Nataliia Shlemova, Associate Professor at the 91快活林 Department of Russian Language and Literature, shares her perspective on the role, interpretation, and potential risks of emojis in modern communication.
– Why are people increasingly replacing words with emojis?
– The development of digital communication has created a new form of language and speech. Online communication, which has become natural and everyday today, represents a unique form of spoken and written communication. Speaking is being replaced by correspondence, which is characterized by the economy of speech effort inherent in the oral form. The ability to send instant messages, typically of limited length, and the need to express emotions in the absence of face-to-face dialogue are facilitating the development of communication tools suited to the specificities of the online environment, leading to the emergence and development of an entire system of symbols—emojis.
Derived from the Japanese words meaning "picture" and "character," emojis function as complex nonverbal signals. They enable users to convey emotions and attitudes that would otherwise be expressed through gestures, facial expressions, intonation, and looks.
There are situations when a single nonverbal sign can be more telling than any words. Let us recall Vladimir Nabokov, who, in response to a provocative question from journalist Alden Whitman in a 1969 interview, responded: "I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile – some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket, which I would now like to trace in reply to your question" (The New York Times interview).
Some believe that in this answer the writer anticipated the emergence of the emoticon associated with the name of Scott Fahlman, who in 1982 created a graphic symbol in the form of a smile :), consisting of a colon and a bracket.
Nabokov had gracefully avoided a direct answer to the question: "Where do you rank yourself among writers—both living and recent?" Yet, he was able to make his position clear: comparing oneself as a writer to others for the purposes of such a ranking is pointless; a writer's value is determined by other criteria.
This example may also point to the function of emojis, which is related to the phenomenon of understatement, which creates semantic complexity and can have different causes and consequences.
– Do emojis make language primitive or less expressive?
– I think emojis do not make language primitive. Instead, they provide additional functions.
Rather than impoverishing online communication, emojis enrich it by providing an additional resource for expressing ideas and emotions that cannot always be conveyed through words alone. They complement the meaning of an utterance and add expressive and intonational nuance. Most often, they replace the nonverbal cues that naturally accompany face-to-face interaction—facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and tone of voice. Through emojis we can smile, frown, wink, shrug our shoulders, or applaud as a sign of admiration or approval. They make communication more lively, transform neutral messages into emotionally coloured ones, and soften an otherwise formal tone.
In group chats (for example, chats for parents) emojis also help build constructive communication and reduce unnecessary message traffic. When a quick response from many participants is needed, it is often more efficient to ask everyone to react with a particular emoji, such as "OK" or a thumbs-up, instead of generating long chains of messages saying "I agree" or "I support this". This keeps the conversation focused on the important information. Emojis can also be used systematically to structure messages, separating different semantic blocks with icons so that information is easier to navigate. In this case, emojis function as visual navigation markers and semantic highlights that improve readability.
Some people predict that humanity will eventually communicate almost exclusively through emojis. I find such forecasts unrealistic. It is difficult to imagine words being completely replaced by pictograms. Certainly, emojis simplify online communication. A single image can express a mood, an attitude, or describe an action. Since modern people increasingly perceive information visually, images are often easier to understand than text. However, emojis are limited when it comes to expressing complex abstract concepts or philosophical ideas. Moreover, their meanings are not always universally understood; interpretation depends on cultural background and generational differences. Therefore, emojis cannot be regarded as an independent language.
Some scholars compare emojis with pictography, the ancient writing system in which drawings represented objects or events. The historical transition from pictographic writing to alphabetic writing reflects centuries of intellectual and social development. That process is unlikely to reverse. Humanity will never communicate exclusively through emojis, but neither will it abandon them altogether. And perhaps there is no reason to do so.
– Do emojis pose a threat to literate, rich, and expressive communication on the Internet?
Of course, emojis facilitate the ease and speed of online communication, which differs significantly from face-to-face dialogue. As such, they pose no threat to literate communication, as long as communicators generally adhere to the norms of speech communication, the rules of constructive communication, and can express their thoughts clearly and expressively offline. Emojis can help convey the right intonation to ensure the recipient understands the message correctly, and they support emotional connection in virtual communication. According to Norwegian sociolinguist Patrick Georg Gross, emojis are part of digital literacy.
At the same time, the text-compression function that emojis perform may eventually make it more difficult for some people to formulate thoughts without relying on pictures. In my view, this primarily affects those whose language skills are insufficiently developed.
Of course, emojis can also pose genuine risks. They are sometimes used to conceal the true meaning of a message that is understandable only to insiders. Researcher S.L. Budylin cites an example documented in a 2020 publication by U.S. law enforcement agencies intended to help identify illegal activities. In that context, the tree and broccoli emojis were used as coded references to marijuana.
Emojis can also create communication barriers. This partly explains the emergence of specialized platforms such as Emojipedia and Emoji Analysis, which help users interpret graphical symbols correctly.
– Why do misunderstandings arise when interpreting emojis?
– Emojis may be interpreted differently by people from different cultures, generations, and social groups. A common example is the thumbs-up emoji. In many Western countries, it signifies approval, whereas in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan it is perceived as a rude and offensive gesture.
Today there is also much discussion about how differently emojis are understood by Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Generation Z. For example, Boomers tend to interpret the skull emoji literally as "death". Millennials may understand it as meaning "everything is terrible", while members of Generation Z commonly use it to mean "I'm dying of laughter". According to A. Soldatov, editor of the Russian language portal Gramota.ru, a 2021 survey conducted by the consulting agency Perspectus Global among 2000 respondents aged 16–29 ranked the thumbs-up emoji the first among the "old-fashioned" emojis. Within this age group, using it may even be perceived as irony or sarcasm.
Another challenge is that emojis often participate in wordplay. Their meanings are shaped by specific communicative contexts and may later become conventional. For instance, the eggplant and peach emojis gradually acquired figurative meanings and became euphemisms associated with sexual innuendo and discussions of taboo subjects.
In interpreting emojis, context is therefore essential. The existing international Unicode standard is updated every year with new emojis that reflect contemporary society. In 2020, the "face with medical mask" emoji appeared, reflecting the pandemic. The symbolic emoji of 2024 became the "melting face", expressing emotional exhaustion and being overwhelmed. In 2025, Unicode introduced the "face with bags under eyes" to symbolize chronic fatigue, along with the "leafless tree" representing environmental concerns. In 2026, the preliminary list included, among others, the "pickled cucumber" image, meaning "sour mood" and "mild irritation". All of these emojis generated particular interest among users, who heatedly discussed the innovations online. Time will tell what meanings these emoji will acquire.
What remains important is using emojis consciously, taking into account the communicative situation, the sphere of communication, cultural differences, and the individual characteristics of one's interlocutor. We should also remember the importance of maintaining communicative balance in relationships and be aware of the legal consequences that may result from careless or malicious use of emojis.
– Can emojis have legal significance?
Yes, absolutely. The use of emojis can result in legal proceedings and even criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment. International judicial practice involving emojis in cases related to insults, threats, fraud, extremism, and other offenses continues to develop.
For example, in Russia, the money bag emoji became decisive evidence in a fraud and extortion case. Within the context of correspondence between the director of a legal agency, the deputy head of a regional tax office, and the business owner, this icon represented a demand to prepare one million roubles. The money was intended to resolve alleged regulatory violations committed by the company. The businessman reported the incident to law enforcement authorities, and the senders were sentenced to two years of imprisonment.
A message consisting of just three emojis—a clenched fist, a pointing finger, and an ambulance—nearly resulted in five-year prison sentences for two young men in the United States. The recipient filed a lawsuit, and the experts concluded that the message constituted a genuine threat, meaning: "We intend to beat you so badly that you'll end up in an ambulance".
An American schoolgirl was also charged with making death threats after posting the message, "See you in the library on Tuesday", accompanied by gun, knife, and bomb emojis.
The number of court cases involving emojis continues to grow. In such proceedings, forensic linguists are frequently called upon to determine the meaning of particular icons within the context of a message. These challenging tasks contribute to the development of forensic linguistics, a branch of applied linguistics that serves the needs of judicial practice.
All of this demonstrates that emojis are a unique phenomenon of digital communication. They have become not only a means of expressing emotions but also a tool of persuasive communication, a way of concealing linguistic identity, and an element of digital slang. As an integral part of visual communication, emojis continue to evolve rapidly, attracting growing interest from researchers in the social sciences and humanities.