<aside> 🌟 Dissertation completed as a final component of my post-graduation. Earning me third rank in my stream, M.A Journalism and Mass Communication.
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(A dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of M.A Journalism and Mass Communication)
Please note: The matter in this document must not be shared or disclosed as it is only a dissertation completed in partial fulfilment of a postgraduate degree in journalism and mass communication. This dissertation is not peer-reviewed; therefore the findings of this paper are not the final conclusion.
The topic of emojis as a language is well studied in the linguistics and communications field. When emojis first came into the digital world, in the year 1999, they used to understand emotions and gestures. Since then, emojis have spread into several fields - advertising, animation, movies, health care, customer ratings, reactions to messages and posts and they are evolving into other fields as well.
In the year 2015, the laughing emoji was recognised by the Oxford dictionary as ‘Word of the Year.’ Recognizing an emoji as a word has far more implications than we can imagine. In the same year, a large volume of research papers on emojis was published.
The practice of emojis since its introduction has evolved over time and it has led researchers to the question: Can emojis be a language? Some parts of this question have been answered. There was also the translation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick into emojis but the translation doesn’t always work. Linguists are divided over this topic.
With all that being said, my dissertation takes a different approach to the topic. It focuses on emojis being a metaphorical door to understanding the ideologies behind emojis and the power structure that exists between a standard language like English and the regional languages that we regularly use in practice.
Before we dive into the other parts, we have to understand that emojis have certain characteristics.
Emojis rely on English for their translation. This is because emojis are standardised by the Unicode Consortium and the big tech companies primarily use English in all their services.
Emojis and their meaning change from one context to another. They are understood within a conversation and they are understood by the meaning that is given to them by the person who is using them. Below is the list of answers given by participants. The emoji is given different meanings. They are bound to be used in different conversations.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/387_19S_Jk2aMUy5stpDUGXda40pIG4YZuXjF3nHwgZKgyqFOyKQEdcPXB3nXgStmEiEVVK4LfnLLpg0tva-QeAKqxUHKeHvG6Gs9R3MaGa-3X-GpnyZWux72qgp1avUWg75cfi13B-jEnbmSUvqSaY
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MLiGEt7znd3kXhgP3vB3VjwNptxNVmqtwq8HG-7T2kZ9xooISjohzzRyZ84wXVu4hNNFoUnGViGo19j6VMKyNFzn8xtsWkh_aAlG95njfb0M7hoTHOd854_l0d3KQR-OM-mAYvC9vO28QiRETwctXmg
Fig 1: Participant answers to the questionnaire