INTERNET MEMES IN REAL LIFE AND INTERNET CONVERSATIONS ABSTRACT

INTERNET MEMES IN REAL LIFE AND INTERNET CONVERSATIONS
Yap Yee Sheng [e-mail] Sultan Idris University of Education, Malaysia
Abstract

With the evolution of time and the internet, it is almost impossible to miss any reference to internet memes when one is at leisure on the internet. This growing trend has in fact become a part of modern language and society as a whole, especially among the younger generations. An Internet meme is a cultural phenomenon that spreads from one person to another online. A meme spread online could be just about anything that is voluntarily shared, including phrases, images, rumors and audio or video files. An Internet meme might originate from and stay online. Memes, however, frequently cross over and may spread from the offline world to online or vice-versa. This study endeavors to discover the perception of the public on the appropriacy and acceptability of using or referencing internet memes in real life or internet conversations with different groups of people including friends, family, and strangers. Questionnaires were distributed at random to respondents via Google Forms to identify the use of internet memes in their conversations as well as their knowledge on the function(s) of certain internet memes. The findings show that it is less or highly unacceptable to use or reference internet memes when conversing with older people, whereas as for those who are younger or of the same age, the acceptability of using or referencing internet memes is higher. The findings also reveal the perception of the respondents on using or referencing internet memes in daily conversations and the extent internet memes have impacted on modern language. The study serves as a platform to study the knowledge of the functions of internet memes. Keywords: Internet memes, real life and internet conversations, modern language