The processing of emoji-word substitutions

A self-paced-reading study

Bibliographic Data

ID21563293
AuthorsTatjana Scheffler (0000-0001-7498-6202, Ruhr University Bochum, corresponding author), Lasse Brandt (0000-0002-6873-9894, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Marie de la Fuente (University of Potsdam), Ivan Nenchev (0000-0002-9860-3250, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
Year2022
Volume127
Pages107076
Publication date2022-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComputers in Human Behavior (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0747-5632 • E-ISSN: 1873-7692
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.chb.2021.107076
OpenAlexW3208646071
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited35

In computer-mediated communication, emojis can be used for various purposes. As small graphical images, many emojis depict abstract or concrete objects ideogrammatically. We report on a self-paced reading experiment of sentences containing emojis. We tested to what extent emojis encode lexical meanings when used in a sentence context. First, we confirm earlier findings that sentence comprehension does not suffer when emojis replace words. Second, we show that in addition to the graphically encoded concept, emojis in some cases enable the retrieval of an entire lexical entry, including the phonological value of the associated word. This means that even emojis showing a homophonous noun to the target word, such as “palm (tree)” for “palm (of hand)” can be interpreted correctly in context. Based on measured differences in the reading times between words, emojis depicting the intended target referent, and emojis depicting a homophonous noun, we propose a context dependent account of emoji interpretation

Emoji · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Noun · Referent · Sentence · Social media · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Reading and Literacy Development · Artificial Intelligence

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