Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 21
Posts 11 - 20

Emoji is dragging us back to the dark ages – and all we can do is smile

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 27.5.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat
Summary | The fact that the new "emoji language" is expanding fast is viewed as a return to the dark ages. According to the author of the article, humanity is going downhill with this new visual language. Young people seem to prefer using emojis rather than words to express themselves (according to a survey). The author claims that images limit people's expression compared to words which are more adaptable. He also compares emojis with hieroglyphics and the Egyptian civilization.
Image Description | Two digital images representing different sets of emojis, and photograph of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Image Tags | emojis, hieroglyphics

Por primera vez, la palabra del año es un emoji

(For the first time, the word of the year is an emoji)

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Newspaper | infobae
Date | 18.11.2015
Language | Spanish
Country | Argentina
Topic Tags | emojis, word/writing
Summary | The Oxford Dictionary chose an emoji as the word of the year because it reflects people's state of mind and preocupations in 2015. Emojis are not only used by young people; it is also a new form of expression that can break down language barriers.
Image Description | Image of the Oxford Dictionary word of the year: the face with tears of joy emoji
Image Tags | emojis

Digitales Leben: Der Boom der Emojis

(Digital life: The boom of emojis)

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Newspaper | Handelszeitung
Date | 22.5.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, marketing, smartphone
Summary | Emojis can no longer be avoided. People from all ranks of life are using them. Companies even use them in marketing and have to regulate their use; the eggplant emoji is inappropriate. Every smartphone has a few hundred emojis available and an app exists that lets users communicate with emojis only – it is called Emojli.
Image Description | Digital image representing different emojis.
Image Tags | emojis

Emojis: As Japanese tire of emoticons, could their days be numbered elsewhere?

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Newspaper | The Independent
Date | 13.12.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis
Summary | Emojis are everywhere; they are a part of our daily interactions and have become a new language. The birthplace of emojis is Japan, but the little symbols are not as popular over there anymore. Japanese people don't like the style of Western emojis, which explains the fading popularity of emojis in Japan. Apple's emojis were designed in a more Western style, different from Japanese emojis. Diversity has been an important issue regarding emojis. We can use same-sex couples emojis and choose the color of emoji's skin, but people are still waiting to see red-haired emojis for instance.
Image Description | Digital images of emojis and photographs of smartphones showing text messages and emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, smartphone, text

Emoji is named as Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year

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Newspaper | Mirror
Date | 17.11.2015
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | emojis, word/writing
Summary | The "face with tears of joy" emoji was named word of the joy by the Oxford Dictionary. Emojis are symbols of today's culture and communication, and are replacing traditional forms of communication. There is nowadays a focus on visual communication. Emojis are a new form of communication that allow people to express their emotions, and to go beyond linguistic barriers.
Image Description | Digital image of the "face with tears of joy" emoji, and photograph of a man reading the Oxford Dictionary of English.
Image Tags | dictionary, emojis, male(s)

Group Weighs Expansion of the Emoji Vocabulary

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 26.10.2015
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | emojis
Summary | The Unicode Consortium decides which emojis get developed and which do not. Representatives of the most important smartphone companies are members along with “language grammarians”. Still, Unicode’s president is very clear about emojis not being a language because complex ideas cannot be communicated free of ambiguity by using only emojis. Also, different cultures use emojis differently (example of the eggplant emoji meaning a phallus in the US).
Image Description | Digital image: collage of emojis.
Image Tags | emojis

Eine literarische Revolution ;-)

(A literary revolution ;-))

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 10.2.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, language threat, translation
Summary | Originating in the late 1990s in Japan, emojis have gained huge popularity worldwide. Some say they are destroying our language, others use emojis for poetic endeavors. Fred Benenson has for instance re-written the classic story of Moby Dick using emojis. The project was crowd funded and is called “Emoji Dick”. Apple has recently put into action an online petition calling for more ethnic diversity among emojis.
Image Description | Digital image representing 180 different emojis.
Image Tags | emojis

Le monde se parle désormais en émojis

(The world now speaks emoji)

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Newspaper | Le Matin
Date | 3.5.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, youth
Summary | The use of emojis is a global phenomenon; everyone uses them to express actions and emotions. There was a time when we only had words to exchange; now we also have emojis. The “heart emoji” was the “word” used the most on the Internet during the year. Emojis were first mostly used by young people, but now everyone uses them. They also take several forms and portray the world’s diversity.
Image Description | Digital image of emojis: tears of joy emoji, heart-shapes eyes emoji, face throwing a kiss emoji, and "diversity" emojis
Image Tags | emojis

Antiquiert chatten

(An antiquated chat)

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Newspaper | Tages-Anzeiger
Date | 11.11.2015
Language | German
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, school, WhatsApp, youth
Summary | Two Swiss high school students adapted the antique myth of Aeneas and Dido into a WhatsApp chat. A school assignment for their Latin class asked students to adapt ancient stories into other media. The two students reinterpreted the storyline as a WhatsApp chat between Dido and Aeneas in Latin with a lot of dramatic language (e.g. indicate shouting with all capital letters or word length with letter repetitions, and communicate emotions with emojis).
Image Description | Screenshot of a WhatsApp chat in Latin with words, emojis, and images.
Image Tags | emojis, WhatsApp

Un retour aux hiéroglyphes?

(A return to hireoglyphics?)

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Newspaper | Le Matin
Date | 24.4.2015
Language | French
Country | Switzerland
Topic Tags | emojis, grammar, language threat
Summary | The use of emojis is a global phenomenon that is rapidly growing. Should we be worried about it? A linguist from the University of Zurich claims that it is almost like “a return to hieroglyphics”, but that “emoji” is not a language: there is no grammatical structure. The linguist also states that nowadays, “emojis replace words and are not just a complement”. However, linguists do not seem to be worried. Another linguist from the University of Lausanne talks about the advantages of such visual communication: it fosters creativity, and adds nuances and precisions.
Image Description | Digital image of a chart representing which emojis are used the most in the world.
Image Tags | chart, emojis

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