Question : Which sentence can best reveal the function that emoticons and emojis play in our digital communication? [音频] What about emoticons and emojis? 5 The fastest growing ‘new language’ in the world is emoticons (faces) and emojis (images of objects, which hail from Japan), which are one of the biggest changes caused by digital communications. “Facial expressions, visual presence and body language have always been vital to being a confident speaker, but now emojis are blurring the lines between verbal and written communication,” thinks Kermode, who adds that cavemen had early versions of emojis on the sides of their caves. “Pictures, cartoons or emojis are ‘shortcuts’ so we can be clear about what our message really means.” 6 If you mainly use emojis, why not get a keyboard based around smiley faces and cartoon icons? That’s exactly what Swyft Media recently created, and while it’s more of a PR stunt the keyboards of the future will probably contain at least some emojis. How emojis add meaning 7 Emoticons and emojis are arguably more meaningful than slang and shorthand, which can be too easily misunderstood. “I once witnessed a girl being dumped in a text, which consisted of a message with just five letters, ‘U R MY X’ – linguistically economic, but emotionally harsh,” says Kermode. Trouble is, the sender had actually meant ‘YOU ARE MINE. X’. “If he’d added three emojis — like a smiley face, a heart and a wedding ring, he might now be happily married!” 8 The same goes for a statement such as “I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOU RIGHT NOW”, which needs a qualifying emoticon or emoji to give it meaning. “It could signal an angry meeting or a passionate meeting but add a coffee cup, a big smiley face or an angry face and it becomes clear what’s really going on,” says Kermode. 9 They may be derided by traditionalists, but emoticons and emojis used to describe mood are the body language add-on that the written word has always lacked. In most instances, these icons represent language evolution and progress, not regression. [音频]