Multimodal figuration in internet memes (original) (raw)

Internet memes have become an essential part of Internet-based communication in recent years. Considering the importance of figuration of language, instances of figuration in Internet memes are no surprise. Understanding how multimodal figuration in memes function is essential to comprehend memes in general. Thus, in this paper, I will look at the role that figurative language plays in memes and how it functions. To do so, I will begin with Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) before shifting to multimodal cases of metaphor. I will also examine the case of multimodal metonymy and multimodal simile to determine how each figure functions in Internet memes, highlighting the importance of figurative combinations. Early results showed that figuration in memes is often combined (e.g., simile and metaphor), leading to categorization issues when studying figuration and multimodal figuration in Internet memes.