Article: If You're Fluent In Emoji, Does That Technically Make You Bilingual?

The article for this week is about an interview with Vyvyan Evans, Author of the book titled “The Emoji Code: The Linguistics Behind Smiley Faces and Scaredy Cats”. In the article the author discusses the concept of using Emoji icons as a second language when typing or as Vyvyan puts it “code switching" — a.k.a. flip-flopping between two languages in the course of a single sentence or thought” (Kiefer, 2017). Emoji icons have made the leap from traditional text messaging to another form of visual language easily understood regardless of native language. It is a pictorial code, which symbolizes so many concepts in text-based discussions. There are many variants within cultures for each of the Emoji however many are very uniformly understood, “it doesn’t really matter what your native tongue is. English, French, Japanese: A smiley means the same thing in most languages” (Kiefer, 2017). What I find interesting about this article is that it points out something that can be used with English Language Learners to help bridge the communication gap. I hadn’t given much though to it before but this seems like a natural way to quickly gain understanding. Most users of handheld technology will instantly be able to communication with the pictorial augmentation of Emoji icons.   

Kiefer, E. (2017, July 24). If You're Fluent In Emoji, Does That Technically Make You Bilingual? Retrieved July 30, 2017, from http://www.refinery29.com/2017/07/164639/history-of-emojis-vyvan-evans-book