Irony and sarcasm as communication strategies in memes

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive linguistic and pragmatic analysis of irony and sarcasm as key communication strategies that determine the functioning of Internet memes in a digital environment. The relevance of the work is due to the increasing role of memes in the formation of public discourse, the transformation of socio-political communication and everyday communication practices. The central issue of the research is the identification of the specifics and mechanisms of the realization of irony and sarcasm in the polycode nature of memes, as well as the definition of their pragmatic functions and viral potential. The methodological basis of the research is interdisciplinary, integrating the approaches of linguistics, communication, socio-cultural analysis and memetics. The theoretical foundation was formed by the concepts of both domestic and foreign scientists, which allowed us to consider the phenomenon from various scientific positions. To solve the tasks set, a set of methods was applied, including theoretical and methodological analysis, semiotic and linguopragmatic analysis (with an emphasis on verbal, visual components and their polycode interaction), intertextual, contextual and functional analysis, as well as the comparative method. The empirical basis was made up of a representative corpus of Internet memes selected to identify persistent patterns of irony and sarcasm. As a result of the conducted research, it was found that irony and sarcasm are the backbone elements of a meme, largely determining its potential and successful dissemination. Irony, understood as a strategy based on the interaction of explicitly positive and implicitly negative meanings, acts as a tool for mild criticism, mitigating communicative responsibility and creating a conditional game reality. Sarcasm is interpreted as the most acute form of irony, often implemented through the mechanism of echo-quoting and bringing to the point of absurdity, and serves to totally discredit and aesthetically destroy the object, acting as a strategy of open provocation. An important research result of the work was the identification and classification of four main mechanisms for the implementation of these strategies.