From text messages to brand campaigns or business emails, emojis are used daily by billions of people worldwide. Winking faces, rainbows, purple hearts, and party poppers are only some examples of emojis that have become an intrinsic part of digital communication.
What are emojis?
Emojis are small digital images, symbols, or icons used in online communication. The term "emoji" originates in Japan and is a transliteration of the Japanese words 絵 (e=picture) and 文字 (moji = character). The first set of emojis was created by Shigetaka Kurita, a Japanese artist, in the late '90s. While early forms of digital communication had already given users the chance to exchange messages quickly and directly, social cues, such as gestures, facial expressions, or intonation, were absent in online settings. This gap was filled by emojis, which soon started supplementing online text-based communication. As Keith Broni, the world's first emoji translator, puts it: “Emojis allow us to imbue digital messages with non-verbal cues inherent in face-to-face interaction; they allow us to signify the emotional context of a statement which would normally be conveyed in vocal tone, pose or gesture, rather than just the words themselves[i].” In other words, emojis seem to “copy” characteristics of real-life interactions in digital settings, a phenomenon that aligns with people's longstanding tendency to replicate features of real-life communication in the digital world through various writing trends. All-caps or multiple exclamation marks are two great examples of such writing styles, which are often used to draw attention to something (e.g., I love that movie!!!) and convey strong emotions like surprise (e.g., WHAT?), anger (e.g., WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?) or excitement (e.g., I CAN'T WAIT!!!). Similar to these writing trends, the power of emojis seems to lie in their ability to act as “tone modifiers,” as an emoji affects the interpretation of each message.
For example:
· Dan is here 😊
· Dan is here 😭
· Dan is here 🤩
· Dan is here 😱
The words used in the phrases above are exactly the same, but the meaning of each phrase changes based on each emoji’s communicative function.
Could emojis become an independent language?
🤔
Jurga Žilinskienė, CEO of “Today Translations,” says emojis are the world’s fastest-growing language[ii]. But can emojis really become a language? John McWhorter, a linguist, argues that people cannot communicate purely through emojis as valuable context related to the subject, the events, or the time in question is missing[iii]. At the same time, Neil Cohn, a post-doctoral research fellow and linguist specializing in visual communication, mentions that emojis need grammar as a key component in order to constitute a new language[iv].
Emojis and translation
Despite many linguists’ reservations about seeing emojis as a language, there have been attempts to “translate” emojis. “What does translation have to do with emojis?” I hear you ask. Just as translation describes the process of converting a text from one language to another, emoji translation describes the process of converting written texts into a series of emojis. There have been attempts to translate “Toxic,” a song released in 2003 by Britney Spears, and former US President Obama’s State of the Union Address in 2015. Both emoji versions of the two texts required a great deal of creativity, but with the aspect of grammar missing, their translation can be seen more like a fun activity than a translation that can be read seamlessly.
Personality traits, culture, and emojis
Beyond the realm of translation, many disciplines, like psychology and sociology, have tried to decode emojis and identify the potential connection between their use and the personality or mood of each user. While many people use emojis to express themselves more precisely (or just for fun), psychologists argue that there may be a connection between the use of emojis and certain personality traits. Studies indicate that people who use many emojis tend to be more agreeable, receptive, and empathetic[v]. Psychologists have also identified patterns in the use of certain emojis. The “lightning bolt” and the “rocket,” for instance, are associated with performing well in a fast-paced environment[vi], while “praise hands,” “thumbs-up,” “100%,” and “clapping hands” may reflect one’s appreciation for their own and others’ hard work and accomplishments[vii].
As for the cultural aspect of emojis, experts have noticed that different cultures may interpret the same emoji differently. In Eastern cultures, the “praying hands” emoji is mainly used to say “please” or “thank you,” but it tends to have religious connotations when used in the West. The Canadian maple leaf is another example of cultural differences reflected in the use of emojis as, in the US, it’s often used as a stand-in for marijuana[viii].
Culture seems to affect not only the meaning of emojis but also users’ emoji preferences. Studies show that native speakers of French use four times as many heart emojis as speakers of other languages, native speakers of Arabic use four times the average rate of flowers and plants emojis, and native speakers of Russian use three times the average rate of romantic emojis. Americans seem to lead the use of random emojis, with skulls, birthday cakes, fires, and food being among the most popular ones[ix].
Some last thoughts
With new emojis being created and released in the latest versions of iOS and the 😂 (face with tears of joy emoji) being named the Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year in 2015, one is clear: emojis are here to stay. Whether they will become an independent language or not is yet to be seen. For now, they’ll continue to help us connect with others and express our feelings and thoughts as accurately as possible.
[i] Luke Graham (July 17th, 1917). Meet a guy who makes a living translating emojis. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/17/meet-a-guy-who-makes-a-living-translating-emojis.html
[ii] Megan Paolone (December 13th, 2016). You can be an emoji translator and get paid for it. BuzzFeedNews. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meganp25/i-wanna-be-an-emoji-translator-when-i-grow-up
[iii] Alice Robb (July 7th, 2014). How using emoji makes us less emotional, The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/118562/emoticons-effect-way-we-communicate-linguists-study-effects
[iv] Neil Cohn (October 13th, 2015), Will emoji become a new language?, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20151012-will-emoji-become-a-new-language
[v] Wall, H et al. (2022) An exploration of psychological factors on emoticon usage and implications for judgment accuracy.
[vi] Tehrin Firman (February 9th, 2018) What your most used emojis say about your personality. https://www.wellandgood.com/what-your-favorite-emojis-say-about-you/ Well + Good.
[vii] Rich Bellis (September 2nd, 2018), We asked these personality scientists to analyze our Slack emojis. Fast Company, https://www.fastcompany.com/40527396/we-asked-these-personality-scientists-to-analyze-our-slack-emojis
[viii] Dictionary.com (June 30th, 2021) https://www.dictionary.com/e/emoji/maple-leaf-emoji/
[ix] Meera Senthilingam (January 18th, 2017) What your emojis say about you. CNN Health. https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/health/emoji-use-personality-traits-study/index.html
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