AN ANALYSIS OF IMPLICATURE FOUND IN A NUMBER OF INTERNET MEMES

Abstract

The main purpose of internet meme is to entertain the reader but not all people can
easily interpret a meme and what the meaning behind that. This research aims at
describing implicature or implied meaning in a number of internet memes by using
Grice's theory (1975) which focus on implicature and depicting how the contexts
influenced the implicatures of the memes. Implicature is used to describe when
something is implied or suggested rather than what is merely stated in an utterance or
what it originally means. This analysis discusses what is implied in a number of
internet memes and which context(s) is involved and how its influence determines the
implied meaning of the meme. A total of 20 data have been completely analyzed by
the writer. The data are taken from three meme websites; they are 9gag.com,
knowyourmeme.com and memecenter.com. In this analysis, the writer uses qualitative
method. The results show the six points based on its idea and representation; the
memes implies (1) masculinity, (2) personal experience, (3) loneliness, (4) social
events, (5) false analogy and (6) sarcasm. And, the most memes are dominant with
the conventional implicature with the social context’s influence.
Keywords: meme, implicature, conventional implicature, social context