xIlkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online, 2021; Vol 20 (Issue 5): pp.

2409-2425
http://ilkogretim-online.org
doi: 10.17051/ilkonline.2021.05.263

An Analysis of the Emoji’s Impact on the Language and Expressions of

Youth on Social Media
Faryal Qureshi, Student, Department of English, Women University Mardan, Pakistan
Shagufta Gul, Chairperson, Department of English, Women University Mardan, Pakistan (email:
shaguftagul@wumardan.edu.pk)
HaleemaAkber, PhD scholar, Qurtuba University of Science and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan
Dr. Zainab Qazi, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Malakand, Pakistan
Zubaida Shakir, Lecturer, Department of English, University of Science and Technology, Bannu, Pakistan

Abstract- The enormous growth of internet gave birth to a sign language in digital textual communication called
emoticons, which late evolved to present colorful emoji’s. Now emoji’s have become the shortest way of expressing
feelings in textual communication. The aim of this study was to find the impact of emoji’s on people’s language, thoughts
and expressions in social media, and their day-to-day life. The tools used in this research was questionnaires. Data was
represented graphically. Total of 130 participants between the age group of 16-35 participated. The result of the findings
highlighted that increased use of emoji’s in digital communication on social media has transformed it into a type of
colorful friendly interface, besides reducing the use of written language on social media. Emoji’s serve as a tool which
express a person’s expression, thought and feelings in text messages. And it has now turned into a necessity without
which conversation seems boring and less colorful.

Key words: Emojis, forms of expressions, youth,social media, language, CMC.

I. INTRODUCTION
We are living in a post-modern age where globalization is on its peak and the lives of people have been made
easy and advanced due to technological advancements. The whole world has become connected due to
enormous scientific advancements and internet. Social media is getting advanced which is a very powerful
tool. It has huge impact on teenagers and youth. The ratio of use of social media is high in youth. They use it to
interact with other people worldwide. It is shapeing their lives, personality and identity (Ida & Saud, 2020).

Almost similar views were expressed by Sadia (2018) who opined that the era in which we are living is
technological, it plays an important role in modifying and changing our communication in written as well as
in spoken form. Herring (2010) expressed his views that technological advancements gave birth to internet
and then to CMC (Computer-Mediated-Communication) in computers in late 1980s (Herring, 2010). CMC is
based on written form and text messages are widely sent and received by the people through online
applications. Rahim, et. Al (2019) states that signal of speech is the most psychological, intuitive and natural
way of interaction between humans. Although, exploitation of speech signals to interact naturally and
intuitively with machines entail a lot of efforts.The widespread of emoticons was observed by Williams
(2007). He added that in late 1990s, with the spread of internet and SMS, the emoticons were also widely in
use. People started using it in SMS, emails and internet forums.According to Encyclopedia Britannica,
between 1960s-1990s, internet was based only on textual language. In 1982, an American computer scientist
first used emoticons “:-( ”“:-)” also known as the smileys for the first time in order to add emotions in CMC. An
emoticon is a portmanteau of emotional and icon, which means emotional representation.

Emoticons got popularity in the whole world with different varieties in form and styles like Western style,
Asian style, and Korean style. Sampietro (2016) highlighted that emoticons are inspiration for emojis andthey
are considered the descendants of emoticons which has little pictographic structure.

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Tremeer (2019) defined emojis as pictograms whose appearance can be traced back into the very first
written form of language on this earth.Blagdon (2013) believed that an emoji is a Japanese term which stands
for ‘picture character’. In late 90s,emoji’s were first introduced by ShigetakaKurita, a Japanese employee, by
designing small pictures, while he was working on the first mobile phone with internet connection, to please
the teenage users(Sadia, 2018). Nowadays emoji are used to convey certain different ideas, emotions or signs.
Emoji exists in various forms like facial emoji, which represents specific mood or emotions of a person such
as sadness, happiness, hunger, etc. Other emoji includes; running feet, fingers, waving hands, folded arms and
slanted bodies. Some emoji represents location, food, clothing and tools.

Standardization and Popularity of Emojis

In the start emojis were only used by Softbank cellphonesand DoCoMo company’s operators (Sadia,
2018&Saggion, et, al., 2020) but then in 2010, emoji’s were made a part of Unicode Consortium.Emoji’s
keyboard by default was made available in Apple smartphone in 2011 and then it was followed by android
phones (Pardes, 2018) and was made available to online applications like what’s app, Google Hangout,
Facebook Messenger, Twitter and Skype. This made great contribution in the popularity of emojis worldwide
and people started adapting it rather than using words. As text messaging was preferred, so emoji’s were
made supportable to mobiles’ keyboards.

Robertson, A., Magdy, W., & Goldwater, S. (2020) &Pardes (2018) stated that in 2015, Unicode Consortium
introduced to changed skin tone of people emojis in order to provide variety to the people, they also invented
more emojis which were cultural specific like people wearing hijab, emojis with neutral gender were also
introduced which depicted disabilities of people.In 2017, emojis updated version in Android and iOS version
got huge number of new emojis like vampires, elves, mermaids, sandwich, pie, giraffe, hedgehog, dinosaur
and culturally specific symbols like nazar amulet and mooncake. Derks et al. (2007) opined that emojis users
believes that emojis helps them to clarify the ambiguity in a message and also show sentiments in form of
pictographs. Mastroianni (2016) stated that due to emojis popularity worldwide, World Emoji Day is
celebrated every year since 2014.

Dictionary for Emojis

Griffin (2019) stated that in 2014, Burge created Emoji-pedia, an emoji dictionary where every emoji has its
specific meaning.

Usage and Functions of Trending Emojis

Emojis are trending nowadays, as it makes text messages colorful. Apart from it colored pictographic
representation, it depicts one’s emotions, psyche, personality and identity. The role of the emoticons in a text
is only to emphasize on the deep meaning of that particular text message (Li, X., Chan, K. W., & Kim, S. 2019).
Emojis are used in a text to show politeness and softness and one can better perceive the personality or the
current mood of the person who wrote the text. The persons using online chat applications can only
understand conversing’s emotions if they have used emojis in their messages similar views were expressed
by Gander (2017).

There are various reasons behind trending emojis globally as López et al. (2019) stated that emojis are used
in the beginning and at the end of a conversation in order to make the conversation smooth and positive. It is
not only confined to social media or technology, but it has embedded its roots in marketing as Lee (2018)
&Das, G., Wiener, H. J., &Kareklas, I. (2019) explained that emojis are also used for branding and marketing
purposes to catch audience’s view and increase their sales because the consumers’ usage of digital
communication is more than face to face communication. Even the books like Moby Dick and Alice in the
Wonderland are converted into emojis in order to make it more catching and wonderful. An example of
marketing through emojis was noted by Conelly (2015) and he added that the famous food brand McDonald’s
also used emojis for their marketing purposes by embedding it in their billboards to catch consumers and
they advertised a video in which a city is depicted with people whose heads were of 3D emojis instead of their
own heads. The following figures shows McDonald’s Advertisement campaign held in France, where people
had emoji heads.

2410| Faryal Qureshi An Analysis of the Emoji’s Impact on the Language and Expressions of Youth
on Social Media
(McDonald's Driving ScoolAd) (McDonald's Football Team Ad)

Apart from emojis’ marketing purpose they have been taken into consideration by Hollywood, as Goldberg
(2016) stated that due to popularity of emojis, in 2017, Hollywood released a movie “The Emoji Movie” which
had emojis as 3D characters. It was based on branding of games and different online social applications.
Tan (2017) further added that everyday about five billion emojis are exchanged through Facebook Messenger
and they are used immensely on Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp as well.
If we can see the Impact of Emojis on Textual Language, Luongová et al. (2017) stated thatin 2015, Oxford
Dictionary termed an emoji ‘face with tears of happiness 😂’ as word of the year.Emojis have also been
used in formal conversation as according to Bingham (2016), a High Court judge Mr. Peter Jackson took
an exceptional step of including an emoji of smiley face into official case study in order to clarify the evidence
that even children could understand it. According to Leith (2017) Emojis have become world’s lingua franca.

Statement of the problem is, how emojis effects English language of the people who use it as their second
language. This study also aims to show how teenagers and youth efficiently use emojis in conveying emotions
or mood instead of words and how it is molding their text language. Significance ofthis study is investigating
the role of emoji in written language and focuses on the aspect that how emojis are taking grip of our text
language and even molding it.
Objectives of the study is to investigate the influence of emojis in textual communication/language, to study
how the use of emojis are replacing words in a language and to study how emojis convey our emotions and
feelings more efficiently.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Emojis adds more meanings to the textual communication. But, nowadays emojis also molding the digital text
language of youth. Steinmetz (2014) said that emoticons are simply made up from punctuations “:-) :-( ”. In
early 1980s, a computer scientist, Scott Fahlman, at the University of Carnegie Mellon, observed that the
exchange of messages on electronic mails were going awry and conversation became jokeless and toneless.
Brisson, C. M. (2015) says that Fahlman suggested a view, that if any person is going to be sarcastic or full of
amusement, so he should use smiley face which is made up of parenthesis, dashes and colons to label in his
written view. Shortly emotions were spread to other universities and then spreading into electronic mails
and text messages by filling the gap with visual signs in CMC which was only a part of face-to-face
conversation. Emoticons gave its ways to Japanese emojis which were more convenient and operative in use.
Whereas some investigators designate that the practice of emojis is helping to illuminate or dis-ambiguate
communications (Kaye, Wall & Malone, 2016; Riordan, 2017), others idea to misperception among users
owed to the different podiums used, e.g., Facebook, Google, WhatsApp Apple, etc., and differing cultural
interpretations (Miller et al., 2016). The Emoji Research Team (2016-2015), tracks and analyzes the growth
of emojis as a marketing and modern social phenomenon in the United States. They note that the rapid
growth in usage, since in 2011 Apple added an emoji Keyboard to its operating system. In 2015, 92% people
used emojis online, and a year later, they sent 2.3 trillion mobile messages with emojis in them. Through

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emojis, digital communications have been shortened and, as some users have suggested, more psychological
(Emoji Research Team, 2015).
Alshenqeeti (2016) highlighted that increased use of emojis are either degenerating the existing language, or
constructing a new language among telecommunication. The researcher came with the view that throughout
history, human have felt it necessary to communicate with each other to express their feelings and emotions.
For this purpose, they have used different pictographs and symbols. Emojis are also the little pictograms
which conveys meanings without using any grammatical structure or morphemes. Since emojis have widely
spread so is the case with its library. Alshenqeeti, H. (2016), states that It has also spread widely and
developed which includes emojis like faces, animals, food and other characters. It can be used individually or
collectively at the same time by the user in a conversation as shown in fig. 2.2. It enables the user to send his
message in highly expressive way. Seargeant, P. (2019), says that the spread of emojis gives the indications
that language is degenerating and returning back to the era, where people used pictographic language.
The researcher said that ancient pictographs has correlation with today’s emojis. With the evolution of those
pictographic language, today’s emojis have developed, It means that those pictograms were the ancestors of
emojis (Nawar, H. (2018, July). It can be said that today’s modern age emojis are advanced form of ancient
pictographic language.

(Current Times Emojis) (Ancient Language)

Alshenqeeti illustrated in fig. 2.3, that how early ages pictographs insertion in a written language represents
nowadays emojis, but in its advanced forms.
Luongová et al. (2017) highlighted that emojis have gained the status to be the standard language of the
digital world. But it has got its own limitations because it only serves as the cues to clarify the conversation,
they possess certain meaning of its own but they do not have complex grammar and rules. Emoticons, which
have been renovated into emojis, have developed a new language spectacle that give birth to a new research
area in numerous fields from linguistics to media revisions (Gülşen, T. T. (2016). The researchers used the
example of Moby Dick in emojis’ version in their studies. They concluded that emojis cannot replace lexicons
due to its lack of complex grammar. It should be noted that emojis are mostly influenced by Japanese context
and their heritage, which is why its meanings differs in the non-official contexts and most of its meanings are
connotative rather than universal (Moschini, I. (2016). Emojis represent the sociocultural background of the
countries, users of France prefer the heart emojis. American prefers to use the emojis depicting lesbians, gays,
transgender, peer and bisexuals. Arabic users prefers flowers emojis. Brazilian prefers religious emojis.
While, Canadian prefers violent or sport emojis.It means that different ethnic background’s people use
different kind of emojis with meanings varying from context to context. It does not gain official standard as
that of a text language, rather it helps in clarifying the text in textual conversation. Emojis is a semantic
monograph that tries to show that emoji is a new visual language (Moschini, I. (2016).

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Motene (2019) concluded that the uses of emojis giving additional meaning and emotions to conversation on
CMC and it also makes their conversation as that of face to face. It shows that emojis makes the written
messages attractive and lively. Lo (2008) conducted a study to explore the written communication functions
of emoticons in CMC. He concluded with the view that without emoticons, a person cannot perceive the exact
emotions of another person in CMC. It shows that when a text message is sent without the use of emoji in it,
the receiver might not understand the true emotions of the sender which he actually might have tended. But,
if he uses emojis in the written message, then the receiver will be able to know the exact emotions and
feelings of the sender attached with that certain message (Luor et al. (2010).
Andoroutsopoulos (2011) stated that CMC is viewed by some scholars as a lump of a ‘general tendency for
writing to become a transcription of speech’, which claims that written conversation reflects spoken
conversation. The keyboard and typeface and emoticons help to recoup the absence of facial expression in
textual interactions. Thus, emojis helps in making textual communication livelier. Hakami (2017) said that
according to a phenomenon called Emotional Contagion, the same expressions and emotions are triggered at
once from one person to other people through parody and imitation by verbal means or expressions. Evans
(2017) elaborated that in long term written communication like complex prose, literature or journals, emojis
are not applicable. It is totally wrong idea, if emojis are compared to Shakespearean language or any other
languages. Its only provide nonverbal signs to digital text messages. It helps the recipient to understand what
the sender’s text actually meant, it does not replace any language. 43 muscles are used by human face in daily
face to face communication. Emotional cues are delivered up to 70 percent through body gestures,
expressions, eye gaze and tone pitch. The same reason is also behind worldwide spread of emojis, as it works
like body language in face-to-face interaction. Evans collected data in the form of a survey from 5,600
bachelors on Match.com, an online dating site, where it was concluded that the more emojis they use in digital
written conversation, the more they get opportunities to go on dates. It is shown that when people use more
emojis in CMCs, which means that they share more emotions and feelings. It helps them to develop a positive
understanding and in their relationships.
Turner (2018) argued that emoticon language is the fastest spreading language in history of all
languages. We are drifting from textual language into language of pictograph which i s highly
affecting our textual language. YouTube conducted a research on 2000 adults of 16 -65 age group in
which 94% people said that correct usage of English language with its proper grammar and
spellings is disturbed by use of emojis and now they rely on it. Emojis are affecting the grasp of people
over English language. British people blame emojis for ruining their English language and believe that due to
emojis, they are deviating from using the correct version of English especially the spellings and grammar.
Watching English tutorials on YouTube, 126 percent increase was noted since April, 2016. Lucy Earl, a
YouTuber who teaches English, said that it is a natural phenomenon that our language will evolve due to
ample use of phones for communication. It shows that it is possible that emojis might take over text language
and most probably its grammar. But there are fewer chances as emojis do not have proper grammar and its
meaning also varies from context to context.
Kelly (2015) conducted a research to see whether the use of emojis in text messages is universal or not.
Questionnaires were filled from 90 students of 16-19 years in a secondary school in Stockholm. The results
were investigated through Saussure, Thomas and Peirce’s “Relevance Theory”. He concluded that for a text
message’s interpreter, it is crucial that textual context is settled, in order for the receiver to actually
understand that what the emojis meant in text message. This study also came with the view that the emojis or
emoticons do not carry its own meaning, but possess different meanings according to different context. Saha,
K. (2019) explores negative characteristics of the social media effects on Language, that social networks effect
our writing skills more than any other ability. The language basic building blocks are mendacities in its roots
and sentence construction. In this developmental age, those building blocks are changed by the addition of
numerous elements like emoticons, abbreviations and autofill.

Khan et al. (2019) argued about the language shift which occurs in written conversation due to increased use
of emojis as compared to words on Facebook, a social media platform. This study was conducted on Facebook
users of Pakistan. Because, Pakistani users of internet uses Facebook on highest scale among all other social
media platforms. The researchers investigated recent language shift which has occurred due to more use of
emojis through Speech act theory, specifically Searle’s model of Illocutionary act. Data was collected through
Discourse Completion Test to accumulate the responses from focused groups’ participants. These participants
included members from faculty and students of NUML and Air University, Pakistan. The study came up with a

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on Social Media
conclusion there has been a triggered language shift in textual interaction as young generations uses emojis
in high scale as that of aged people. The people use an enormous amount of emojis on Facebook instead of
words to express their feelings. Thus, reducing usage of words as they are as competent as words, which fill
up the gaps of facial impressions in textual conversation.

III. METHOD AND METHODOLOGY

This study aims to find the impact of emojis on textual language and to show whether it is better source of
conveying thoughts and emotions on the platform of social media?

The present research is quantitative in nature, the researcher carried out data collection through the
technique of closed ended questionnaire, which was made through online Google Forms.In this study, the
researcher distributed questionnaire through a link, to 200 people randomly, on WhatsApp, Instagram and
Facebook application. Out of these 200 people, 130 participants responded to the questionnaire which
included teenagers and young people whose age limit was from 16-35 years. 65 responses were responded
by females and 65 by males.

Firstly, the participants were briefly told about the purpose of the study, so that they could easily fill the
questionnaire. They were also informed that they can ask any question which comes in their mind about the
questions of the questionnaire without any hesitation. Five days were given to the participants to fill the
questionnaire. The researcher analyzed the participant’s data and represented it through pie chart which
showed their responses to each question through percentages.

IV. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

1. Frequent Use of Emoji

Frequent Use of Emoji

14.60%

16.20%
51.50%
17.70%

When need to express feeling or emotion

Very rare
In Between or after text
Always

Fig.1
Among 130 participants, 51.5% participants use emojis in text messages whenever they need to express
their feelings. It was noted that 17.7% participants use emojis very rarely and 16.2% participants use them
in between or after their every text message. While, 14.6% always use emojis in their communication. The
researcher observed from the above graphical represenation that often emojis are used by the people when
they need to express their emotions or feelings in a communication during text messages.

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on Social Media
2. Reasons Behind the Use Of Emojis
Reasons Behind the Use Of Emojis
5.40%
23.10%

4.60%
73.10%

In shorten the message To pass the time

To express the emotion To be personal

Fig. 2.
It is a belief that the reason behind more use of emotion is to express one’s emotions, 73.1% participants’
responses shown that the reason behind use of emojis in text message is to express emotions. 23.1%
participants recorded the reason behind the use of emojis in message is to shorten the message. While, 5.4%
participants recorded the reason behind the use of emojis in message is to be personal. 4.6% participants
came up with the reason behind use of emojis in text message is to pass the time. The researcher observed
from the above graphical representation that main reason behind people’s use of emojis in text messages is
to express emotions. People use emojis in text messages with various reasons in the background.
3. Highest Use of Emojis in Conversation

Highest Use of Emojis in Conversation

0.00% 7.70% 11.50%

80.80%

Family Friend Stranger Colleagues

Fig. 3.
Regarding the claim that highest number of emojis are sent to friends, 80.8% participants agreed that they
sent highest number of emojis to friends. 11.5% participants said that the mostly sent emojis to family
members. While, 7.7% participants came up with the option of colleagues and none of them chose option of
strangers.The researcher observed from the above graphical representation that people mostly send emojis
to their friends in textual communication.

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4. Context of Used Emojis
Context of Used Emojis
13.10%

86.90%

Formal Conversation Non Formal

Fig. 4.
There is a notion that emojis are mostly used in informal communication, 86.9% participants agreed that they
use emojis in non-formal textual communication. While, 13.1% participants recorded their answers that they
use emojis in formal conversation. The researcher observed from the above graphical representation that
people mostly send emojis in non-formal contexts. This fact cannot be ignored that some people use emojis in
formal contexts too within textual communication.
5. Impact of Emojis on Lexicon

Impact of Emojis on Lexicon

7.70% 22.30%

34.60%
35.40%

Strongly agree Agree

Disagree Strongly disagree

Fig. 5.

Regarding the claim that the use of emojis may affects the written language’s lexicon, 35.4% agreed to the
question while 34.6% disagreed to the question. It was noted by the researcher that 22.3% participants
strongly agreed to the question. While, only 7.7% participants strongly disagreed to the question. It is shown
that the huge number of participants agreed and strongly agreed to question, which shows that use of emoji
effects the written vocabulary in textual communication.

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6. Impact of Emojis on English Grammar

Impact of Emojis on English Grammar

10.80% 15.40%

41.50% 32.30%

Strongly agree Agree

Disagree Strongly disagree

Fig.6.

As far as the belief is concerend that the use of emoji may effects English grammar, 41.5% participants
disagreed to the question, while 10.8% strongly disagreed. 32.3% participants agreed to the question, while
15.4% strongly agreed to the question. It was observed by the researcher that most of the people are of the
view that their English grammar is not effected by the use of emojis in textual conversation. But, many people
also agrees that English grammar is effected by use of emojis in text messages.

7. Emojis as the Reason for Happiness

Emojis as the Reason for Happiness

30%

60.80%

9.20%

Yes No May be

Fig.7.

There is a concept that emojis cause happiness in textual communication, 60.8% participants agreed to the
question that emojis is the main reason for happiness in textual communication. 30% participants were not
sure about the question. While, 9.2% participants said that emojis do not cause happiness in text messages.
The researcher observed from the above graphical representation that emojis are the utmost reasons for
causing happiness in the text messages.

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8. Preferable Form of Communication

Preferable Form of Communication

33.10%

66.90%

Emojis Written text

Fig.8.

There is a notion that emojis are preferable form of communication, 66.9% participants prefered written
form of conversation. While, 33.1% participants prefered emoji mode of conversation.The reseacher
observed that people mostly prefer written text mode of conversation rather than emoji mode of
conversation. Written text is the fundamental requirement for any sort of conversation, digitally. It will be
hard to comprehend the message just with the emojis. The written text gives a better impact, on
understanding of the setting than understanding the emojis mode of conversation and its context.

9. Understanding of A Message Through Emojis

Understanding of A Message Through Emojis

19.20%

9.20%
71.50%

Yes No May be

Fig.9.

According to the notion that a text message is fully understood by the reciever when emojis are used in it,
71.5% of respondentscomprehends setting just with emojis used in it. 19.2% of respondents were not sure
that either they understand emojis or not. While, 9.2% of respondents totally do not understand emoji while
having textual converation. The researcher observed from the above chart that most of the people
understand a text message if emojis are used in it.

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on Social Media
10. Role of Emojis in Colouring Social Media
Role of Emojis in Colouring Social Media

8.50% 15.40%

76.20%

Yes No May be

Fig.10.

There is a belief that emojis makes social media colourful, 76.2% of respondents answered that emojis make
the online media colourful and alluring. 15.4% respondents were not sure that either they agree with
question or not. While, 8.5% respondents totally diagreed with the question.The researcher observed that
each and every individual who utilize online media, likes to have a good time and make the conversation
fascinating. It is shown that emojis can give life to the words and it encourages the people to communicate
effectively with others including family and friends.

11. Emojis Addiction

Emojis Addiction

23.80% 38.50%

37.70%

Yes No May be

Fig.11.

There is a concept that mostly people are emoji’s addict, 38.5% participants agreed that they are addicted to
the use of emojis. While, 37.7% participants recorded their answers as no, that they are not addicted to the
use of emojis. It was observed by the researcher that there is slight difference between recorded answers
“yes” and “no”. 23.8% participants however, chose the option “maybe” that their they are not sure about the
exact answer as either they are emoji addict or not. It is shown that most of the people are emoji addict who
use social media.

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on Social Media
12. Basis For Using Emojis

Basis For Using Emojis

26.20%
50%
23.80%

Your mood to creat an impression your intrest reaction

Fig.12.

Regarding the claim that people use emoji on the basis of their mood, 50% of the particpants agreed that they
use emojis in their text messages based on their moods while communicating with other people. 26.2%
participants use emoji in text messages to create an impression. While, 23.8% participants use emojis to show
their instant reaction in textual conversation. The researcher noted the people use emojis based on their
mood.

13. Expression of Emotions Through Emojis

Expression of Emotions Through

Emojis
14.60%

85.40%

Yes No

Fig.13.

There is a belief that either emoji are used to express emotions or not. Among all participants, 85.4%
responded agreed that they use emojis to express their emotions in textual conversation. While, 14.6%
respondents disagreed to the question that no they do not use emojis to express their feelings or
emotions.The researcher observed from the above graph that most of the people use emojis to express their
emotions and feelings in the text messages.

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14. Emojis as Cause of Misunderstanding

Emojis as Cause of
Misunderstanding
13.80%

86.20%

Yes No

Fig.14.

There is a concept that either mis-understanding is caused by emojis or not in the text messages. Among all
participants, 86.2% respondents disagreed that emojis does not cause mis-understanding in text messages.
While, 13.8% respondents agreed that emojis are cause of mis-understanding in text messages. The
researcher observed that in textual communication, one of the crucial thing is to take care of the correct use
of emojis according to the context. People have to know about the meaning of certain emojis before using it to
express their views about certain things.

15. Emojis as a Tool for Judging Other People

Emojis as Tool For Judging

Other People

43.10%
56.90%

Yes No

Fig.15.

Regarding the claim that people judge other people based on their use of certain emojis, 56.9% respondents
agreed that they can judge other people personalites and characters through their use of certain emojis in the
text messages. The researcher noted that most of the people judge eachother by their use of certain emojis in
text message.

2421| Faryal Qureshi An Analysis of the Emoji’s Impact on the Language and Expressions of Youth
on Social Media
16. Banning Emojis on Social Media

Banning Emojis on Social Media

7.70%

92.30%

Yes No

Fig.16.

There is a notion that emojis should not be banned on social media, 92.3% respondents agreed to the
question. While, 7.7% participants disagreed. The researcher observed from the above graph that most of the
people really enjoys emojis and their use. As emojis makes social media colourful, so it is hard to ignore them.

17. Replacement of Text Language Through Emojis

Replacement of Text Language Through

Emojis
6.20% 9.20%

38.50%
46.20%

Strongly agree agree Disagree Strongly disagree

Fig.17.

It is a belief that emojis are replacing textual language, 46.2% respondents agreed to the question, while 9.2%
people strongly agreed that emojis are replacing their text language. 38.5% respondents disagreed to the
question, while 6.2% respondents strongly disagreed to the question that emojis does not replace their text
language. The researcher observed from the above graph that most of the people are of the view that emojis
are actually replacing their textual language. With the passage of time, maybe the ratio of the people who
agree to the claim may increase because emojis are trending nowadays and is mostly in use of teenagers and
adults.

V. FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The purpose of this study was to find the influence of emojis on conveying the emotions and expressions of
people and the impact do they have on the textual language of the people. This paper gives us the information
that how it has changed the style of text messages into shortest form. Emojis have gradually transformed into
a language and now it is controlling the psyches of the social media’s users. In the current circumstance, the
impression of the individuals is that they are satisfied with the utilization of the emojis. Teenagers and youth
have become addicted to the use of emojis and it has become a vital aspect of their textual conversation. On
the social media, emojis are ruling because of their appealing and colorful nature. In this time of digital
communication, emojis are used to overcome any barrier between the feelings and the text. This fact cannot

2422| Faryal Qureshi An Analysis of the Emoji’s Impact on the Language and Expressions of Youth
on Social Media
be ignored that emojis have achieved the status of a language. The analysis highlighted that most of the
people agree with the fact that their use of emojis in textual conversation is affecting their English lexicons.
But according to the analysis, most of the people are of the view that their use of emojis in textual
conversation do not affect their English grammar. It can be said that though English vocabulary is affected by
more use of emojis but its grammar is not affected.
In this study, the extent of the examination predicts that the use of emojis have made a transformation in the
field of digital communication. The future might see a variant form of communication through web-based
media with less use of language and a greater amount of emojis.
The analysis of the 130 participants’ data showed that emojis are mostly used according to the current mood
of the users. Emojis are mostly used by the people to express their own emotions and feelings. It was
observed that people mostly send emojis to their friends and family. It was noted that emojis are mostly used
in non-formal conversation. But some participants are of the view that they use emojis in formal context, so
this fact cannot be ignored that gradually emojis are coming into use in formal context. With the passage of
time, its ratio might increase.
The analysis also focuses on the fact that emojis are reason behind alluring social media. It is also the cause of
happiness for the people who use it in their textual communication. People thinks that emojis also removes
ambiguity in their text messages.
It was noted in the analysis that people are of the view that more use of emojis in textual conversation is
replacing textual language. But, according to analysis people are also of the view that it should not be banned
even if it has negative impact on person’s text language because they are addicted to its use.

In the future, if the researchers want to study this topic, they need to increase the number of samples. The
limit of age group should also be increased by the researchers to get more generalized and concrete results.

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