A Cognitive Linguistics approach to internet memes on selected Polish internet sites

Abstract

A Cognitive Linguistics approach to internet memes on selected Polish internet sitesThe present study aims to analyse selected internet memes as examples of social communication from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics, and to examine more closely the relation between their visual and verbal aspects. Internet memes contain a wide range of constructions (necessary for rebuilding the semantic framework and extracting selected content), which are fragmentary but at the same time sufficient to induce a whole framework of meanings by using their salient features. The multimodal context is considered within the frameworks of conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), construal (Langacker, 1987, 2008), frame semantics (Fillmore, 1988), conceptual blending theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002) and Discourse Viewpoint Space (Dancygier & Vandelanotte, 2016). The paper will present an analysis of the structure of internet memes, which are rich concepts that spread rapidly and widely, and also invite recipients to actively participate in the construction of the message, thus becoming contributors. Memy internetowe na wybranych polskich stronach internetowych. Podejście językoznawstwa kognitywnegoMemy są często bogatymi tworami, łączącymi konstrukcje i zabiegi językowe z elementami wizualnymi, które pomimo bycia jedynie cząstkowymi desygnatami, pozwalają na wydobycie ram semantycznych oraz zrozumienie określonych treści z często fragmentarycznego przekazu obrazka. Przyswojenie komunikatu odbywa się przy pomocy wybranych elementów językowych i ikonicznych osadzonych w kontekście multimodalnym.Celem artykułu jest analiza relacji pomiędzy aspektem wizualnym i werbalnym w wybranych memach internetowych, rozumianych jako przykłady komunikacji społecznej, przy pomocy narzędzi językoznawczych, m.in. teorii metafory pojęciowej i metonimii (Lakoff i Johnson, 1980), obrazowania mentalnego (Langaker, 1987, 2008), semantyki ramowej (Fillmore, 1988), teorii amalgamatów pojęciowych (Fauconnier i Turner, 2002) oraz perspektywy narracyjnej (ang. Discourse Viewpoint Space) (Dancygier i Vandelanotte, 2016).

Battle of Narratives: Political Memes During the 2019 Ukrainian Presidential Election

“…Calimbo also provides qualitative research on political memes in the Phillipines, employing humour analysis (Calimbo, 2016). Moreover, popular Polish internet memes, including political memes, have been analysed from the perspective of cognitive linguistics (Ostanina-Olszewska & Majdzińska-Koczorowicz, 2019). In this paper, a qualitative method has been applied, referring to the most popular memes in Ukrainian politics and analysing their meanings and the contexts in which they were created.…”

A comparative linguistic analysis of internet memes in English, Polish and Ukrainian: specifics, functions and language means

“…Memes are studied as mass media content representing the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war (Ivanova et al, 2022). Additionally, memes and messages are considered a phenomenon of political influence that is hidden behind an entertainment form (Ostanina-Olszewska, Majdzińska-Koczorowicz, 2019;Petrenko et al, 2022). A particular interest is represented by studies that consider the meme as a linguistic phenomenon and the specifics of its perception by the audience, as well as its pragmatic aspects of creation and transformation (Dean, 2019;Akimova et al, 2022).…”

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“…One also should bear in mind that each meme's content is associated with different situations, because everyone's experiences are individual and unique, and humour is directly related to creativity (Ostanina-Olszewska & Majdzińska-Koczorowicz, 2019). This seems to be beneficial for students as the process of forming English grammatical competence is organized as a model of real communication, when participants try to solve real and imaginary tasks by means of a foreign language (Vovk, 2008, p. 5).…”

“…On this basis, there has been an increasing interest in multimodal learning strategies based on using multiple modes and their potential to improve student learning and motivation. The impact of multimodality on the educational process and integration of multimodal resources has thus become the focus of interest of many scholars (Lee, 2014;Van Leeuwen, 2015;Ostanina-Olszewska & Majdzińska-Koczorowicz, 2019;Varaporn & Shitthitikul, 2019;etc. ) including Ukrainian scientists (Vovk, 2008;Velushhak, 2021).…”