Urban Internet memes: linguistic and cultural aspect (on the example of Ufa)

The “theory of virtual genre studies” studies all existing genres in the Internet space, which are actively developing due to such characteristics of Internet communication as text compactness (in order to save language resources), feedback, and evaluation. This is also facilitated by the memorability of creolized Internet texts that combine verbal and iconic components. Internet meme, in the opinion of cyberinvest can become a unit of cultural linguistics. The meme carries historical and cultural information, spreads quickly, and is characterized by a nationality due to anonymity and collectivity. The purpose of the article is to consider urban Internet memes as part of urban text in the linguistic and cultural aspect (for example, the city of Ufa). The genre of the Internet meme of urban space (urban Internet meme) is being investigated for the first time. In the author's card file – 200 units collected in the city's Internet space, including the social network “Vkontakte”. The most common types of creolized memes in the virtual space of the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan are advices and strip comics. They are based on case-based phenomena (case texts, case names, case statements, and case situations) with a regional flavor. Ufa Internet memes are situational (they contain a response to a cultural and historical incident that has not received a global response and is known only to citizens) and are often built on the imposition of universal memes that have already become entrenched in the minds of users. The study of Ufa's urban text shows that the linguistic and cultural “biography” of the city is being formed not only in the real world, but also in the virtual space. Internet memes that reflect the symbolic reality of the city, as well as the moral and ethical preferences and values of citizens, can be an effective tool in forming the image of the territory and educating the younger generation. To date, the possibilities of the genre are not used enough.