Overview
Background
I am a lecturer at the School of Languages and Cultures, specialising in linguistics with expertise in Pragmatics, Cultural Linguistics, and Communication. My academic interests also encompass General Linguistics, English as an International Language (EIL), and Persian Language Studies.
My PhD research focused on the historical exploration of valued speech practices in the Persian language, with particular attention to the role of taste-related vocabulary in Persian wit and humour.
Between 2022 and 2024, I conducted research on humour and belonging through two main projects: the use of humour in discourses surrounding prison and incarceration, and humour in Indigenous communities. During this time, I served on the Executive Board and as Chair of the Review Panel for the Australasian Humour Studies Network (AHSN).
In 2025, my primary research interests centre on Indigenous forms of humour/play, intersubjectivity, and metaphors of belonging at the national level.
Availability
- Dr Reza Arab is:
- Available for supervision
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Griffith University
Works
Search Professor Reza Arab’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
Contextual clips: prioritizing neglected recordings in corpora
Rarrick, Samantha and Arab, Reza (2025). Contextual clips: prioritizing neglected recordings in corpora. Language Documentation and Conservation, 19, 67-81.
2024
Conference Publication
"It's funny that you've grown white": Negotiating identity and intersubjectivity on prison radios
Arab, Reza (2024). "It's funny that you've grown white": Negotiating identity and intersubjectivity on prison radios. 4th Conference on Discourse, Culture and Interaction, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 5-6 December 2024.
2024
Journal Article
Medical certificates: more than just paperwork
Delshad, Parvin, Ball, Lauren and Arab, Reza (2024). Medical certificates: more than just paperwork. Australian Journal of General Practice, 53 (11 Supplement), S123-S127. doi: 10.31128/AJGP-02-24-7154
2024
Conference Publication
The language of prison radios: humour and coping
Arab, Reza and Anderson, Heather (2024). The language of prison radios: humour and coping. 30th Australasian Humour Studies Network Conference, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 7-9 February 2024.
2024
Book Chapter
Metapragmatics of Maze (Taste) in Persian
Arab, Reza (2024). Metapragmatics of Maze (Taste) in Persian. The Handbook of Cultural Linguistics. (pp. 383-405) edited by Alireza Korangy. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-99-3800-1_18
2024
Journal Article
Epistemic sentence-initial constructions as incongruity markers English “it is ironic [that]” vs Persian “bāmaze ast [ke]”
Arab, Reza (2024). Epistemic sentence-initial constructions as incongruity markers English “it is ironic [that]” vs Persian “bāmaze ast [ke]”. International Review of Pragmatics, 16 (2), 232-253. doi: 10.1163/18773109-01602003
2023
Journal Article
Book review: Thielemann, Nadine (2020). Understanding Conversational Joking: A Cognitive-pragmatic Study Based on Russian Interactions. John Benjamins.
Arab, Reza (2023). Book review: Thielemann, Nadine (2020). Understanding Conversational Joking: A Cognitive-pragmatic Study Based on Russian Interactions. John Benjamins.. European Journal of Humour Research, 11 (4), 128-132.
2023
Conference Publication
Contextual clips as neglected (meta)data: Insights on corpora from a humorous collaboration
Rarrick, Samantha and Arab, Reza (2023). Contextual clips as neglected (meta)data: Insights on corpora from a humorous collaboration. International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation, Hawaii, United States, 2-5 March 2023.
2022
Journal Article
Evaluating the credibility of storied matter in the context of agential realism
Lovell, Sue and Arab, Reza (2022). Evaluating the credibility of storied matter in the context of agential realism. Angelaki, 27 (6), 50-66. doi: 10.1080/0969725x.2022.2139018
2022
Journal Article
Cultural semantics of the ‘salt’ word in Persian
Arab, Reza (2022). Cultural semantics of the ‘salt’ word in Persian. International Journal of Language and Culture, 9 (1), 119-150. doi: 10.1075/ijolc.21038.ara
2022
Journal Article
Humour and belonging: a thematic review
Arab, Reza and Davis, Jessica Milner (2022). Humour and belonging: a thematic review. European Journal of Humour Research, 10 (2), 1-13.
2021
Other Outputs
To be with salt, to speak with taste: metapragmatics of playful speech practices in Persian
Arab, Reza (2021). To be with salt, to speak with taste: metapragmatics of playful speech practices in Persian. PhD Thesis, School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University. doi: 10.25904/1912/4079
2019
Book Chapter
Ethnopragmatics of Hāzer Jāvabi, a valued speech practice in Persian
Arab, Reza (2019). Ethnopragmatics of Hāzer Jāvabi, a valued speech practice in Persian. Studies in ethnopragmatics, cultural semantics, and intercultural communication: Ethnopragmatics and semantic analysis. (pp. 75-94) edited by Kerry Mullan, Bert Peeters and Lauren Sadow. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-32-9983-2_5
2018
Conference Publication
Persian light verbs in NSM explications: some issues
Arab, Reza (2018). Persian light verbs in NSM explications: some issues. Semantic Workshop 2018, Canberra, ACT Australia, 22-23 March 2018.
2017
Conference Publication
Semantics and ethnopragmatics of hazer javabi ('ready to respond') in Persian
Arab, Reza (2017). Semantics and ethnopragmatics of hazer javabi ('ready to respond') in Persian. The Australian Linguistics Society Conference, Sydney, NSW Australia, 4-7 December 2017.
2016
Journal Article
A review of agency and structure: Where does Rorty’s Ironist stand?
Arab, Reza (2016). A review of agency and structure: Where does Rorty’s Ironist stand?. European Scientific Journal, 12 (8), 36-51. doi: 10.19044/esj.2016.v12n8p36
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Reza Arab is:
- Available for supervision
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Media
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