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A short introduction to the English language
A short introduction to the English language

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5 Emojis

You began this course by asking the question: What is language? In this section you’ll look at a related question: Are emojis a language? Or to put it another way: Do they count as a distinct language system in their own right? And if so, are they a truly universal language whose use transcends other linguistic boundaries?

Emojis are a visual form of communication for use in computer-mediated communication (CMC). You see emojis all over the place these days, from souvenir shops selling emoji-shaped candy to advertising billboards using emojis to sell fast food. But they’re primarily a form of online communication. They’re generated by computer technology and they fill a gap in what online communication offers us.

The gap they fill comes from the way that, as noted in the previous section, social media has led to the use of writing for conversational purposes. We chat with friends via speedily typed-out messages in short bursts. But when writing, we don’t have recourse to expressive features such as tone of voice, facial expressions, and other ‘non-linguistic’ forms of communication. So emojis can provide a simple way of expressing this emotional framing for language.

But are they also a language in their own right? Well, no. They’re not a substitute for a language like English or Chinese because they don’t allow for the same scope and complexity of expression. It would be nigh on impossible to ‘translate’ the previous sentence into emoji. What, for instance, is the emoji for ‘scope’? Or for ‘complexity’? And how would you deal with the meaning that’s conveyed by the words in the sentence being in the particular order that they are (i.e., the syntax of the sentence)? Instead, emojis are best seen as an extension of written languages. They provide us with additional resources that can better help us convey the meaning we want to convey.

Despite not being a language in their own right, however, they are nonetheless a complex and sophisticated means of communication, even if this isn’t the image they have in the popular imagination. The animation below explores the origins and development of emojis, and explains why it is they’ve become so popular for today’s online communication. As the film illustrates, emojis didn’t appear out of nowhere, but can be seen as one stage in the long development of writing and communication.

Activity 6

Watch the film and make a note of its key points.

Make some notes in the text box below and save your answer. There is no comment for this activity.

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Video 6 A brief history of emoji
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