LANGUAGE, VISUAL IMAGERY AND CORONAVIRUS MOTIVATED HUMOUR ON THE SOCIAL MEDIA: A CRITICAL- SEMIOTIC STUDY

Abstract

The social media has witnessed a frenzy and influx of discourses from the broad street and world street because of the novel Coronavirus which has infected and killed many people world over. In Nigeria, the ways in which news of the virus is framed communicate ideological meanings which have a range of effects on the readers particularly on social media. Nigerians have taken the issue of Covid-19 pandemics as a form of humour so as to release their stress and tension of the agony which is relatively new. This paper therefore investigates humour that reflect the social, economic and health challenges in Nigeria shared through the social media in order to identify CMH as a form of humour through which real-life experiences of other people can be understood. Insights are drawn from Kress’ Critical Semiotic theory to analyse a total of ten (10) purposively selected humour on Coronavirus from social media, specifically Whatsapp and Facebook. The study found that the pictures are framed using both episodic and thematic framing. These frames are interlarded with pregnant ideological meaning(s) as to warn corrupt and inefficient leaders in Nigeria, particularly on health facilities in the country. Also, the paper concludes that humours do not only make people laugh, but also comment on certain societal maladies that finger the minds of Nigerian citizens.