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/elements/pragmatics).
Availability
- Professor Michael Haugh is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, The University of Auckland
- Bachelor of Science, The University of Auckland
- Masters (Coursework), The University of Auckland
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
Research interests
-
Pragmatics
-
Conversation analysis
-
Humour studies
-
Spoken corpora
-
Intercultural communication
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Michael Haugh is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Conversational humour in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) workplaces
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Valeria Sinkeviciute
-
Doctor Philosophy
Emerging intercultural communication styles among Japanese and Australian entrepreneurs
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Melody Chang
-
Doctor Philosophy
The establishment and management of interpersonal relationships in early encounters between Australian and Japanese language exchange partners
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Valeria Sinkeviciute
-
Doctor Philosophy
Relational accountability: Insights from categorial work in accounting practices
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Valeria Sinkeviciute
Completed supervision
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Towards a (micro)theory of conversational humour: The interactional accomplishment of incongruity
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Valeria Sinkeviciute
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Table talk: Floor and focus in sustained multiparty interaction
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ilana Mushin
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Humour and Laughter at Work: Sustained Humour Episodes in Australian Blue-Collar Workplaces
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ilana Mushin
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Conversational humour in intercultural initial interactions in English
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Melody Chang, Dr Valeria Sinkeviciute
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Intercultural (Im)Politeness, Offence and Troubles-Remedy Sequences
Principal Advisor
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Supervisor-initiated advice-giving activities in PhD supervision meetings
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ilana Mushin
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Michael Haugh directly for media enquiries about:
- intention
- intercultural communication
- offence
- politeness
Need help?
For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team: