These articles discuss how emoji can serve a variety of communicative functions, illustrate generational differences in language use, and represent changing values in our society. They can cater to the face needs of minority groups, help people express their individual identity in the emoji they choose to use, or be employed as a kind of code to intentionally exclude others from communication.
Sydney Morning Herald - New inclusive emoji give us even more reasons to smiley (published February 2021)
Useful quotes from the article:
'In the last 10 years there’s been huge leaps with same-sex couples introduced in 2012, five skin tones in 2015 instead of just ‘Simpsons’ yellow, male and female options for human emojis such as astronauts, cooks, teachers, and firefighters in 2016, and gender-neutral options in 2019.'
'The new race options of the couple kissing and couple with heart emoji... for the first time will be able to include different configurations of race as well as gender, which will mean a lot of people in mixed-race relationships will have more emoji that look like them.'
'The best thing about language is that it evolves to suit the culture and needs of the people who use it.'
'The only people who ever benefit from a static language with strict, unchangeable rules are those with power and privilege.'
'Whether or not you grasp the complexities beyond laughing faces and that peach means ‘buttocks’, emoji is a language unto itself, and now more people can find themselves within it, which is just magnificent.'
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Forbes - Generation divide: different age groups use emojis differently and that isn't likely going to change (published August 2021)
Useful quotes from the article:
'Just as language evolves over time, generation by generation – we're already seeing that emojis are evolving. In fact, emojis have already evolved from emoticons, which used some text-based symbols to replace certain words to express emotions. The idea for this was proposed in the 1960s, when Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov suggested a universal symbol for a smile.'
'Technology has played a role as well. Generation-X may have grown up into the world of the Internet and flip phones, whereas millennials were the first smart phone generation. As such, the emojis were already part of the culture, which they embraced and helped evolve.'
'Like many sociolinguistic practices, emoji use continues to evolve. Recently, we've seen some social media friction between Millennials and Gen Z in terms of emoji use, with new meanings being attached by Gen Z to certain emojis, leaving Millennials and older generations wondering which emoji to use or whether to use any at all. Emojis are a kind of representational language, and all languages evolve. This is nothing new. Words have always taken up new meanings, meanings that reflect the texture and contours of the time and place in which they're used.'
- Dr. Anne Framroze, adjunct lecturer in the Online Masters of Communication Management Program at the University of Southern California
'Generations have used language differently for hundreds of years to display youthful uniqueness. In the 1990s, older generations didn't connect with slang like 'Da Bomb,' and now the skull emoji means funny to Gen Z while the crying laughing face means funny to Millennials. This use of emojis can enrich communication. Emojis are simply an evolution of language, for example, we wouldn't communicate how people spoke in the 1800s or even the 1970s. If you think word choice is important, you also believe in emojis.'
- Dr. Dustin York, associate professor of communications at Maryville University
'Where emojis are a bit different is that it is almost more than just a word or phrase that takes on a different meaning. A small symbol can take on a meaning that is almost essentially a code of sorts based on these symbols. As a result, one group of people may have no clue what a conversation means – and as there is no Rosetta Stone to translate, the conversation can look all but meaningless. We are all aware, by the very evolution of colloquial language, that there are 'generational gaps' leading each generation to define its own identity patterns, differentiated from the previous ones.'
- Dr. Oscar Barroso Huertas, professor within the Graduate School of Business at CETYS University, Mexico
'Emojis express emotions, which the typographic element does not reflect, attributing one specific tone to the conversation, and thus one scenario in particular, to develop a more appropriate conversational environment, depending on the situation in which they are manifested or used.'
- Dr. Oscar Barroso Huertas, professor within the Graduate School of Business at CETYS University, Mexico
'Millennials made these icons their own, which the previous generation had despised, assuming that it was not necessary to assign an emotion to a written message. It was a matter of moving from email to SMS, and that's how people belonging to Generation X used to think about it, without any further significance. In the same way, Generation Z took the baton of the common way of use of those emojis, by the two previous generations, raising it to another level, where the mixture of uses is what enriches communication.'
- Dr. Oscar Barroso Huertas, professor within the Graduate School of Business at CETYS University, Mexico
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