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Since we first upgraded from emoticons to emojis, the entire messaging world has changed. No longer does a colon and a parenthesis suffice for being happy. Instead, we now have at least 70 different faces to choose from. Our online correspondence has become more nuanced, more accurate to our true meanings. Though it’s still easy to get confused, emojis have definitely helped people create more specific meanings to our texts.
And while it’s true that they might lack grammar, that doesn’t automatically mean emojis aren’t a language. They’re just a different kind of communication system. Not convinced? Here’s 7 reasons why we should bow down to emojis as the new, epic language of 2017.
Okay, I won’t really end the conversation here; however, you have to admit that the introduction of the avocado into emoji world was pretty important. Just take a peek at Twitter during the weeks that the avocado emoji finally went live:
I woke up and found an avocado emoji!!! It’s a Christmas miracle????????????????
— Olivia ॐ (@liviOostmeijer) December 25, 2016
2017 is already da best because there is FINALLY an avocado emoji??????????????
— izzy (@isabelfaul) January 3, 2017
Updated my phone and there is an avocado emoji. If you have my number, please put it beside my name. ???
— Amanda Moore ? (@AmandaRoseMoore) December 25, 2016
People all around the world are excited about one, simple thing: an emoji. Why? Sure, maybe because we just love avocados and want to show off that love in brilliant green, 2D style. But I think the avocado emoji shows something else, as well. It’s proof that emojis are, as crazy as it sounds, becoming the “world’s first truly global form of communication” that everyone can use and enjoy.
READ MORE: Texting on an iPhone is About to Change Completely
(And, maybe this is just me, but I certainly don’t see people jumping up and down nearly as much when a new word is added to the English dictionary).
If you receive a peach or an eggplant in a text from your significant other, we all problem know what kind of plans you have for later that night. People have even learned that the “clap” emoji placed between each word of a sentence acts as a digital, “Hello! Pay attention!” A moon emoji is a simpler way to say goodnight, and you can never go wrong with sending a heart to your BFF. In many cases, such as those emojis that represent hand movements, we are using emojis to facilitate the body language that is lacked in online communication. In many ways it turns online messages into a more full means of articulating our thoughts.
Basically, people are using emojis to try “and solve one of the big problems of writing online, which is that you have words but you don’t have the one of voice,” according to linguist Gretchen McCulloch.
You may remember 2015 for a lot of different reasons, but for emoji-lovers, it will forever be the year that someone was arrested for their use of emojis.
And, no, we’re not kidding.
In January, teenage Osiris Aristy was reportedly arrested for “making a terroristic threat” on Facebook. What did he write? It’s more like what did he type. Aristy was charged for posting three guns pointing at a police officer emoji, though, to be fair, the emojis appeared next to the message: “N—– run up on me, he gunna get blown down.” By February, a grand jury decided to not indict Aristy for the emoji posting. However, he’s still facing criminal charges for third-degree weapons possession.
Wondering if l could get arrested for improper use of emojis. ?
— Marius (@maxmarioxx) June 29, 2016
Not everyone agreed with the grand jury’s decision. “A Legal Aid attorney claims that a police emoji with a gun emoji pointed at it was not a threat,” says Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, “but he might feel differently if there was a Legal Aid attorney emoji with a gun pointed at it.”
Bottom line? If emojis aren’t a language, it’s pretty amazing what you can get arrested for these days.
Remember your first heartbreak when all you wanted to do was vent to your best friend, but you didn’t even know where to start or what to say? Now, there’s an emoji for that: a variety of crying faces, a broken heart – basically, you can take your pick.
The fact is, emojis may be simple, but the message they send can be extremely complex. You don’t have to start mourning the loss of Shakespearean creativity, either. “I have seen incredibly creative and witty or touching or sarcastic uses of emojis that are delightful in the way that a really poetic turn of phrase is delightful,” explains Aimee Morrison, who teaches mass media studies at the Unversity of Waterloo.
Don’t believe her?
You just have to glimpse at Instagram accounts like funny_emoji for your (linguistic) life to be blown.
Let’s take a back to high school history class for a few minutes. Remember the Egyptians? You know, the people who were ruled by God-like pharaohs and ruled at building epic monuments like the Great Sphinx of Giza? Well, emojis may just be throwing it back to the Egyptians’ own written language of hieroglyphics, according to linguistics professor Vyv Evans.
My phone keeps trying to replace words with emojis so I guess human language has come full circle #bringbackhieroglyphics2017
— Steph Renna ??? (@steph_renna) January 1, 2017
The Egyptians used carved images and symbols to preserve ideas for the future and communicate with other people in society. Emojis use a similar system, though Evans believes “as a visual language, emoji has already far eclipsed hieroglyphics.” So maybe the next time your mom asks you to start texting in English instead of emojis, you should just say you’re trying to “experience” Egyptian history in the modern world. Who could say no to that?
If you’ve ever visited a country where people mainly speak a different language, you’ve probably felt overwhelmed with how saturated society is with communication. Words cover our clothes (remember those sweatpants with “Juicy” written on the butt?”), direct traffic, and are needed in everyday interaction.
READ MORE: 5 Steps to Learning a New Language
It seems like emojis are building a similarly expansive empire. Now, you can decorate your house with emoji throw pillows or show your anger at Taylor Swift by “snake bombing” her Instagram. You can even express your “love” for your friend’s engagement announcement on Facebook by giving her a “heart.”
Maybe emojis aren’t a language. But if that’s true, people aren’t getting the message, because they’re broadcasting their “love” for emojis on everything from furnitures to their morning oatmeal.
A photo posted by ?Fresh Heather: Heather+Hannah (@fresheather) on
“Talk” about delicious!
Now, before you start shredding your BA in English, don’t worry: even if emojis are the new, hip language, they won’t be overtaking English anytime soon.
Let’s just take a peek at some numbers. If you’re speaking English, you’re either one of its 335 million native speakers or its 505 second language speakers. It’s the primary or official language in 101 countries – which basically means that English is a language superstar. Emojis obviously don’t have the same boisterous stats, but they’re nothing to laugh at either. According to recent studies, 79.9% of people use emojis at least several times a month (with 30.4% of them using emojis several times a day). All of this is to say that English has established itself as a dominant language all over the world, and while emojis don’t have the same reach, their popularity is growing quickly.
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But emojis are unlikely to ever steal English’s throne. As linguist Gretchen McCulloch explains, the death of English would require teaching people to change their writing systems and learn how to read a new (emoji) language. Not only that, but languages rarely die from being usurped. They die when children – and further future generations – stop learning it and speaking it…and, by that measuring stick, English is in “ruddy good health.”
The moment that emojis joined the texting world – and the following years in which they gained popularity – has transformed how we communicate and view language. Suddenly, language isn’t just letters. It’s a smiley face or a bashful monkey. Suddenly, it doesn’t have to take five minutes to write about how mad we are at our boss. All we have to do is click the red “angry face” and a few office-related emojis. Regardless of whether you like or use emojis, it’s impossible to deny that they have become an impactful, expressive aspect of society.
sitting around overcome by the weight of responsibility in the hands of the ppl who change the emojis and, in doing so, our common language
— ☁️ charles ☁️ (@qu4rl3s) December 21, 2016
I’m pretty sure emojis can probably be considered a language at this point
— edgy boi (@manuleyoshi55) January 3, 2017
So the next time someone says you “aren’t speaking” when you send them some emojis? Maybe you should just send them a shrug and keep on emoji-ing!
