Author(s)

Zhang Jinhang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of English, Xi'an International Studies University, Xi'an, China

Corresponding Author

Zhang Jinhang

ABSTRACT

An internet meme "shushu (mousie)" went viral in Chinese social media platform. A sociolinguistic research based on two internet social media platforms for young people: Little Red Book and Bilibili was carried out with the aim of figuring out the formation, manifestations and applications of the internet meme "shushu". Memetics was applied for a qualitative study and a questionnaire survey was adopted for a quantative study as a complement. With linguistic preconditions and people's demand for expression and group identity, young people constructed a positive and humorous virtual identity through internet meme "shushu", and the most application of the meme "shushu" nowadays is for fun. Additionally, through a diachronic discussion about the formation of "shushu", a deviation between the original use and people's real application nowadays has been recognized, demonstrating the change of language meaning through interaction. Hope this article could bring some implications for the study of internet meme and human online behavior.

KEYWORDS

Internet meme; Virtual identity; Group identity; Memetics

CITE THIS PAPER

Zhang Jinhang, A Sociolinguistic Research of an Internet Meme "shushu (mousie)". Lecture Notes on Language and Literature (2024) Vol. 7: 197-202. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/langl.2024.070529.

REFERENCES

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