Number of Posts: 16
Posts 11 - 16
When things are so bad you have no words, don’t reach for an emoji
Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 13.10.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, word/writing
Summary | Some people didn't like the fact that the newspaper USA Today decided to add a little emoji next to one of its editions' front-page stories. The author of this Guardian article thinks that it was inappropriate to use a crying face emoji next to a story about an American hero who was stabbed. Many people use emojis to add context to their messages and to show some emotion. However, emojis are also limited. The author claims that they work well with positive statements, but not with negative ones. This is due to their "inherent ridiculousness". Finally, the author is not worried about the future of words, but she wants to warn people and tell them that if they can't find the right words, it's better not to say anything rather that using an emoji.
Image Description | Screenshot of the front page of USA Today, screenshot of a tweet about the front page, and series of five yellow-face emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, newspaper, Twitter
Emojis on council tax bills: Council puts crying face on residents' statements
Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 14.12.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, law, politeness
Summary | Lambeth citizens are getting emojis on their tax correspondence with their local authorities. To be exact: crying face emojis. One resident tweeted her tax calculations with a crying face emoji next to het balance due. Many find this distasteful since many people struggle to pay their taxes and emojis are just inappropriate for government communication. Emojis are one of the fastest growing languages ever recorded in history and they have surpassed their precursors, Egyptian hieroglyphs, which took centuries to develop.
Image Description | Tweet showing the tax document with emoji.
Image Tags | emojis, Twitter
Wie lustig darf die Polizei sein?
(How funny is the police allowed to be?)
Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 20.10.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, law, Twitter
Summary | Various police departments in Germany have taken to Twitter and they are using internet humor: sarcasm, emojis, puns, and so on. This is not funny because the police are supposed to be the butt of the joke and not making the jokes. Tweeting about crimes using emojis is also distasteful and inapropriate.
Image Description | Tweets by the police department of Munich.
Image Tags | Twitter
Soziale Medien: Auf dem Weg in eine Post-Schrift-Gesellschaft
(Social media: on the way to a post-literate society)
Newspaper | Berliner Zeitung
Date | 8.2.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, politics, social media, Twitter
Summary | Dystopias are being written about what is going to happen to society in the age of increasing digitalization of life. Predictions include that we will lose the ability to read and write because we will be able to do everything through voice command. We can already order piza at Domino's by using emojis only. The new literacy culture is limited to 140 characters and resembles in fact more an oral culture in which the truth is what is screamed the loudest.
Image Description | Reuters photograph of an eye with the Twitter logo mirrored in it.
Image Tags | logo, Twitter
Les « emoji » constituent-ils un langage à part entière?
(Are emojis part of a fully-fledged language?)
Newspaper | Le Monde
Date | 15.3.2016
Language | French
Country | France
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, research/study
Summary | In 2015, an emoji was chosen as the word of the year, and two years before that, the novel Moby Dick was translated in emojis. Emojis are everywhere; are they becoming a new universal language? Two linguists conducted a study and revealed that emojis are like a cultural mirror. They also investigated emoji use in different countries and revealed geographical differences in the type of emoji used. Emojis are not a language; they are a complement to language. Some people might think it’s a language because emojis look like hieroglyphics. Emojis are mostly used to transmit emotions.
Image Description | Photograph of a hand clicking on several emojis on a screen, and screenshot of Andy Murray's tweet composed of emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, hand(s), tablet, Twitter
El impacto de la redes sociales en el lenguaje
(The impact of social media on language)
Newspaper | infobae
Date | 3.7.2016
Language | Spanish
Country | Argentina
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, social media, spelling
Summary | Social media have an impact on the Spanish language with the adoption of new words such as "tuitear" (to tweet) or googlear (to google). Linguist Silvia Ramirez Gelbes claims that language is alive; it is growing, changing, and adopting new words. The introduction of new words in a language is not anything new; for example, when planes were first created, the aeronautical world had to create new words. Gelbes also states that people (and not authorities) are the ones who decide which words are to be used. Moreover, she says that although we live in a "visual culture", emojis are not a threat to our language; they should be viewed as a complement. Finally, people write more, so we witness a multiplication of spelling mistakes, but new technologies don't have a negative impact on spelling.
Image Description | Photograph of a man holding a speech bubble with different symbols related to new technologies, and five Twitter links to other related infobae articles.
Image Tags | emojis, male(s), Twitter
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