Shriti Khandelwal Tyagi
Dear Fellow Thumbfolk,
Love 'em or hate 'em we sure do use' em.
I am talking of Emojis. I am talking of the pictographic fire on our mobile screens. I am talking expression. A paralanguage.
And Language, para or otherwise, has always made accommodations for the need of the users & times. It has and will continue to change, adapt and evolve and it isnt a bad thing now, Is it?
So while we are busy thumbing speedy conversations using these tiny images on our phone keypads let’s resist from making suggestions that they will destroy the ability of children to write correctly, dumbify us or reflect the poor standards of Literacy of the 21st Century.
Emojis or Emoji, for one, do not replace speech; they just fill a gap in our writing by adding utterance and nuance to an otherwise flat text in screen conversation. According to linguist Gretchen McCulloch “They solve the problem of writing online by adding a tone of voice to words.” Apart from tone, we understand one on other through body language and facial expression –“Stance” as Emoji Linguist Tyler Schnoebelen points out. Emojis add that stance to conversations.
Emoji are effective across cultures and are becoming more and more inclusive of diversity, race, occupation, gender and so on. But the real good news is they are replacing netspeak!!! The more we use them, the less we use LOL, OMG, IKR, ROFL, TY, K etc. I have nothing against net-speak - they too have danced around on my screen long enough but not without mental barfing while reading. Well, I am trying to be all embracing (and failing) but give me a bright yellow emoji any day!
Well of course, they are vague sometimes. But aren’t we?
So what if they are not a part of a stamped and sealed language with grammar and syntax. Academic correctness never a language made. Acceptance did (Let’s keep netspeak out of this for now – K? K?).
Fret not for the future of written word.
Give your cold copy some warmth. Go on use that Emoji.
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