Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Overview
I'm originally from Lithuania, where I graduated from BA in English Philology and MA in English Studies. While at university, I spent part of my study period in Spain (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and Quebec (Université de Montréal). After teaching two years at Vilnius University, in 2012 I started my PhD at the IPrA Research Center at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Apart from analysing interactional (primarily jocular) practices in terms of (im)politeness in Australian and British cultural contexts, I've also recently developed interest in identity studies, particularly in relation to jocularity. I have been working with different types of data, including reality television discourse (yes, they made me watch Big Brother!), qualitative interviews (I made [ok, begged] people [to] give me some answers about their interactional behaviour) and corpora (no one made anyone do anything here).
I've always loved languages, maybe because I've always been surrounded by a variety of them. I'm a native speaker of Lithuanian and Russian, I spent many years studying and then also teaching English and I also have a certificate for teaching Spanish as a foreign language. Due to my study/research relocations, I can also communicate (sometimes extremely poorely) in Dutch, French and Portuguese, and at the moment I'm struggling with Modern Greek!
And now my quest for a 'holy grail' theory continues in the School of Languages and Cultures, here at UQ!
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Teaching areas (past & present):
English as a Second Language
Academic English (reading, writing, presentations)
Stylistics
Intercultural Communication
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Forthcoming publications:
Journal articles
- Sinkeviciute, Valeria. accepted. Variability in group identity construction: A case study of the Australian and British Big Brother houses. Discourse, Context & Media
Book chapters
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Forthcoming conference presentations/talks:
- 20 October 2017 - Performing yourself: Constructing identity in initial encounters at the symposium 'Getting Acquainted across Cultures', The University of Queensland, Australia (https://languages-cultures.uq.edu.au/event/2717/getting-acquainted-across-cultures)
- 2-4 February 2018 - “It’s not nice […] you’re just taking the piss out of me”: Failed humour and differences in its evaluation by (non-)participants at 24th Conference of the Australasian Humour Studies Network (AHSN), Central Queensland University, Cairns, Australia
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Edited special issues:
Dynel, Marta and Valeria Sinkeviciute (eds.). 2017. Conversational humour: Spotlight on languages and cultures. Language & Communication 55. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02715309/55?sdc=1
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Panel organisation:
16-21 July 2017 – Panel organiser, From self to culture: Identity construction in humour-related discourses, at the 15th International Pragmatics Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland
26-31 July 2015 – Panel organiser (with Marta Dynel), The Pragmatics of Conversational Humour, at the 14th International Pragmatics Conference, Antwerp, Belgium
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Invited talks/lectures:
26 May 2017 - Evaluating (im)polite interactional behaviour: From reality television to qualitative interviews, talk at the Research Seminar at the School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland, Australia
10 May 2017 - Metapragmatics and humour, guest lecture at The University of Queensland, Australia
6 November 2015 - What makes teasing impolite? “Step[ping] over those lines […] you shouldn’t be crossing”, guest lecture at University of Antwerp, Belgium
25 November 2014 - “[Sometimes] it’s not particularly funny, [sometimes] it’s just rude”: Getting a laugh and/or taking offence to teasing, talk at the Research Seminar at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
6 December 2013 - (Im)politeness in context, guest lecture at University of Antwerp, Belgium
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Journal Referee
Journal of Pragmatics
Lingua
Sociolingustic Studies
Research Interests
- Interactional pragmatics
- Sociopragmatics
- (Im)politeness
- Conversational humour
- Identity in interaction
- Australian and British cultural contexts
- Reality television discourse
- Qualitative interviews
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, Vilnius University
- Master of Arts, Vilnius University
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Antwerp
Publications
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Journal Article: "It's just a bit of cultural [...] lost in translation": Australian and British intracultural and intercultural metapragmatic evaluations of jocularity
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017) "It's just a bit of cultural [...] lost in translation": Australian and British intracultural and intercultural metapragmatic evaluations of jocularity. Lingua, 197 50-67. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2017.03.004
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Journal Article: What makes teasing impolite in Australian and British English? “Step[ping] over those lines […] you shouldn’t be crossing”
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017) What makes teasing impolite in Australian and British English? “Step[ping] over those lines […] you shouldn’t be crossing”. Journal of Politeness Research, 13 2: 175-207. doi:10.1515/pr-2015-0034
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Journal Article: Approaching conversational humour culturally: a survey of the emerging area of investigation
Sinkeviciute, Valeria and Dynel, Marta (2017) Approaching conversational humour culturally: a survey of the emerging area of investigation. Language & Communication, 55 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2016.12.001
Publications
Book Chapter
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017). "Everything he says to me it’s like he stabs me in the face": frontstage and backstage reactions to teasing. In Nancy Bell (Ed.), Multiple perspectives on language play (pp. 169-198) Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9781501503993-008
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(Im)politeness and mixed messages
Culpeper, Jonathan, Haugh, Michael and Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017). (Im)politeness and mixed messages. In Jonathan Culpeper, Michael Haugh and Daniel Z. Kadar (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of linguistic (im)politeness (pp. 323-355) London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-37508-7_13
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Decoding encoded (im)politeness: ‘Cause on my teasing you can depend’
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2013). Decoding encoded (im)politeness: ‘Cause on my teasing you can depend’. In Marta Dynel (Ed.), Developments in linguistic humour theory (pp. 263-288) Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/thr.1.13sin
Journal Article
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017) "It's just a bit of cultural [...] lost in translation": Australian and British intracultural and intercultural metapragmatic evaluations of jocularity. Lingua, 197 50-67. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2017.03.004
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017) What makes teasing impolite in Australian and British English? “Step[ping] over those lines […] you shouldn’t be crossing”. Journal of Politeness Research, 13 2: 175-207. doi:10.1515/pr-2015-0034
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Approaching conversational humour culturally: a survey of the emerging area of investigation
Sinkeviciute, Valeria and Dynel, Marta (2017) Approaching conversational humour culturally: a survey of the emerging area of investigation. Language & Communication, 55 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2016.12.001
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017) Funniness and “the preferred reaction” to jocularity in Australian and British English: an analysis of interviewees' metapragmatic comments. Language & Communication, 55 41-54. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2016.06.004
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2015) "There’s definitely gonna be some serious carnage in this house" or how to be genuinely impolite in Big Brother UK. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 3 2: 317-348. doi:10.1075/jlac.3.2.04sin
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2014) "When a joke's a joke and when it's too much": mateship as a key to interpreting jocular FTAs in Australian English. Journal of Pragmatics, 60 121-139. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2013.11.004
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Sinkeviciute, Valerija (2010) A comparative analysis of politeness in first encounter conversations in British English film and peninsular Spanish film. Lexis: Journal in English Lexicology, HS2 71-93. doi:10.4000/lexis.820
Conference Publication
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017). Intracultural and intercultural evaluations of mock impoliteness: a case study of Australian and British (non-)participants. In: 10th International Symposium on Politeness, York, United Kingdom, (). 12-14 July 2017.
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Juggling multiple identities: a case of Australian and British views on jocularity
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2017). Juggling multiple identities: a case of Australian and British views on jocularity. In: 15th International Pragmatics Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, (). 16-21 July 2017.
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Sledging Aussies and catty Brits: Cultural variability in (not) taking offence to jocularity
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2016). Sledging Aussies and catty Brits: Cultural variability in (not) taking offence to jocularity. In: 7th International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics and Communication, Split, Croatia, (). 10-12 June 2016.
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When “it’s funny” means “it’s not funny at all”: Evaluations of jocularity by non-participants
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2016). When “it’s funny” means “it’s not funny at all”: Evaluations of jocularity by non-participants. In: LAFAL 4, Lodz, Poland, (). 17-18 March 2016.
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2016). “If you made a joke […] then you could quite clearly […] show […] what you thought without […] losing face”: A jocular reaction as an expression of a disaffiliative stance. In: Linguistic Impoliteness Rudeness, and Aggression (LIAR IV), Manchester, UK, (). 12-14 July 2016.
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What makes teasing impolite? “Step[ping] over those lines […] you shouldn’t be crossing”
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2015). What makes teasing impolite? “Step[ping] over those lines […] you shouldn’t be crossing”. In: 9th International Im/Politeness Conference, Athens, Greece, (). 1-3 July 2015.
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2015). “Reality is not events themselves but the talk about them”: The role of metalanguage in relation to teasing and (im)politeness. In: 14th International Pragmatics Conference, Antwerp, Belgium, (). 26-31 July 2015.
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“What is she doing with those people?” Group membership and humour in reality TV
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2015). “What is she doing with those people?” Group membership and humour in reality TV. In: 7th Lodz Symposium: New Developments in Linguistic Pragmatics, Lodz, Poland, (). 12-14 April 2015.
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"I’m just being polite": Performing mateship and kinship in Big Brother Australia and UK
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2014). "I’m just being polite": Performing mateship and kinship in Big Brother Australia and UK. In: 8th International Conference on Politeness, Huddersfield, UK, (). 9-11 July 2014.
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2014). “There’s definitely gonna be some serious carnage in this house” or how to be genuinely impolite in Big Brother UK. In: Sixth International Symposium on Intercultural, Cognitive and Social Pragmatics (EPICS VI), Seville, Spain, (). 12-14 May 2014.
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Backstage Impoliteness: 'Everything he says to me it's like he stabs me in the face'
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2013). Backstage Impoliteness: 'Everything he says to me it's like he stabs me in the face'. In: 13th International Pragmatics Conference, New Delhi, India, (). 8-13 September 2013.
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2013). ‘I think that now you think it’s funny to be rude to people’: Aussies, Big Brother and some serious laughing matters. In: LAFAL 3, Lodz, Poland, (). 21-23 March 2013.
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‘It’s not all that easy’: (Im)politeness in teasing
Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2012). ‘It’s not all that easy’: (Im)politeness in teasing. In: 6th Lodz Symposium New Developments in Linguistic Pragmatics (NDLP2012), Lodz, Poland, (). 26-28 May 2012.
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Sinkeviciute, Valeria (2011). Indirect FTAs: A Cross-Cultural Study of Implicatures and Inferences in Off-record Politeness Strategies. In: Fourth International BAAHE Conference, Brussels, Belgium, (). 1-3 December 2011.
