POLYCODICITY OF INTERNET MEMES: LINGUOCOGNITIVE AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC ASPECTS (BASED ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE MATERIAL)

Abstract

This article examines the polycode features of internet memes as one of the most widespread genres of modern digital communication and analyses the linguocognitive and sociolinguistic aspects of their functioning in the English-speaking environment. In the second half of the 20th – early 21st century, the field of linguistics has increasingly focused on the study of complex semiotic formations in which different communication channels interact. This is due to the growing interest in interdisciplinary approaches that allow text to be viewed not merely as a linguistic object but as a multidimensional system where verbal and non-verbal codes are combined. Contemporary scholars emphasise that the traditional conception of text as an exclusively verbal phenomenon is rather narrow and does not correspond to the realities of the digital age. This approach is no longer capable of explaining the specificity of emerging forms of communication that arise in the globalised information space and are actively disseminated through internet technologies and social media. Texts are increasingly acquiring a polycode nature, that is, combining heterogeneous codes: linguistic, visual, acoustic, graphic, and so on. Such multimodal formations create particular conditions for perception and interpretation, as meaning emerges through the interaction of different channels rather than within a single linguistic level. This is conditioned by the fact that information society tends toward economy of time and resources in data transmission, and therefore strives for the integration of multiple ways of presenting meaning in one message. In this context, internet memes constitute a telling object for analysis, as they are a typical example of polycode text that combines verbal elements with visual and sociocultural markers. Their popularity attests to a shift in communication models: from linear presentation of information to integrated forms where cultural intertextuality plays an important role. The study of the polycode nature of internet memes allows not only for a deeper understanding of contemporary processes of linguistic and social dynamics, but also outlines prospects for further research in the fields of cognitive linguistics, semiotics, and sociolinguistics.