Signaling irony, displaying politeness, replacing words

Abstract

This paper aims to identify and define the different linguistic functions that emoji can carry in French and English computer-mediated discourse (CMD). Emoji are graphical icons, representing attitudes or concepts, that can be used on any smartphone or computer with a variety of communicative roles inside a conversation. Using a multimodal corpus containing 1200 emoji and the messages in which they were used, we tested an initial typology of emoji functions inspired by previous frameworks. The quantitative analysis of the data, along with the detailed examination of specific examples, led to the construction of a new, more refined typology consisting of three primary functions (expressive, interpretative and referential) and five secondary functions (relational, politeness, emphatic, structural and aesthetic).

Buy My Emoji: An Analysis of Ads in Twitter/X

“…For Alshenqeeti (2016, p. 56), emojis "provide greater nuance and clarity to text messages and are an expression of creativity in language [...]." It is unquestionable that emojis are used in CMC to aid comprehension, by conveying emotions and attitudes (Escouflaire, 2021).…”

“…(1) I hate you so much Escouflaire (2021) categorized this emojis' function as 'interpretative,' since, as previously mentioned, CMC lacks non-verbal cues present in face-to-face interactions. Emojis would not only be used to express emotions -as their predecessors, the emoticons, do -but also to change the tone of the message, telling the reader how it should be interpreted.…”

“…Emojis would not only be used to express emotions -as their predecessors, the emoticons, do -but also to change the tone of the message, telling the reader how it should be interpreted. In such uses, emojis are placed at the end of the written message, as shown in Escouflaire (2021) and Ge and Herring (2018).…”

Emoji, Speech Acts, and Perceived Communicative Success

“…In this corpus study, the authors were able to categorize over 95% of emoji sequences as distinct speech acts (e.g., claim, thank, congratulate, etc.). In a similar vein, Escouflaire (2021) conducted a corpus study of emoji use and concluded that emoji can be used to convey specific speech acts, as well as performing a variety of other functions (e.g., referential, relational, etc.). In short, these studies suggest that the role played by emoji is more complex than simply expressing feeling.…”

“…The research of Ge and Herring (2018), dos Reis et al (2018), and Escouflaire (2021) suggest that in addition to modulating the meaning of a text, communicating emotions, or softening the implied threat of a message, it is possible that emoji also can perform specific, identifiable speech acts (e.g., request, criticize, etc. ).…”