This paper analyzes the “when” meme, a popular internet meme, which prototypically juxtaposes a
when clause with an ostensibly unrelated image. Despite the initial incongruity, I contend this image prompts selective
mapping between verbal and visual elements to produce a multimodal simile. First, I attempt to define and more clearly distinguish simile
from metaphor. Second, I show how this multimodal simile exhibits unique viewpoint mapping by prompting audiences to subsume viewpoints that
are both unfamiliar and bizarre. Third, I connect the like construction in simile with the like reported
speech marker to show how both concepts are intimately related. Ultimately, the paper seeks to contribute to studies of simile by bolstering
its ties with multimodality, blending, metonymy, viewpoint, and embodiment.
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Khustenko, A. A.
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Chagas, Vicktor
2020. Da memética aos estudos sobre memes: uma revisão da literatura concernente ao campo nas últimas cinco décadas (1976-2019). In A cultura dos memes: aspectos sociológicos e dimensões políticas de um fenômeno do mundo digital, ► pp. 23 ff.
2018. Internet-Memes als Zugang zu multimodalen Konstruktionen. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Linguistik 2018:69 ► pp. 1 ff.
Lugea, Jane
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