CURRICULUM VITAE

BIOGRAPHY

Najah Zainal Abidin is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. She specialises in pragmatics and discourse analysis, with a focus on language use in social media. Her research explores online aggressive language and the role of linguistic expression in shaping identity and power structures.

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION

PhD, (Pragmatics)
Universiti Malaya (UM)
MLing, (Linguistics)
Universiti Malaya (UM)
B.HumScEngLang&Lit, (Linguistics)
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES

Graduate Employability (Postgraduate)
01 May 2025 - 30 Apr 2027 (University Malaya)
Asean University Network Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) Self-Assessment Report
02 Feb 2025 - 01 Feb 2026 (Faculty)
UM-KPT PACE
12 Jul 2023 - 11 Jul 2024 (University Malaya)

MEMBERSHIPS

INTERNATIONAL PRAGMATICS ASSOCIATION (IPRA), MEMBER
2025 to 2025 (International)
INTERNATIONAL PRAGMATICS ASSOCIATION (IPRA), MEMBER
2023 to 2024 (International)

AWARD AND STEWARDSHIP

Certificate of Excellent Service
2025, Universiti Malaya

PUBLICATIONS

Article in Journal

WoS

Zainal Abidin, Najah (2026). Comedy out of tragedy: impoliteness as a ritual of entertainment, JOURNAL OF POLITENESS RESEARCH-LANGUAGE BEHAVIOUR CULTURE. . doi:10.1515/pr-2023-0047

ESCI

Abidin, Najah Zainal; Samaha, Hanaa; Zulkarnain, Nur Azwin (2025). "Dajjal (False Messiah) Fried Chicken": Impolite Judgment as a Tool for Moral Accountability, HOWARD JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATIONS. . doi:10.1080/10646175.2025.2521079
How, Cherish; Abidin, Najah Zainal; Zulkarnain, Nur Azwin (2025). "Your funny don't land": impoliteness and resonance in YouTube comments towards a stand-up comedian, TEXTO LIVRE-LINGUAGEM E TECNOLOGIA. 18. doi:10.1590/1983-3652.2025.58180
Abidin, Najah Zainal; Lowe, Veronica; Jan, Jariah Mohd (2023). Evasion in Malaysian Parliamentary Question Time, PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES. 31(3), 1079-1097. doi:10.47836/pjssh.31.3.09

Scopus

Zainal Abidin N. (2026). Comedy out of tragedy: impoliteness as a ritual of entertainment, Journal of Politeness Research. 22(1), 133-157. doi:10.1515/pr-2023-0047
How C., Abidin N.Z., Zulkarnain N.A. (2025). Your funny don t land : impoliteness and resonance in YouTube comments towards a stand-up comedian, Texto Livre. 18. doi:10.1590/1983-3652.2025.58180
Zainal Abidin N., Samaha H., Zulkarnain N.A. (2025). Dajjal (False Messiah) Fried Chicken : Impolite Judgment as a Tool for Moral Accountability, Howard Journal of Communications. . doi:10.1080/10646175.2025.2521079
Abidin N.Z., Lowe V., Jan J.M. (2023). Evasion in Malaysian Parliamentary Question Time, Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. 31(3), 1079-1097. doi:10.47836/pjssh.31.3.09

Other Publications

The Star. (2025, December 9). The hidden cost of ‘rage bait’. https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2025/12/09/the-hidden-cost-of-rage-bait - Mass Media(newspaper,radio,tv,popular Magazine)
Zainal Abidin, N. (2025, December 10). The Hidden Cost Of Rage Bait. BERNAMA. https://www.bernama.com/en/thoughts/news.php?id=2500443 - Mass Media(newspaper,radio,tv,popular Magazine)
Zainal Abidin, N. (2025, December 7). Five-step guide to break cycle of online hostility. New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters/2025/12/1333186/five-step-guide-break-cycle-online-hostility - Mass Media(newspaper,radio,tv,popular Magazine)
Zainal Abidin, N. (2025, December 7). The hidden cost of rage bait. Malay Mail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2025/12/07/the-hidden-cost-of-rage-bait-najah-zainal-abidin/201041 - Mass Media(newspaper,radio,tv,popular Magazine)
Zainal Abidin, N. (2025, December 8). Hidden cost of rage bait. The Sun Malaysia. https://thesun.my/opinion/hidden-cost-of-rage-bait/ - Mass Media(newspaper,radio,tv,popular Magazine)
Zainal Abidin, N. N.-R. (2025, August 27). Not every issue is about race. Malay Mail. https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2025/08/27/not-every-issue-is-about-race-nur-najah-radhiah-zainal-abidin/189042 - Mass Media(newspaper,radio,tv,popular Magazine)

RESEARCH INTEREST

Pragmatics ((Im)politeness, hate speech, incitement (racial, religious violence), evasive language, giving and taking offenses, jocular mockery, jocular flattery, humor)
Discourse Analysis (Language and politics, language and gender, language and society, language and power)
Appraisal Theory (Affect, judgement, appreciation)

RESEARCH PROJECT

National

2023 - 2025, Bantuan Khas Penyelidikan (BKP Special)
Between the Lines: Unravelling Hate Speech in Malaysia ( Principal Investigator(PI))

International

2025 - 2026, International Funding
Deconstructing The Discourse Of Contemporary Global Counter-terrorism: A Multimodal Critical Analysis Of Uncct Reports ( Co-Researcher)

University

2025 - 2027, Bantuan Khas Penyelidikan (BKP Special)
The Language Trap: Forensic Stylometry for Authorship Attribution in Malaysian Cybercrime ( Co-Researcher)
2025 - 2026, University Grant
(De)legitimation of feminine masculinity in mainstream English newspapers in China ( Principal Investigator(PI))