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The Linguistics of Memes
Dr. Will Styler
Content Warning
This lecture will discuss memes of all types
There will be some 'profane' language
There will be cursed memes
Aging warning
I'm doing my best, but I've been doing this since 2007
Today's Plan
What are memes?
Are memes language?
Why does that matter?
What are memes?
What is a "meme"?
A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.
'Meme' is multifaceted
Cultural concepts (e.g. ideas, practices, rituals)
Physical actions (e.g. dances, planking, rickrolling)
Language itself is memetic, by some definitions!
More 'memey' uses of meme
Phrases with codified meaning
"You love to see it"
"Kony 2012"
"We have 69 copies left." "Nice."
"F in the chat"
Uncaptioned but meme-y images
Captioned images
Videos and GIFs
We're going to focus on images today
In the modern, internet-focused definition of 'meme'
... but these same arguments could be made for videos, phrases, etc...
Are memes linguistic?
What makes language languagey?
There are many people who've talked about this!
There's not a consensus on exactly what makes Language language
... but there are a number of features which most folks agree on
If memes are language, they should fit these characteristics!
Language Characteristics
Semanticity
Arbitrariness of form and meaning
Speaker knowledge of grammaticality
Full productivity and creativity
Social transmission
Compositionality
Accomplishes linguistic functions (e.g. assertions, questions, commands, expressives)
Semanticity
Elements of language have meaning
The /-z/ suffix in 'memes' has a defined meaning
"Penguin" has a defined meaning
"I went to the park" has a defined meaning
Memes are meaningless
Memes have meaning
Arbitraryness
Arbitrariness of form and meaning
The meaning of ⛄ is closely related to its form, it is 'iconic'
The meaning of /kæt/ is not related to its form
In language, the relationship between form and meaning is arbitrary
Meme Iconicity
Memes are often strongly iconic
Relying on facial expressions
Photos of situations
The meaning of 'templates' is based on their image
Meanings are often grounded in specific cultural contexts
Memes can become more abstract and less iconic over time!
Some meanings require a bit more understanding
... but memes can become more abstract
Abstraction of memes
Many memes are iconic, but some templates and meme formats can approach arbitrariness!
Very concrete and iconic memes can detach from their forms
Content Warning: Miscarriage
Loss
Originally posted by the webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del
A very serious comic about the author and his wife losing a pregnancy
Loss
This comic was... strongly criticized
Didn't fit the tone of the strip
The dramatic element was widely considered to be poorly done
Vigorous parody began
Hiding 'Loss' references became a meme of itself
'Is this loss?'
Sharing disguised loss memes is a meme of its own
(and it's not one that's widely appreciated)
Loss memes have become very abstract
- Distant from the original iconic form of Loss
So, many meme templates are mostly iconic
Some require cultural or social knowledge
... and some have abstracted away from iconicity completely
This one's questionable for memes!
Grammaticality Judgements
Speakers of a language know 'correct' and 'incorrect' forms
There are 'conventions' which are by and large followed
"Mara went to the store with Darnell"
*"Somebody set up us the bomb. All your base are belong to us."
Memers know when memes are 'grammatical' and 'correct
Memes can be ungrammatical
Meme forms can be used incorrectly
Memes are able to be 'wrong'
Not cursed or 'bad', but not good uses of the form or template
These mirror linguistic grammaticality judgements of speakers
This one checks out!
Productivity and Creativity
Language is productive and creative
Language can produce an infinite set of meanings
Sub-elements of language can be recombined to produce new and different language
Language can be used to describe anything (given time!)
Memes are productive
Able to be adapted to new scenarios
Templates can be combined or re-used to create new memes
Memes can be combined to produce new memes
Memes are creative
New memes can be created for situations
'You've got a meme for everything'
New meme templates can always be born
... and the rest of the internet
Tiger King was released on March 20th, 2020
*
Images can go from 'funny image' to 'meme template' with repeated use
- This is referred to as 'lexicalization' when it happens to words
Memes can be used to describe any situation
... and new memes can be generated to fill in any gaps
Memes are both creative and productive
Traditional Transmission
Language is learned from others' language use
Our language is dictated by the language we're exposed to
Cultural knowledge is included
Our language represents our social groups
Memes are transmitted traditionally
Memes are culturally and socially specific
Memes spread within subcultures before reaching 'mainstream'
We can tell facts about people from their meme choices
Some memes need in-group knowledge to be understood
Memes from Will's Era
Boomer memes
Memes can 'index' certain identities and social affiliations
Memes often need in-group knowledge
Memes have traditional transmission
They are learned from other meme users
They are bundled with and index sociocultural information
Your upbringing and environment play a strong role in determining how you use and understand them
Yup, that's languagey!
Compositionality
Language is compositional
Larger wholes are made up of smaller parts, each contributing part of the meaning
'Unlockable' (un+lock+able)
"I'm never gonna give you up."
Memes are compositional
The captions themselves carry meaning (duh)
Meme templates carry meaning too!
Other stylistic elements can carry meaning
Meme template meaning
Changing ONLY the template changes the meaning
Minimal pairs are possible
Mememes?
Meme style cues have meaning in isolation too
Memes are compositional!
They're evaluable in terms of many components, each contributing meaning
These meaning components are productive, and can be re-used elsewhere
Linguistic Functions
Language accomplishes functions
We can make simple assertive sentences
"The duck quacked at his bae"
We can ask questions
"Who posted the loss meme?"
We can issue directives
"Declare a LING major."
We can express our feelings
"I'm confused by deep fried memes"
We can change things about the world
"I sentence you to ten hours of community service"
Memes can make simple assertions
Memes can ask questions
Memes can issue directives
Memes can express our feelings
Memes can change things about the world
Memes can accomplish the same purposes as language!
- Boy, it sure seems like...
Memes have almost all of the characteristics of language!
- Why do we care?
Linguistics can help us understand memes!
Most subfields have meme-related questions!
Phonology/Phonotactics
What form elements can co-occur? What's not a legal combination
Morphology
What are the correspondences between meme form and meaning?
How do memes go from funny pictures to productive chunks of meaning and form?
Semantics
How do we describe the meaning of memes?
Pragmatics
What effects do context and discourse have on meme meaning?
Meme Linguistics continued!
Sociolinguistics
What does meme use tell us about people's social life?
How are memes used to index social identity?
Conversation and Discourse Analysis
What roles do memes play in advancing conversations and discourse?
Translation theory
Can a meme be translated effectively into another language or culture?
Can memes be made into text?
Diachronic Linguistics
How do memes change over time?
Do memes follow the same patterns as language?
All that time you've spent on a linguistics degree will also help you study memes
Wrapping up
Memes are bits of cultural information which are spread from person to person
They share many of the properties often attributed to conventional signed and spoken language
Linguistic tools and methods are useful for their analysis
In summary
Acknowledgements
Thanks to LingUA at UCSD
Thanks to the Linguistically Informed Memery Crew
Thanks to Lolcats, for getting me started
