Will emoji Become a New Language

FULLY 92 PERCENT OF ALL PEOPLE ONLINE USE EMOJI NOW, AND ONE-THIRD OF THEM DO SO DAILY.

Emoji are “picture characters” or pictographs that are popular in text-based communication. They are commonly used in smartphone texting, social media sharing (e.g., nearly half of all text on Instagram contains emoji).

On November 17, 2015 the Oxford Dictionaries announced the emoji , commonly known as ‘Face with Tears of Joy’, as its “Word” of the Year for 2015.

Students are doing PhDs in emoji studies. There is a serious debate about whether or not emoji is a universal language, or if it is in fact, destroying language. This image is the famous first line of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, translated into emoji. Emoji Dick is a crowd-sourced and Kickstarter-funded translation created by Fred Beneson. Approximately 10,000 sentences were  translated at least three times before the “best” were chosen for the book.

In Wired magazine, Clive Thompson quotes linguist and writer, Gretchen McCulloch on the topic: “They’re trying to solve one of the big problems of writing online, which is that you have the words but you don’t have the tone of voice. Purists sniff. What have we become, children with crayons? Surely words alone can convey emotional tone? Maybe—if you’re a novelist with years of experience in the patient forging and editing of prose.”

For some interesting perspectives on the debates here are links to a few more recent articles:

Investigating the Potential for Miscommunication Using Emoji

New Google Working Women Emoji

It’s worth noting that “lumbersexual” was also a finalist for the Oxford Dictionary’s 2015 Word of the Year. Here’s its definition: a young urban man who cultivates an appearance and style of dress (typified by a beard and checked shirt) suggestive of a rugged outdoor lifestyle.

Move over emoji – this GIF does a better job translating my response!