What is happening? Does emoji writing constitute a new visual language, communicating through the eye rather than through the ear (as does alphabetic writing)? With an ever-expanding use and availability of emojis on all kinds of digital devices, apps, and websites, it is becoming saliently obvious that there is more to the phenomenon of emojis than literally meets the eye(punintended). The Oxford Dictionary explained its selection as reflecting "theethos,mood, and preoccupations" of today's society. Is the kind of alphabetic literacy that has served us so well since its crystallization in the ancient Middle East lost its value and functions? The late Marshall McLuhan (1962, 1964) predicted that the Global Village, as he named it, would both look forward and backward--forward to a form of literacy that involves nonlinear holistic modes of representing information and backward to an age when visual writing dominated, in Sumer (cuneiform), Egypt (hieroglyphic and hieratic writing), China (ideography), and other areas of the world. Nowhere is McLuhan's assessment more verifiable than it is in the rise of emoji writing. But is it a revolution, an evolution, or just a passing fad?
Shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize 2017Emoji 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 Semiotics of Emoji: The Rise of Visual Language in the Age of the Internet (Bloomsbury Advances
2ff7e9595c
Comments