Raevskaya A.M., Zyryanova E.S.
MEME AS AN INDEPENDENT LINGUISTIC PHENOMENON AND A STYLISTIC DEVICE *
Аннотация:
This article discusses one of the most popular and poorly studied phenomena of the Internet culture, meme. The author suggests that a meme today can be considered as an independent linguistic phenomenon and, what is more, a stylistic device alongside the others, such as simile, irony, metaphor etc. The concept of a stylistic device was compared with the nature of internet memes. Some examples were described. The results let the author state that internet memes can be called the modern stylistic devices
Ключевые слова:
internet meme, stylistic device, linguistics
A meme is the modern phenomenon which has its roots, perhaps, even in Ancient times. The very first meme was probably created by a caveman, and now the cyclic history takes us back to the need to transfer the information by a picture. There is the only strong difference. Since we are able to read and write today, just a picture does not correspond to our interests, memes acquired a new function, which is humor. The effect that a meme has on ‘a consumer’ is reached by various means. So here the stylistic devices appear, such as irony, sarcasm, simile etc. However, provided that memes have a unique form, style and history of development, can we consider it as an independent linguistic phenomenon and, what is more, the modern stylistic device? The aim of this article is to prove the belonging of memes to the group of stylistic devices. To reach this aim we have several challenges: to explain the notion of meme; to give definition to a stylistic device; to analyze memes’ stylistic features and devices; to prove that a unique transference of meaning characteristic for a stylistic device is reached in a meme as well; to prove that the concept of meme fits the concept of stylistic device. The meme concept was coined in 1976 by the biologist Richard Dawkins in his book ‘The Selfish Gene’. He considered the term meme as a Darwinian, gene-centered approach to cultural evolution, defining it as ‘the unit of cultural transmission’. Dawkins defines meme based on the notion of replicator (applied to culture). This ‘molecule’ acts as a template, and has the capability of creating copies of itself [1, p. 15]. Thus, meme can be regarded as a unit of transmission that can replicate itself by means of imitation. Similar to gene meme is able to transmit information ‘from body to body’, in this case ‘from mind to mind’. Since those times, due to the expansion of the computer usage and the rapid growth of the Internet, the concept of meme has gone beyond the academic definition. The recent research reckons these new memes as Internet Memes. Carlos Díaz provides us with the opinion of the cognitive scientist Dan Sperber. He understands meme as a synonym of cultural replicators, which have a representational basis, such as symbols and associations in the human mind. The author highlights three main kinds of representations: the mental representations (beliefs), which are internal to the subject; the public representations (paintings), which are external to the subject; and the cultural representations, understood as a moral attitude within a social group [2]. So we can draw the line and say that these characteristics are preserved in the modern concept of meme. The Internet meme has visual symbols which induce associations in our mind and we analyze them from a moral point of view according to our social belonging. First of all, we ought to make a definition of stylistic device (SD) and then to extract specific criteria according to which it would be possible to analyze memes to prove it can be defined as SD. To identify and illustrate the terms that are the features of a stylistic device I highlight that bold. I. R. Galperin gives the following definition of SD: a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structural and/or semantic property of a language unit (neutral or expressive) prompted to a generalized status and thus becoming a generative model, … SD is an abstract pattern, a mould into which any content can be poured.
Номер журнала Вестник науки №5 (14) том 1
Ссылка для цитирования:
Raevskaya A.M., Zyryanova E.S. MEME AS AN INDEPENDENT LINGUISTIC PHENOMENON AND A STYLISTIC DEVICE // Вестник науки №5 (14) том 1. С. 5 - 11. 2019 г. ISSN 2712-8849 // Электронный ресурс: https://www.вестник-науки.рф/article/1185 (дата обращения: 26.04.2024 г.)
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