Obsessed with spelling mistakes: these are the memes about Catalan

BarcelonaHow are weak pronouns used? by either for versus infinitive? Why do some people say smells like either I have toThe linguistic anxiety of Catalans also reaches internet memes. A pioneering study of these pop culture images, What do you want to tell me?, published in the Journal of Language and Lawanalyzed 87 language-related mems, and found that 40% of them dealt with spelling mistakes. There's a specific humor about the obsession with linguistic correctness that many Catalan speakers suffer. The remaining mems revolve around issues such as dialectal variations or regulations.

Following a call made in 2022 by Optimot, the official consultation service of the Department of Language Policy and the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, X users created and collected 87 mems about language under the hashtag #ConcursOptimot14. Three researchers, Alba Milà-Garcia (from the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at UPF), Anna Tudela (UPF and formerly UAM) and Guillem Castañar (University of Tallinn) have analyzed the submitted memes, in substance and form.

The largest group, four out of ten, are memes that deal with Catalan speakers' love of linguistic correctness: they praise good speakers and highlight the doubts many language users have on complex issues such as weak pronouns (33). The following group of memes mocks the academic criteria of institutions dedicated to the language, such as the IEC and the Valencian Academy of Language (13). There are also a number of memes that address the presence of Catalan in the media and on the internet, linguistic varieties, or inclusive language. There are also memes related to Catalan in school, literature, and other languages. There are also memes (not included in this analysis) that joke about the competition conditions.

Ninety-three percent of the mems use internationally popular images (Batman, Tintin, Master Yoda, etc.), that is, global mems. The reuse of images is precisely part of the mems' appeal. Only 7% are made with images from Catalan iconography, featuring popular Catalan figures or historical moments, such as the brief declaration of independence. According to the study, mems can "contribute to disseminating knowledge about the Catalan language and promoting social engagement on this topic."