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Article published In:
English Text Construction
Vol. 10:1 (2017) ► pp.106–131
article

Multimodal simile

The “when” meme in social media discourse

| University of British Columbia |
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.
Keywords: cognitive linguistics, internet memes, multimodality, simile, viewpoint
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A short history of the “when” meme
  • 3.The “when” meme as a multimodal simile
  • 4.Multimodal broad-scope simile: Frame metonymy and reversibility
  • 5.Multimodal narrow-scope simile: A constellation of viewpoints
  • 6.Mimetic speech and performance
  • 7.The source-focused “when” meme
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Acknowledge
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 15 June 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/etc.10.1.06lou
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