Computer Mediated Communication

“HOW WOULD YOU MEME THIS”:

IDENTITY CONSTUCTION ON INSTAGRAM
MEME COMMENTARIES
(PILOT STUDY)

Udiana Puspa Dewi

Outline of the Research
• The focus of the research
– The application of linguistics resources used by the
Instagram users in meme commentaries to construct
and perform humorous identity.
• Data and Source of Data
1. Source of Data : 9gag instagram account
2. Data
- Instagram commentaries and interactions (reply
within a commentary) in 9gag (most recent and
popular post from September 2018 to January
2019).
- The popularity of the post is indicated through the
Instagram user reaction toward the post (the
number of like and commentaries).
 Computer Mediated Discourse
• Four dimensions of language in social nerworking sites
(SNS) and content sharing sites (CSS) (Androutsopoulos,
2010: 211)
Identity in Online Discourse
(Yus, 2011: 23)
 Studies on Linguistic Resources
in Online Identity Construction
1. Vàsques (2014)
– Identities constructed through user-generated
online reviews in TripAdvisor website.
– It reveals that reviewers may construct genre-
specific types of identity related to their travel
expertise by using various linguistics resources
such as humour or cultural references to perform
identities of who they are or, at least, who they
believe they are.
2. Locher and Bolander (2015)
– The use of humour as means of identity
construction in Facebook focus group interaction.
– It explores how linguistic identities are constructed
through the act of positioning within humourous
strategies and the reaction to the statement
produced by the Facebook users.
 Applying Online Identity Construction
Instagram commentary interactions

ONLINE IDENTITY
Online identity is mainly perceived based on
what people say about themselves and how
they behave with others.
(Wood and Smith (2005)

Focus of Study:
Data:
Linguistic INTERACTIONAL HUMOUR
Humorous
Resources in commentaries Interactional humour is a complex
Constructing within the
discursive sequence in which humor is
commonly built by all participants, in a
Humorous Online interaction non-narrative manner, based on shared
Identity knowledge about the context”. Măda
(2015)

As frames by Hay (2001), ‘playing along’ is

an important strategy for supporting
humor online as it is in face-to-face
interaction.
CONVERSATIONAL HUMOUR ≉ JOKE
TELLING

• Meme commentaries, are considered as conversational

humour for its spontaneous manifestations of humour.

• According to Măda (2015), “such humour cannot be

analyzed as a joke with a linear organisation, whose
resolution could be found through a semiotic, stylistic, or
textual analysis of linguistic puns, but as a complex
discursive sequence in which humour is commonly built
by all participants, in a non-narrative manner, based
on shared knowledge about the context”.
 Internet-mediated
communication in Instagram
platform (modified from Yus,
2011: 15)
 Internet-mediated
communication in Instagram
platform (modified from Yus,
The meme posted by 2011: 15)
9gag account create
the context of
interaction

The humorous
comment

People who post People who react

the comment to the comment

The validation of
Humorous identity
humorous identity
constructed by sender
through the reaction
users
by sender users
The linguistics resources used in
instagram commentaries

1. Recaptioning
2. Wordplay
3. Sarcasm
4. Hyperbole
5. Collaborative Story Telling
1. Recaptioning
2. Wordplay
3. Sarcasm
4. Hyperbole
5. Collaborative Story Telling
Conclusion

• Instagram commentaries session reveal that there are

five linguistic strategies used by the users; recaptioning,
wordplay, sarcasm, hyperbole, and collaborative story
telling,
• The humorous identity constructed by Instagram users
in the commentaries session is validated through the
reaction from other users.
• Two important aspect in the construction of humorous
identity in Instagram commentaries are ‘play along’ and
shared knowledge aspect.