Iz in ur meme / aminalizin teh langwich: A linguistic study of LOLcats
Loading...
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2010
Type of Work
Department
Program
Bachelor's Degree
Citation of Original Publication
Rights
Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain information or permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Goucher Special Collections & Archives at 410-337-6347 or email archives@goucher.edu.
Abstract
Ohai! I can haz ur atenshun? Dis paypur lukz at won of da most popularest trendz on teh interwebz. LOLkittehz, or LOLcats, as teh hoomanz sez it, iz nawt juzt a passin fad but raddur 1 dat haz spurd a kulchur and langwich awl itz own. LOLspeak (pronounced [LAWL-speak]), referred to by many as “kitty pidgin,” is the variation of English found in the millions of captions superimposed on images of cats. The combinations of images and childishly spelt captions are circulated endlessly throughout the Internet and known as LOLcats. The language is an obvious deviation from standard English but remains intelligible to most English speakers. This paper examines the overlying linguistic patterns found in LOLcat captions and hypothesizes as to the influences of the language.