Creative constructs, constructions, and frames in Internet discourse

Abstract This paper explores questions of constructionality and framing in Internet discourse. It proposes a sharper understanding of what, as analysts, we mean by Internet memes, before turning to formal and semantic aspects of Internet memes as multimodal (image-text) constructions. A broad range of examples is considered, but the focus is mainly on image macro memes and labelling memes. Particular attention is focused on the presentational templates that mark out particular meme constructions, and grounds for distinctions between creative constructs and entrenched, conventionalized constructions are offered. The role of frames in the meaning-making mechanisms of memes is investigated, and also explored for a type of Twitter discourse not usually considered alongside established Internet memes.