Speakers
Description
In this introduction to the seminar, we explore our overall theme: the use of English, often alongside images and emoji, in examples of various types of metadiscourse ‘in’ social media – self-reflexive forms of the discourse itself – but also ‘on’ or ‘about’ social media – i.e. discussions that emerge in society on social media usage. We offer discussion and sample analyses of both dimensions. The first dimension covers so-called meta-memes or ‘memes about memes’, including deliberate blends of different, normally incongruent memes, or examples which break the ‘fourth wall’. It also covers various platform-specific practices which direct and regulate online readers’ attention (cf. Hyland 2005, D'Angelo et al. 2021), including ‘quote-tweeting’ (which the ‘quoted’ may object to: ‘why don’t you just reply like a normal person’), ‘snitch tagging’ (explicitly tagging someone to alert them to the fact they are being discussed, typically unfavourably), and the use of ‘alt text’ to describe appended images verbally (potentially adding ironic commentary that goes beyond description). As to the second dimension – discussions, by commentators and lay people alike, of specific instances of social media usage – one need only think of cases such as US entrepreneur Elon Musk publicly proclaiming “I am become meme”, or a White House spokesperson (commenting on a digitally altered image put out by the White House) commenting that “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue.”