~-- -· :-·r~ftJH;~WJ'J'EJ ~ 10 % (20081f) pp. 71-82© 2008 ~8 :;j;:MfJil~!!f:~On Memes and Memetics in Language

Ziran He
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Memetics is a theory for interpreting cultural evolution. Memes, invented to suggest a strong analogy
with genes, are ideas that spread through human cultures and across the generations. Memes in language can be reflected in education and knowledge impartment, idiomatic usage of words and phrases,
and casual exchanges in communication. They can be replicated and transmitted in two ways: thesame content in different forms, and the same form with different contents. This paper analyses theimpact of language memes on translation, culture and language teaching and learning. Research into
memetics and memes in language would shed new light upon language understanding, its evolution
and development, as well as language in social-cultural communication.
Keywords:

memetics, genes of culture, language memes, memetic genotype and phenotype

1. Memetics and memes
Memetics is an alternative theory that attempts to explain cultural evolution basedon Darwinjst evolutionary views. Memetics tries to interpret, from both synchronic anddiachronic perspectives, universal relationships among objects and the essential characteristics of cultural inheritance. The central term of memetics, meme, by analogy with'gene', came from a Greek root with the meaning of imitation. It first appeared in
Richard Dawkins's book The Se?fish Gene (Dawkins, 1976: 206).
According to Dawkins, a meme is a replicator, a unit of cultural evolution, whichmakes it possible for human ideas to evolve in manners similar to biological evolution.
In point of fact, Dawkins presents two versions of the definition of a meme:- A meme is "a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation", and "examples
of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of maki ng pots
or of building arches" (Dawkins, 1976: 206).
- A meme is"a unit of information residing in a brain", and "the phenotypic
effects of a meme may be in the form of words, music, visual images, styles ofclothes, facial or hand gestures" (Dawkins, 1982: 109).
In other words, "meme" is a term given to a unit of cultural information, andexamples of memes are languages, cultural practices or concepts, or social behaviors
that can be replicated and transmitted again and again. As Blackmore defines it, "as71

72

long as that infonnation can be copied by a process we may broadly call 'imitation ',then it counts as a meme" (Blackmore, 1999: 66; but cf. Sperber, 2000).
Some ideas may live longer while others may die soon; ideas may mutate as aresult of misunderstanding. Besides, two kinds of ideas when combined may produce a
new idea, which has some elements of the original meta-ideas . Given that memes are
abstractions, when it comes to describing memes, people often resort to metaphoricalmeans. For instance, in memetics, memes are usually described as "viruses of themind" (Brodie, 1996), which parasitically infect human minds and alter their behavior,causing them to propagate the pattern. When we say memes are viruses of the mind, itmeans that they may be passed on from host to host, with vmied shapes but fixed patterns. It may not be an easy matter to specify what memes are, but when we find acertain kind of phenomenon appears and spreads (from slogans to melodies, from inventions to fashions, from ideas to behavior patterns), we think it is the power of memes.
Memes are genes of culture, and language is one form of their carriers. There are
two ways for language memes to be replicated and transmitted: the same core content
being inherited in various forms , and the same set pattern being filled in by different
contents. The former is of memetic genotype, and the latter memetic phenotype. In
what follows, we attempt to discuss these issues with language use in focus.

2. Replication and transmission of language memes
As cultural genes, memes survive by means of replication and transmission.
Memes contribute to language development and, at the same time, they are replicatedand transmitted by means of language. In other words, memes and language are closely
related to each other. Memetically speaking, language memes contribute to revealing
how language gets spread and replicated. Memes in natural language may, as we see it,come from three sources: education and knowledge impartment, idiomatic usage ofwords and phrases, and casual exchanges in communication.

2.1. Memes from education and knowledge impartment
In the process of education and knowledge impartment we learn from other people
words, sentences and expressions, with which we send messages to people, then thepeople who receive the messages, will have them replicated and transmitted to otherpeople. And it is in the very process (by which the information is continually replicatedand transmitted) that memes emerge. For instance, clone is a biological term known in
Chinese as x~IHt wu1 xing" fan 2zhi2 , which was seldom used in daily conversation.
However, since the young lamb Dolly, with her surrogate mother, was created by cloning in Scotland, the transliterating of the term clone into Chinese as :R:Kl ke4long2 hasbeen learnt and widely used with the connotation of "replicating", "identical copy making":

On Memes and Memetics in Language

( 1)

a.

Pt!r1Mt!rtdi ~{gx;J 1'1'-:J:fl!Wib.

She's an exact clone of her sister;i!~-i:! Jl!Wt IBM
This is an IBM clone.

c.

7C~451t'ii~~lt&

73

5l!WiWfh .2js:t:~. C«l?+llli!U 1999/04/13 A3)Conscienceless book-sellers pirate violently by having cloned 20,000 dictionaries. (Guangzhou Daily, April J3, 1999, A3)
Thus, Chinese :R:!Wt ke 4lontf (clone) has become a popular meme replicated andtransmitted widely in communication among Chinese people. Once new words or loanwords have been introduced and used for communicative needs, those new expressions,after the fashion of a particular group of people, may probably be widely used and replicated as memes.

Memes from idiomatic usage of words and phrases
Idiomatic usage of words and phrases in people's minds are continually repeated,
modified, and changed in language use to form memes. New complexes may result
from combinations of old usages, and still some other usages may fade out if less andless people use them.
1*14 bao3mu3 is explained as "female servant employed to care for children or to
do housework". This word may be substituted by lfrrr~ a1yi2 , which literally means
auntie but in daily use it refers to the female childcare worker or housemaid. It
appears to be a fixed usage that most people doing this kind of job are female, andmore often than not, when it comes to the childcare worker at the kindergarten, we allthink that it is a female. However, this is not always the case as shown in the following news reports:
2.2.

(2)

a.

" !J!j»iJ~ " M::k~*" f'JJ) L!rrl!IPJ ~ " ~-1- fo!il J£ ~ ~JL

Jli Wi $ B ~- .llt Il.::k.=~ll. fi<J ~91 1§1 & i:& E;j T ,11t!. ffJ ~ ~ ~ tt AfJ IXJIJ fiB -9:J9t *D rHi te- 1-m 1j.: fi<J )C 1-t~ JJJt mf ii.1~ TM ~ " Jc JL~ ".m::kJvH~BfJiAIEJo(«( .j•i'[ Eljb!.)) 1997/01/12, p. 1)"*Male auntie" C!JJI»ii~ nan2 a1yi2) Comes from College
The once set phrase "kindergarten l»iJ~ a 1yP(auntie)" has in recent two
years been rewritten (as *male auntie) by a group of tall and brawnymales, who, with masculinity and higher cultural qualities, have commanded the acknowledgement of both adults and children at the "maidkingdom" for preschool education. (Guangzhou Daily, Jan. 12, 1997, p. 1)
b.

:fr.3 ±mr:r '¥~ T JLi.F JtJMi
C«J'-7+1 EliR» 1997/0lll2 p. 2)

M*9rn:!idi Tl.§Yi1Jm::k~~q:* AfJ.2ls:WJ$~jo:,
JB1¥171C~:M, 1995 i:F~:1v "!JJI»iJ~" oMr. Hu graduated from Jiangxi No1mal University. Having taught at a
local high school for some years, he came to the south for a new career.
In 1995, he became a "*male auntie" (!J}I»iJ~ nan2 a1yF) at a ki ndergar-

74

ten. (Guangzhou Daily, Jan. 12, 1997, p. 2)
Regardless of the contradictory word combination, the expression !J}IWJ~ nan2
a yP (*Male auntie) is used idiomatically, replicated frequently and spread widely as a
new meme or meme complex emerged into people's verbal communication.
1

2.3.

Memes from casual exchanges in communication

There is a kind of information which results from context improvisation before
having itself replicated. Memes of this kind may happen, more often than not, withinternational business and cultural transactions. Such cross-linguistic, cross-culturalmemes may exercise different effects upon different groups of people or upon a single
group of people in different areas. A ready example is the code-switching or code-mi xing of Chinese and English, which, as a linguistic phenomenon, seems to have become apopular meme among some people in contemporary China, but which is not necessarily
universally accepted. Look at the following:

(3)

(4)

Hi, flj\P.f~ ! This morning :ftifJ)(;j"ffJ\IY'.J case :ln:1r7 discuss, :fltffl~J.W,, ~f~:~ 'ti!r /f make sense . ffr ~ :flt ff] ~ ~~ /f 5ift t:t\ .lili %i)l; 1fJ\ : Ej ~ 14$ ffi :X: [!{] ffr :tf
project $~tlll cancel f$. («11·1·1 B:J'IH 2004/02/20, B14)
Hi , how are you? This morning we discussed your case and found that thiscase did not make sense. Now we are sorry to tell you that aU the projects
pertaining to this case will be cancelled. (Guangzhou Daily, Feb. 20, 1997,
B.l4)"1f~fi'ii6flW : ll&U~:Jll:~fi'i!L That is the question! " (<<11+1BtfH 2004/11/05, p. 2)
Work next year for a new boss or not? That is the question! (Guangzhou
Daily, Nov. 5, 2004, p. 2).

Obviously, (4) follows Shakespeare's "To be or not to be? That is the question."
Code-mixing language, both spoken and written, thus has become a meme, being frequently used, replicated and propagated through people's casual exchanges in their communication.

2.

How language memes are replicated and transmitted?

As Blackmore points out, "it is true that we do not understand in detail how
memes are stored and transmitted. But we have plenty of clues and we certainly know
enough to get started" (Blackmore, 1999: 58). The replication of memes does not necessarily mean that the original and the replicated are identical in terms of both form andcontent. One thing that should be pointed out is that new meme complexes may
emerge as a result of the influence of various contexts. From the perspective of memetics, we can distinguish two replicating patterns of language memes, viz., "same content
in different forms" (genotype) and "same form with different contents" (phenotype).

On Memes and Memetics in Language

75

3.1.

Same content in different forms-genotype spreading
Ideas or information patterns may become memetic once they get spread and imitated. Memes may have the same or different forms in the process of replication andtransmission, whereas the contents they contain may remain the same. The same information may be transmitted with different forms in different contexts, and this kind ofmeme may be called the genotype, or to use Blackmore's (1999: 61) phrase, the "copythe-instructions" type.

3.1.1. Same information spread directly
Under appropriate contexts, this kind of information can, be transmitted directlywith no content changed. Examples are sayings, quotations, slogans, that are widelyused in daily interaction:
(5)

a.

b.

rl"ili'OfJ~~J:;fJI~, ff~~ITII** gao 1gaoi xinglqingl shanglbani qu4,

pinIfpinIf ani ani hui2jia1 lail o
Go to work happily, and come back home safely.
~~~g~~' :VETrof§' Bju 1gong 1 jin4 cui4, sP
hou4 yP
Bend one's back to the task until one's dying day.

er

People like to use the slogan of (Sa) to remind someone of driving safely for work.
(5b) is an old proverb. It is used when someone is determined to give himself entirely
to public service.
3 .1.2. Same information spread in different forms
There is a kind of meme that keeps the contents of information unchanged but
spreads in various forms. We may say different things that represent the same information. In China, li!i]~ tonlfzhi4 (comrade) , J)ijj~ sh;Ifu0 (master) and tjY!l§. xiao3jiel(miss) were widely addressed to a waitress in different periods of time, but later, tN!Il
xiao3jie3 (miss), the most popular address was abandoned because it brought up associations of the women who practised prostitution under the cloak of that occupation.
Now, in Guangdong Province of China, 'J!j( lianglnv3 (beautiful girl) is addressed to
the waitress in most restaurants instead of tN!Il xiao3jiel (miss), while in Hubei
Province, §p.:ffi Cui4 Hua 1, a girl's common name, is used, which was said to haveappeared for addressing a waitress in a popular song entitled Cuihua, serve us somepickled cabbage (sauerkraut).
The same information transmitted in different forms is very popular in Chinese
netspeak. The original information of "ugly boy" in netspeak turns out to be either 1f!k!
qing1 wa1 (frog) or Jl!J!jun1nan2 (fungous boy), while the original information of "uglygirl" finds its expressions as ~;it kong3lonlf (dinosaur) or . ::9: mei2nv3 (mouldygirl). Sarcastically, both Jl!J!jun 1 nan2 (fungous boy) and $::9: mei2 nv3 (mouldy girl)are modelled on the sound of ~!'.1! jun4 nan2 (handsome boy) and ~::9: mei3 nv3 (prettygirl) respectively, but their meanings are just the opposite.

=--·

76

Sometimes, the abbreviations of Chinese Pinyin are used instead of their full
expressions: fft~Jit pail ma3pi" (soft-soap) is sh01tened to PMP, and ~~ di4di0(younger brother) is shortened to DD. Some Arabic numeral combinations, when readin Chinese, sound roughly like certain Chinese expressions: the combinations of "770"(that sounds in Chinese like qilqi1 lintf), "7456" (qi1si4 wu3 liu4 ) and ."8147" (ba 1yao 1si4qi1) are used respectively for their Chinese homophonic expressions of ~~{$ qin1qin1
nP (kiss you), .ec~~ T qi4si3 wo3 le0 (it makes me frustrated and exasperated) and/F~1:.ec bu2yao4 sheng1 qi4 (don't be angry).
It holds good for English too. Instead of "before" there is a common shorthand as
B4" ; the message "ur 2 good 2 me 2 be 4 got 10" has to be deciphered as "You are toogood to me to be forgotten. " All the phenomena above belong to the meme category ofthe "Same information spread in different forms."
3.2.

Same form with different contents-the spread of memetic phenotypes
This type of meme adopts one and the same form but expresses different contentsin accordance with different needs. For instance, the contents of certain folk rhymes, astime goes on, may lose their realistic significance, and in the process of replicatingthese folk songs, people would keep their forms (e.g., keep the same rhythms, same
number of words and lines, or forms of arrangements) but insert new contents in themaccording to various needs. This kind of "new wine in old bottle" is what we call thephenotype of language memes, which is similar in form but different in content.

3.2 .1. Same sound with d~fferent meanings
Language memes, with the original structures unchanged, can be grafted in the
f01m of "identical sound with different meanings". This is quite often the case inadvertisements, where "4-character phrases" like Chinese idioms are created for specificneeds. Compare -l!}l~Ay;Imintf jing1ren2 (amazing the world with bright eyes)a pseudo-idiom in an advertisement of eye-drops, with -JI!I!'~Ayi1 mintf jing1ren2(amazing the world with a single brilliant feat)-an authentic Chinese idiom.
Obviously, the former was a homophonic replica of the latter. While the basic structure"- [... ] '~A" of the Chinese set phrase is kept unchanged, the keyword II!!! mintf(bird's cry) in it was replaced by a homophone IJij mintf (bright eyesight), the meanings of which are certainly different.
3.2.2. Same form association and grafting
Although some language forms do not change, different interpretation or association may occur when they are used on different occasions. There is an advertising slogan, a cosmetic urge, tiAm:ttr zuo4 nv3ren2 ting3hao3 , that can be understood in two
ways: if m:ttr ting3hao3 is taken as an epithet 'very good', the slogan means "It is very
good to be a woman"; but, if m:ttr ting3 hao3 is taken as a description 'good to havefirm and elastic breast', it means "it is good for a woman to have beautiful breast."

On Memes and Memetics in Language

77

Having put forward this cosmetic urge the advertisement agent attempts to make use of
the polysemous character
tintf (mea!ling either "very" or "with one's chest thrownmout") in the promotion of a cream for firm and elastic breast, trying to attract prospecti ve customers by means of memetic association and grafting.

3.2.3. Same structure with different contents
As language grafts, these are memes in which the form or the structure is the samebut the contents are replaced by other words. For instance, since the case of theWatergate B uilding during R. Nixon 's presidency, the word "Watergate" has become aprototype for political or economic scandals concerning high ranking officials in thegovernment or other administrations. As a meme complex, the word combination of
suffix-like "x-gate" with any case to be called a scandal has become quite popular. The
literal translation of "x- gate" into Chinese"[ ... ] f1 "x-men2 retains the original cultural
meaning, and now " [ ... ] f1 "x-men2 in Chinese is broadly replicated as a substitute for.RilfJ chou3 wen2 (scandal). Here are some examples of " [ •. . ] 1'1 "x-men2 in Chinese:
( 6)

a.

:t.!l.t& i'l laljil men2 (garbage-gate, a beautiful residential area was once ab.

waste-yard. )t;l1i[ la 1lian4 men2 (zipper-gate, referring to sexual harassment or anyc.

!'(11!¥ n xie2dai4 men2 (shoelace-gate, the scandal that the footballer wasnsexual scandals);
taking a passive attitude toward matches and pretending to tie up his shoelace);
d.

{~45

n mi shu men (secretary-gate, referring to the dispute between a
4

1

2

CEO and his secretary, which resulted in the CEO's resignation for hise.

indifference to the subordinates);~~ 91t fl hui4 lu 4 men2 (bribery-gate, the scandal of a company with a client for a contract dispute).

Recently, with the great success of the TV serial ~f$~flll: ai4 ni3 meP shang1
lianlf (Love You at My Will), the very title of it has quickly been replicated, resulting
in a set of meme varieties on different occasions:(7)a.

!${$'(9:jilj;i: zai3ni3 mei2 shang1lianlfb.

Fleece you at my will.
!lliU-f$~ jf,j :ITt pian4 ni3 meil shang1 lianlfc.

Fool you at my will.
:t*f$'&jf,j:j:: mPnil mei2 shang1lianlf
Infatuate you at my will.

d.

~~f$'(9:p,:fL.!i chao3 ni3 mei2 shang1 lianlf

Fire you at my will.
e.

1-of$~ jf,j :liT li2nP mei2 shang lianlf

78

Divorce you at my wiU.
The meme grafting of the "same structure with different contents" is not confined
to a word or a phrase only, it may sometimes be a sentence, a paragraph or even a text.
We know J. Taylor 's Twinkle, I\11inkle, Little Star from our childhood:(8)a.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so hig h,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

And we find the similar song sung by the Hatter in L. Carroll's Alice's Adventures in

Wonderland:b.

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat,
How I wonder what you're at !
Up above the world you fly,Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle , twinkle-

Rhetoricall y, it reminds us of the parody, a piece of writing which copies the styleof someone well-known in an exaggerated and sarcastic way. Thus the following paro§ ffi' (Zhu Ziqing, 1898- 1948), ady replicates from the prose Transient Days byfamo us writer in modem China. Let's look at the first paragraph of Zhu 's prose:*(9)~R~T~ 7 , if(:I}*B''JU~·{I~; :f'h;f9nt~7, 1-ff'}'Ff(J<JO-j{~ : lJ~::ttiM7,

i:rf'}Jf O''JUJ•·ili~~~oo. ~ ~w~ . am(J<JB7-~~~-~~~~~?
If swallows go away, they will come back again . If willows wither, they willturn green again. If peach blossoms fade, they will flower again. But, tell me,
you the wise, why should our days go by never to return?' (see Zhang 1999:
75)

The following are two of the replicated memes, the contents of which are somewhat sarcastic, totally unrelated to the original text:

(10)

a.

JN~fl';k:7, iffl}r~UJgAt{~: I

fi=-& 7 . if~.:t~ B''JAt{l~ : 15~~@!7 , iff!}~ 8~!'rj·{1~. 1EI.M:~~.AJI Ag , 1/F'i!:i·-ift:ft, ft11'JB~Jxt ~/M!~t-J 1t-2\ - *~~~ n~?

If stocks go down, they will rise up again. If I lose a job, I will find a

new one. If my wife runs away, I will marry another. But, you the wise,
tell me, why should our risky fund-raising be gone forever?

b.

~JI!:Cl/J\ 7, f-riif~(Jg OHJ1: : ~ 17-ff£ 7,

f-ffl}:bn H<Jft-j·f~ : M~~ 7, if,;(

00At* . 1Et~. U~(J<J. ~&Wft, ~~~~~H<J~M·ili~~~~?

On Memes and Memetics in Language

79

If the hard disk gets too small, it will be replaced. If random accessmemories are too low, more will be added to. If the screen is too narrow, a wider one will be bought again. But, tell me, you the wise, whyshould my newly-bought computer break down so soon?

4. The significance of meme studies
In what follows, we attempt to explore some new light that meme studies mightshed upon language studies.

4.1.

.. :.

'

.

~

Memes and translation
Chesterman may be one of the first to introduce meme theory into translation
studies. He proposes the theory of Translation memes (Chesterman, 1996; 1997).
According to Chesterman, some translation memes may disappear as a result of not
being universally accepted, while some may become popular for a period of time before
being replaced by new meme complexes. Still some others seem to be very powelful
and able to survive. Chesterman argues that there exist a great many translation
memes. On the one hand, each meme is the result of replication and inheritance of previous memes; on the other hand, the meme may have variations in the process of replication and transmission for better survival.
As we said earlier, meme replication does not guarantee the same content or thesame form during its replication and transmission. This is also true for translation
memes, too. The process of translation meme replication is dynamic rather than static:
something may be added or abridged. We hold there exist various kinds of memetic
genotypes and memetic phenotypes in the meme pool of translation. The former (thegenotype) means that the transformation from source language (SL) to target language(TL) is a vertical, direct transmission of the miginal information in terms of semantic or
pragmatic equi valence. As for the latter (the phenotype), it means that the transformation from SL to TL is a process of non-equivalent horizontal replication and transmission, where the TL can be represented in various ways: paraphrases, excerpts, briefings,
free renderings, etc., according to different needs. We believe that memetic theory is
conducive to deepening our understanding of translation memes and making new contributions to translation studies.
4.2.

Memes and culture
As cultural genes, memes can be passed on non-genetically from generation to
generation by imitation. Memes are closely related to culture. The cultural load of language are the time-standing cultural prints of speech - accents, usages, the way of saying things, etc. There is no denying that some profound cultural allusions in Chinese
can be understood only by the people of considerable Chinese culture. See the follow-

80

ing example (He, 2000: 358):

OI)" ...... 1¥ § ~ft~.tJ:~G&, , [5].tJQ. -nmrr.,g~~~H~ AA, -mE: 13 Q~Jf=iff .:x.

01[iiJ~:f1t...... ~t.ll.m~Z·J1:JTMB¥, JZ.',~HJIH~, 1EJ.lltJYT9;o/f~oJE · r, ~fr /f9n~1W, t?-7v~- r·i~fD!fo ~Y11J~l&T-rtf, &7>JiJ~~·jlfr~ o "I don't think it necessary to write a preface for your work because you are
now doing pioneering work and every effort should be exerted to produce
something original. If I. .. had authoritative understandings, it would be another matter. Since you are more lmowledgeable than I am in this respect, it isbetter to hide m y ignorance than to put on a silly show. Please forgive me, orthe wise will laugh at me for ~l&T-rtf mu4 guan4 yu2shi:' (=pretending to be
an authoritative figure.)
The expression ~l&T-rtf mu4guan4 yu2shi4 in the above example originated fromthe idiom ~~Wl& mu4hou2 erl guan 4 , whose literal meaning is simply "a monkey
with a hat on", but it is usually used to refer to a worthless person dressed up as animportant figure. This idiom as a meme has been replicated and passed on for a longtime. Sometimes, people use the original phrase ~~Wl& mu4hou2 erl guan4 directly,
while other times they use its variant as was the case in the example above. No matter
whether we use the original idiom or its variant, this language meme, full of culturalload, is replicated continually in people's communication and interaction .
Language memes are related to native, as well as non-native culture. The memes
with Chinese culture, fanned and spread in language, may originate from the actor'slines in TV programs:(12)

4&/FJ!JJ~~I¥1, 1EJ.~1f!fJ;inJJJJ::fft~ oMoney is not everything, but without money you' re absolutely nothing.
The structure " [ .. . ] /FJ!JJ~~I¥J , {§. [ ::f I ~1f . . . ] JJJJ/Fft~" (x is not everything, but without x you're absolutely nothing) has now been spread everywhere as apopular meme:
(13)

a.

b.

taHh'fr::f~JJft~l¥1, 1E!/F'tffi!J~ i.it tnJJJJ::fft~
A foreign language is not everything, but without a foreign language you
are absolutely nothing.
*~/F~JJft~I¥J , {E!~1f~~JJJJ/F~~o

A wife is not everything, but without a wife you are absolutely nothing.
Now the Chinese version of the famous line from Ode to the West Wind by P. B.
Shelley ( 1792-1 822)- "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"(~**T, lf*;l;£~;@Ji!:b?) is often replicated to form a meme complex of "same structure with different
contents" - H x, can y be far behind? (W;!ifi!: I~~ I x, y ;l;f~Ji!:b?):
( 14)

a.

:rut;!ifi!:J)n:l't@]* T, ~n!;l;f~JI!:b?

On Memes and Memetics in Language81

If sunshine returns, can warmth be far berund?
b.

1$~:J!lffit-f~)]' )lX;J)JiE~Jt!?, ?

If you persist in the study, can success be fa r berund?

c.

*

1J\ 91 T, ~~iE~Jt!?, ?
If Beckham comes, can Victoria be far behind?'

These examples have illustrated to some extent the close relationship between language m em es and culture . By integrating cultural k nowledge in the observation of language memes we might obtain a deeper understanding of language and use it appropriatel y.

4.3. Memes and language teaching and learning
We believe that memetic theory can shed light upon language teaching and learning, and upon foreign lang uage teaching and learning in particular. Within the framework of mem etic theory, some traditio nal teaching methods and arguments that havebeen abandoned or regarded as irratio nal or undesirable should be re-evaluated or read vocated. For instance, reciting lessons from memory is in fact an effective way oflanguage learning, and we must think highly of the positive role of imitation.
Accord ing to the laws of memetic evolution, language learning is a process of replicatin g and spreading memes. The students learn something from books or fro m people by m eans of imitation and replication. They should learn not only how to express
the same information in different ways, but also how to use the same form to express
d ifferent contents.
In lang uage teaching, we should make the students obtain the skills of us ing different structures according to the context to express the same thought; meanwrule, weshould make them learn to use idiomatic E nglish expressio ns to communicate various
thoughts w ith other people. For all this, however, the students should fi rst be encouraged to learn by heart as much as possible.
The memetic theory makes us realize that it is both impo rtant and useful to fos ter
imaginatio n or awaken associatio n in lang uage teaching and learning. Look at the following sentence:(15)

I don't think there's much to choose between the two, but on the whole I prefer yo urs.

This sente nce, which appears in Linguaphone English Course (Lesson 8, book 1),
is about comparing two houses. The students may be asked to learn it by heart and try
to replicate the same stmcture (" .• . not much to choose between ... ") to compare d ifferent things according to different contexts. They may be encouraged to imagi ne twodifferent books, papers, meals, clothes, etc. and then compare them using the above
structure . We believe that further studies of memes will probably make more positive
contributio ns to lang uage teaching and learning.

5.

Conclusion

Memes and memetics introduce the view of information replication into language
studies. The two ways memes get replicated and propagated (i.e.,"same content in different forms" and "same form with different contents") can account for the laws of selfreplication and evolution of memes as cultural genes. Further research of those laws
may contribute to a better understanding of the emergence and doom of certain language phenomena in social interaction.
The replication and transmission of memes may have either positive or negative
effects upon social interaction. Certain language policies and language planning mustbe formulated so as to guide the use of language, inhibit the self-replication of pernicious memes and create a healthy language environment.
Language memes find expression in education and knowledge impartment, idiomatic usage of words and phrases, and casual exchanges in communication. Research
into the replication and transmission of memes in language will probably contribute tolanguage teaching and learning, as well as translation studies.

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