Semiotic Organization of Russian Environmental Internet Memes

Abstract

In this article, the authors examine Russian environmental internet memes, presented on social networks such as VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, and on websites like Memepedia, Pikabu, and A. Chistopashin’s site. They have developed a set of criteria relevant for the analysis of environmental internet memes as complex linguistic and semiotic formations. The aim of the study was to identify the specific features of the semiotic organization of environmental internet memes and establish the dominant semiotic code that determines the conceptual content of the meme. It is shown that the Russian-speaking segment of environmental communication through memes has its own thematic and genre specificity. Environmental internet memes usually rely on the use of media semiotic codes, where the meme includes both text and illustration. Less frequently, memes are created based on narrative semiotic codes, where the visual component illustrates the beginning, climax, or end of a story. The verbal component is dominant when borrowing viral visual templates. The main stylistic device in environmental internet memes, alongside irony and the effect of false expectation, is linguistic play. Semiotic analysis of internet memes has shown that the combination of verbal and visual signs is typical for the media segment of environmental internet communication.