One cannot escape them, because they are everywhere. There is scarcely a day without one coming across them. They are a humorous picture, a witty message or a funny video you find on the internet. They are in our newsfeed, on our message boards or in personal messages from our friends. These sources of entertainment seem to be by now an important element of today’s web society and there is a huge number of image boards like 9gag.com, or reddit.com, which have no other purpose than satisfying our needs for these sources of entertainment. Even a growing number of newspapers have started to include this type of content in their online platforms. A term that is often used to describe this accumulation of different visual entities is the term “memes”, but this term is vague and ambiguous, and it it does not specifically say what kind of phenomena are included in it.
This bachelor thesis is an attempt to establish these phenomena labelled as memes as valuable objects for linguistic studies. It will glance at several linguistic theories and check their relevance for analysing image macros as representatives for memes in general. Finally, it will analyse image macros by using the frame semantic framework, thus integrating the former accomplished insights in one theoretic framework with only a few central terms. This will support the thesis that frame semantics is capable of describing the patterns of encyclopaedic knowledge needed in order to understand complex bimodal entities.
Table of Content
1. Introduction
2. The Term Meme
2.1. Origin and Meaning in the Context of Internet-Based Communication
2.2. Examples for Memes on the Internet
3. Image Macros as Language-Image-Texts
4. Communication Forms of Memes
5. Humour in Memes
6. Frame Semantics – Theory and Keywords
7. Analysing Image Macros with Frame Semantics
7.1. The Image Macro Form Frame
7.2. The Good Guy Greg Content Frame
7.3. The Humorous Attitude Frame
8. Conclusion
Objectives & Core Topics
This thesis investigates memes as valuable objects for linguistic analysis, specifically focusing on image macros as representatives of internet-based memetic communication. The primary goal is to establish a unified theoretical framework using frame semantics to describe how these complex, bimodal entities are constructed, understood, and perceived as humorous by users.
- The linguistic classification of memes and their evolution from Richard Dawkins' original concept.
- Application of Stöckl’s language-image-link theory to define image macros as cohesive texts.
- Analysis of communicative properties using Dürscheid’s model to explain memetic remediation.
- Examination of humorous mechanisms through Alexander Brock’s incongruity model.
- Integration of frame semantics (frames, slots, fillers, and default values) to analyze the structure of Good Guy Greg memes.
Excerpt from the Book
2.1. Origin and Meaning in the Context of Internet-Based Communication
The term “meme” is a coinage of the English ethologist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. Dawkins invented the term meme in “an attempt at drawing tenuous analogical relationships between cultural and biological phenomena” (Rossolatos 2015: 132). While in biology information is inherited via genes, the counterpart in culture, according to Dawkins, is a meme, which he describes as “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation” (Dawkins 2006: 192). There are two relevant points made in this quote. Firstly, the existence of units of cultural transmission, which Dawkins calls “memes”. Secondly, that these memes are also units of imitation in a way that they “propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation” (Dawkins 2006: 192). Albeit it is arguable to interpret an analogy between biological heredity and cultural one, the term meme as a cultural unit of heredity is a rather “useful heuristic for interpreting how cultural phenomena merge, propagate, and perish” (Rossolatos 2015: 132), particularly when discussing internet-based communication.
The internet offers many examples where “messages propagate virally” (Rossolatos 2015: 132) and by imitation, these are two central aspects of Dawkin’s concept of memes. Thus, it is not surprising that in the mid-seventies developed this terminology experienced a renaissance in the context of internet-based communication. “The internet and its various applications provide an ideal environment for large-scale meme distribution, as digital memes can propagate both quickly and accurately.” (Heylighen in Shifman 2011: 3). Nevertheless, the meaning of the word “meme” is far away from Dawkin’s analogy for cultural heredity. In fact, the term is rather ambiguous and does not have an exact meaning (Shifman 2014: 14). Only a few studies tackle this phenomenon of internet-based communication and researchers of different disciplines have just started to consider it an object of their studies.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the ubiquity of memes in modern web society and defines the thesis’s objective to validate memes as objects for linguistic study through frame semantics.
2. The Term Meme: Explores the origins of the term "meme" from Dawkins' biological analogy to its current usage as an umbrella term for internet-based visual content.
3. Image Macros as Language-Image-Texts: Utilizes Stöckl’s theories to categorize image macros as multi-modal texts that can be analyzed linguistically.
4. Communication Forms of Memes: Applies Dürscheid’s six communication properties to explain how memes function and how they undergo remediation across different media.
5. Humour in Memes: Introduces Alexander Brock’s incongruity model to explain the mechanics of humor found within image macro series.
6. Frame Semantics – Theory and Keywords: Provides the theoretical foundation of frame semantics, defining key terms such as frames, slots, fillers, and default values.
7. Analysing Image Macros with Frame Semantics: Synthesizes the previous chapters by applying frame semantic vocabulary to analyze the structure of the "Good Guy Greg" meme series.
8. Conclusion: Summarizes the findings and confirms that frame semantics is a successful approach for analyzing the knowledge patterns required to understand complex memes.
Key Terms
Memes, Image Macros, Frame Semantics, Internet-Based Communication, Remediation, Incongruity, Humour, Good Guy Greg, Linguistic Studies, Bimodal Entities, Slots, Fillers, Default Values, Communication Forms, Stöckl.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this thesis?
The thesis focuses on analyzing internet memes, particularly image macros, using linguistic and cognitive theories to understand how they are structured and perceived.
What are the central thematic fields?
The central fields include frame semantics, humor studies, communication theory, and the analysis of language-image-links in digital media.
What is the main research question?
The research explores whether frame semantics provides a suitable framework to describe the patterns of encyclopaedic knowledge needed to understand complex, bimodal memetic entities.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author uses a qualitative, analytical approach, integrating Stöckl’s language-image analysis, Dürscheid’s communication form properties, and Brock’s incongruity-based humor model under the overarching umbrella of frame semantics.
What topics are discussed in the main part?
The main part covers the historical and conceptual origins of the "meme," formal aspects of image macro construction, the role of remediation in content transfer, and a detailed frame semantic analysis of the "Good Guy Greg" stock character series.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
The work is defined by terms such as Frame Semantics, Memetics, Image Macros, Remediation, and Incongruity.
How does the author define a "meme" in this context?
The author uses "meme" as an umbrella term for popular, entertaining digital entities—like GIFs, videos, and image macros—that spread through imitation and re-contextualization, moving beyond the original biological definition provided by Richard Dawkins.
What is the role of "Good Guy Greg" in the analysis?
Good Guy Greg serves as the primary case study for the frame semantic analysis, demonstrating how the interplay between stable visual elements (the "form frame") and variable captions (the "content frame") creates expectations that are broken to produce humor.
How is the "remediation" of memes explained?
Remediation is described as the process of adapting content across different communication forms (e.g., from a YouTube video to a Buzzfeed article using GIFs and text) to suit the technical needs and constraints of the user's internet environment.
- Citar trabajo
- Niels Brause (Autor), 2016, Memes in Frame-Semantic Perspective, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/354247
