
The Language of Memes
Patterns of Meaning Across Image and Text
Cambridge University Press
Published on 11. September 2025
Book
Hardback
266 pages
978-1-108-84435-2 (ISBN)
Description
Internet memes have been studied widely for their role in establishing and maintaining social relationships, and shaping public opinion, online. However, they are also a prominent and fast evolving multimodal genre, one which calls for an in-depth linguistic analysis. This book, the first of its kind, develops the analytical tools necessary to describe and understand contemporary 'image-plus-text' communication. It demonstrates how memes achieve meaning as multimodal artifacts, how they are governed by specific rules of composition and interpretation, and how such processes are driven by stance networks. It also defines a family of multimodal constructions in which images become structural components, while making language forms adjust to the emerging multimodal rules. Through analysis of several meme types, this approach defines the specificity of the memetic genre, describing established types, but also accounting for creative forms. In describing the 'grammar of memes', it provides a new model to approach multimodal genres.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
538 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-84435-2 (9781108844352)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Barbara Dancygier is Professor and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Lieven Vandelanotte is Francqui Research Professor at the University of Namur and a Research Fellow in linguistics at KU Leuven, Belgium.
Author
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
University of Namur, Belgium
Content
Abbreviations; 1. Why study memes from the linguistic perspective?; 2. Memes and multimodal figuration; 3. Image macro memes; 4. Labelling memes; 5. Memetic grids; 6. Memetic use of personal pronouns; 7. Say, tell and be like meme constructions; 8. Embedding discourse spaces without say verbs; 9. Memetic form and memetic meaning; 10. Memetic discourse on social media platforms; 11. Memes and advertising; 12. One does not simply draw a conclusion.