INTERNET MEME AS A PHENOMENON OF MODERN MEDIA DISCOURSE: STYLISTIC-PRAGMATIC ASPECT

Abstract

The article deals with the German creolized memes of recent years, dedicated to prominent political figures and events, selected by continuous sampling on various Internet platforms and social networks (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook). Modern linguistics focuses on the study of language as a communication tool and the study of verbal structures in accordance with the conditions in which they function. Language means are considered in their purpose to solve specific pragmatic tasks and achieve specific communicative goals, which predetermines the study of not only the structure of language units but also their participation in real communication. The media environment as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon is now not just an area for the creation and consumption of an information product, but also a space, where the information needs of a modern linguistic personality are met, certain life guidelines and values are created. In the digital plane of the media sphere guidelines, trends, and methods of genre organization are formed during the textual transmission of information in a virtual coordinate system, where the new means of transmitting ideas about reality, norms, and problems are approved. The relevance of the article is due to the need to study the linguistic picture of the world of a modern German person and the present German authorities, captured in the digital plane in the format of a meme – a standardized and integral unit of Internet communication in the German-speaking infosphere. The purpose of the study is to highlight the structural features and stylistically pragmatic potential of Internet memes through the prism of their contextual transformation and conversion into elements of ideological influence in modern German-language media discourse. The use of Internet memes in the political sphere stimulates citizens to be more active and interested in various political events, suggests the support of certain political forces. Purposeful creation of such memes is characterized by a clearly expressed ideological goal: influence on the consciousness of members of society and their involvement in a communicative discussion in the vast virtual information space.