Książki

Shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize 2017

Emoji have gone from being virtually unknown to being a central topic in internet communication. What is behind the rise and rise of these winky faces, clinking glasses and smiling poos? Given the sheer variety of verbal communication on the internet and English's still-controversial role as lingua mundi for the web, these icons have emerged as a compensatory universal language.

The Semiotics of Emoji looks at what is officially the world's fastest-growing form of communication. Emoji, the colourful symbols and glyphs that represent everything from frowning disapproval to red-faced shame, are fast becoming embedded into digital communication. Controlled by a centralized body and regulated across the web, emoji seems to be a language: but is it? The rapid adoption of emoji in such a short span of time makes it a rich study in exploring the functions of language.

Professor Marcel Danesi, an internationally-known expert in semiotics, branding and communication, answers the pertinent questions. Are emoji making us dumber? Can they ultimately replace language? Will people grow up emoji literate as well as digitally native? Can there be such a thing as a Universal Visual Language? Read this book for the answers. The main contributions of Danesi's work are, first, his report on the survey of a hundred eighteen to twenty-two-year-old university students - fifty males and fifty females - along with examples of their text messages. * Times Literary Supplement * Danesi maintains a healthy level of scepticism about the applications and future of the emoji, especially when it comes to "translations" of classics such as Moby-Dick and Alice in Wonderland. * The Sydney Herald * The Semiotics of Emoji is an important reminder of the limitations of language and sound, and how much visual symbols can aid human interaction and add to the richness of communication. * Inspector Insight * Danesi's goal was to provide readers with a look at emoji that was accessible to everyone ... He reached that goal by providing a great balance of information coming from his vast experience in various fields. * The Linguist List *

The Semiotics of Emoji: The Rise of Visual Language in the Age of the Internet

1. Emoji and Writing Systems



Defining Emoji

Writing Systems

Writing as Social Practice

Stylization

Research Method



2. Emoji Uses



Phatic Function

Emotive Function

Standardization

Ambiguity

Culture-Coding



3. Emoji Competence



General Features

The Emoji Code

Core Emoji

Peripheral Emoji

Compression





4. Emoji Semantics



The Thesaurus Effect

Framing

Connotation

Facial Emoji

Blending

The Power of Images



5. Emoji Grammar



Calquing

Conceptualization

Syntactics

Rebus Writing

Overview



6. Emoji Pragmatics



Pragmatic Competence

Salutation

Punctuation

Other Pragmatic Functions

Some Relevant Questions and Findings



7. Emoji Variation



Cross-Cultural Variation

Usage According to Nation

Cultural Coding

Visuality

Adjacency Pair Variation

Cartoon Style Literacy



8. Emoji Spread



Emoji-Only Writing

Emoji Translations

Emoji in Advertising

Effort



9. Universal Languages



Artificial Languages

Blissymbolics

The Emoji Code



10. A Communication Revolution?



The Global Village

Emoji as Trend

The Future of Emoji



References