Will emojis become a language?

Emojis are a new language just like coding and slang. The level of sophistication differs in each of the above case.

SLANG

Slang includes a lot of abbreviations, and the issue is those alphabets can indicate multiple words.

ROFL = Rolling on the floor laughing

It can also mean Residents of Foreign Lands, if you wish to frame it that way.

Haha = correct

Ha Ha = incorrect

Why?

Try laughing with pauses in between.

It is a poor communication strategy, because receiver’s interpretation can overrule the sender’s intent.

CODING

If computers can decipher binary code based on 0s and 1s, can’t we use 3865 emojis to develop a language?

But coding languages and rules change frequently, and professionals need to update themselves regularly.

Will everybody be willing to update themselves?

EMOJIS

Emojis are basically expressions and symbols. Perhaps, it started as the written extension of body language. Many of the emojis imitate a baby’s expressions.

The symbols are pictures depicting several things from food to trees to buildings to mathematical symbols.

What really matters is how they are put together to convey something. As Jim Adams says, there are 3782 emojis.

The number is far less than the 1,71,476 words of current usage in the Oxford dictionary. It also contains 47,156 obsolete ones. And these words are put together from just 26 alphabets.

Do you see emojis as alphabets or words? They show promise of becoming a universal language, putting translators out of business.

Can we write a poem or article only with emojis? As of today, I cannot. But who knows about the future? I may have a tool like Grammarly to tell me what I’m doing wrong, and I may succeed in writing it. Using AI to generate it will be easier than that.

AI translated the poem Jack and Jill to emojis as follows.

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water

Jack fell down
And broke his crown
Jill came tumbling after

Up Jack got
and home did trot
As fast as he could caper;

And went to bed
to mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

👦🏻👧🏻👆🏻🌄 👉🏻🚰🌊 👦🏻🤕👇🏻👑 👧🏻👇🏻👦🏻👩🏼‍⚕️ 👩🏼‍⚕️👩🏼‍🔬👩🏼‍🏫👩🏼‍🎓 👦🏻👧🏻👩🏼‍🎓👏🏻

Try to interpret each emoji.

EMOTIQUETTE

It will also need a universally acceptable etiquette. I find some of the slang and emojis downright insulting. Elon Musk can respond with a Poop emoji on a Twitter CEO’s post, and nobody expresses disgust.

Personally, I stop communicating on chats, if someone uses the expression Hmmm. It is an expression of distrust. A Haha in a serious conversation can also indicate mockery.

A borrower lost a lawsuit in Canada, because of using a Thumbs up emoji in a chat with a lender. His claim was that it was meant to acknowledge receipt of the message. The lender interpreted it as an agreement to repay the money. The court ruled in the lender’s favour, asking the borrower to pay up as per commitment.

Another solution could be an AI-generated interpretation in English or any other language, which the sender and receiver can accept or reject.

Do you think it will be a good practice to seek confirmation, till we devise better communication strategies?

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Emoji Blogging