ЛАТИНСЬКА МОВА В ІНТЕРНЕТ-МЕМАХ: НОВА КОМУНІКАТИВНА ФУНКЦІЯ

Abstract

The article is devoted to the research of Internet memes as universally precedential cultural phenomena, to determining Latin special role in the construction and functioning of virtual memes. Latin Internet memes are considered as emotionally colored units of cultural information the first source of which are different elements of the knowledge of Latin that are copied and disseminated among Internet users during communication as a text (inscription, reference) or as a text and an icon part (drawing, photo, table). On the base of new virtual units of communication the functions of memes in Internet communication were determined, in particular: game, representative, communicative, phatic, integrative, affective. Local Latin Internet memes served as the material for the research placed on English sites “Classic Latin Memes”, “Dank Latin Memes”, as well as on Russian site “Latine masculino”. Dead Latin within Internet memes renews its communicative function and gains more popularity in the Internet space thanks to its perception as “prestigious” language of communication. By style the majority of Latin Internet memes are ironically marked and motivating, though demotivating memes are also possible. The goal of motivating memes is “to revive”, modernize archaic Latin and make it more accessible and attractive in order to encourage the focus audience to study it. Internet communication via memes’ mediation represents complex mental processes, when the user has not only to perceive a background picture and decode (translate) Latin text, but also to comprehend cultural connotations and associative links which result in comic effect during memes’ perception. The research of Latin Internet memes in pragmatic, communicative and cognitive aspects is of positive perspective both from synchronic and diachronic points of view, since it presents new opportunities for the study of modern evolutionary processes in the history of ancient language, reveals a mechanism of decoding cultural information, contributes to the development of Internet linguistics.