Meme Discourse as an Object of Linguocognitive Modelling

Introduction. The goal of this study is to gain new insights into meme discourse by reconstructing its linguocognitive model, based on the properties and characteristics of memes, relevant for Internet communicators. Methodology and sources. In order to reconstruct the meme-discourse model the authors combine the method of linguocognitive modelling with the technique of fragmenting the respondents' answers into motivational explications as units of measurement for the obtained data. The meme discourse model is based on the answers of 100 students at I.I. Polzunov Altai State Technical University – “Why do you use memes when communicating?” The choice of respondents is determined by their studying at the Faculty of Information Technology and being advanced Internet users. Results and discussion. Motivational explications of Internet users of why they resort to memes to communicate serve as language material for inferring cognitive foundations for using memes. The most significant cognitive foundation for the use of memes by communicators is the effectiveness of the impact they make (47.3 %). The second cognitive foundation is related to communication productivity: memes help to establish and maintain communication (20,9 %). The third one is the functionality of memes, which facilitates the transmission of content (17,1 %). The fourth one is the format suitable for conveying thoughts and feelings (14,7 %). Based on the concept of discourse, proposed by T. van Dijk and the reconstructed model the authors gain new insights into the nature of meme-discourse. Conclusion. The main conceptual conclusion regarding meme-discourse is that, as a complex communicative phenomenon, it appears to be an important component of socio-cultural interaction for its participants. Both the goal and the result of this interaction is to create a positive type of social context maintained and preserved through mutual understanding between the communicants. Memes facilitate finding common points of contact serving as a “package” of positive emotions for communicators’ thoughts and feelings. In this way communicants produce meme-discourse as an actual referential context to share their worldview.

Authors: Irina V. Rogozina, Nataliya Yu. Buhner

Direction: Linguistics

Keywords: meme-communication, meme-discourse, linguocognitive modelling, linguocognitive model, experimental study

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